# HLDCs installed by me. :P Mucho pics



## onebadmonte (Sep 4, 2008)

Ever since I got into car audio, I had it in my head, that the pinnacle of SQ was running underdash horns. I was young and naive. Regardless, over the years I would tell myself that one day I would run some underdash horns. Well, that day has come, and here is the proof. 

I stuck with an original:


Showing off like a proud papa. 


A pic of the ride they will be calling home.


I started off by mocking up the passenger side horn. To get the horn tucked up nice and high, I cut off these bosses on the HVAC blower housing.


From there I was able to whip up a bracket in CAD and have it cut out.


With the horn bracket in place I transferred the mounting hole locations onto the horn body and get it in place.


With the front side good to go, I look towards the compression driver end of the horn to add some support. I opted to make an "L" bracket out of the supplied straps. Here I use a square scrap of mdf as a gage to figure the short leg length of the bracket.


To ensure that the bracket is properly oriented, I scribed the outline of it in it's installed position. 


On the kick panel I attached a riv-nut, simplifying removal and re-installation of the horn body.


Here is the passenger side horn in it's new home.


More on the way.


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## onebadmonte (Sep 4, 2008)

The driver's side install included the removal of the parking brake assembly. Here is the bracket in place.


Here is a close up of the transition from the horn mouth to the underside of the dash.


With the mounting of the horn bodies situated, I look into hot rodding the horn bodies themselves for added performance. How about a little port and polish job? Here I round over the short side for smoother transition.


On the long side I knocked down some of the flashing and high spots. 


Here is a look in from the horn mouth. :/


In addition to my port and polish job I added a little sound deadener to the outside of the horn bodied just to make sure they're dead. Muahahaha! Here is the start of the process.


I opted to do a one piece wrap for the top and a one piece wrap for the bottom half, with a seam on the side walls. To keep the seams together and from rolling up I used some HVAC tape along the seams. Here is looking at the top side of the horn.


Here is a look at the bottom side of the horn.


Lastly here is a pic of the horns read for their final install.


Here is a shot of the horns in place, brackets painted.


Disregard the tweeters in the a-pillars, they are going away as soon as I buy some replacement a-pillar panels. While you are at it, disregard that MS8 display panel as it is being replaced by this.


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## mattyjman (Aug 6, 2009)

looks great. could you get the horns tucked underneath a bit more... should aid in depth and overall stage. 

love the bracket you designed. makes hanging horns easy for sure


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## onebadmonte (Sep 4, 2008)

mattyjman said:


> looks great. could you get the horns tucked underneath a bit more... should aid in depth and overall stage.
> 
> love the bracket you designed. makes hanging horns easy for sure


Thanks.  That's as far as the horns are gonna go in this vehicle. Any further towards the firewall and the horns would have to do down into the foot area. :/ You win some, bracket design, you lose some, depth.


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## IDGAF (Dec 27, 2009)

Yeah, yeah.... but how do they SOUND!?


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## subwoofery (Nov 9, 2008)

Yep... Bracket design is great :thumbsup: 

Kelvin


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## fuji6 (Feb 4, 2008)

Would love to hear what kind of results you get with the ms8. If you happen to fire up the system before swapping it out.


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## edouble101 (Dec 9, 2010)

Great job and awesome write-up as always!


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## oilman (Feb 21, 2012)

Hugo is stepping up his game.


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

love those mounting brackets! maybe ES audio could add something like that to thier own offerings *poke*


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## req (Aug 4, 2007)

yeah really rad brackets.

if it were me i would buy some nice chamfered stainless steel machine screws and then chamfer the holes on your brackets, and nut\bolt them to the horns. it will look loads better that way. then paint the heads black with some nail polish or something.










also, the dash transition - maybe get some bondo and smooth it out? up to you really. it may be close enough. im just not liking the bump from the bottom edge of the dash.

over all - exelent brackets. very well done.


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## onebadmonte (Sep 4, 2008)

edouble101 said:


> Great job and awesome write-up as always!


Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. 


oilman said:


> Hugo is stepping up his game.


I'm trying, but most of the time my game is just getting stepped on.  I'm hoping to get some good tips this coming june. 


minbari said:


> love those mounting brackets! maybe ES audio could add something like that to thier own offerings *poke*


I wouldn't mind sharing the info I have regarding these brackets to any interested parties. 


req said:


> yeah really rad brackets.
> 
> if it were me i would buy some nice chamfered stainless steel machine screws and then chamfer the holes on your brackets, and nut\bolt them to the horns. it will look loads better that way. then paint the heads black with some nail polish or something.
> 
> ...


Thanks. The flat head screws are gonna work too well in thin sheet metal, there's just not enough material to make it happen. A welded stud or a barrel nut might just be the ticket for a smooth face, but that would require a bracket redo. I was thinking of upping it to some button head screws and painting them black. 

I'm going to experiment with some blue tape to see if smoothing the transition from the horn mouth to the bracket helps the response. If it does I can remove the tape and use some black silicon to reproduce the smooth transition. 

I'll do the same for the bracket to dash transition. If there is something to be gained I'll have my homework cut out for me. The drivers side will be an easy job with some fiberglass, but the passenger side might be impossible since the bump in question is the bottom of the glove box.  We'll see how testing goes.


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## Eric Stevens (Dec 29, 2007)

Looking good 

Eric


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## onebadmonte (Sep 4, 2008)

Eric Stevens said:


> Looking good
> 
> Eric


Thanks!


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## Mic10is (Aug 20, 2007)

possible to move the horn in front of the bracket and then recess a nut into the horn body and then nut it on the back of the bracket?

the brackets are awesome, but it must be a blue moon or something bc I agree with Andy that it would look better if you could recess your mounting hardware.

so you could use a countersink bit in the horn body itself. and move the horn body in front of the bracket and then recess a bolt in the body itself and then nut it on the backside of the bracket to secure it.


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## onebadmonte (Sep 4, 2008)

Mic10is said:


> possible to move the horn in front of the bracket and then recess a nut into the horn body and then nut it on the back of the bracket?
> 
> the brackets are awesome, but it must be a blue moon or something bc I agree with Andy that it would look better if you could recess your mounting hardware.
> 
> so you could use a countersink bit in the horn body itself. and move the horn body in front of the bracket and then recess a bolt in the body itself and then nut it on the backside of the bracket to secure it.


Firstly, thanks.  

I agree with you and Andy that aesthetically it would be best to keep the front side of this horn install as smooth as possible. 

The issue with moving the horn body in front of the bracket are the draft angles on the backside of the horn. They are significant enough to keep the current bracket design from sitting flat. A bracket redesign would be needed to accommodate the angled surfaces. 

One criteria I was hoping to follow with my bracket design is to maintain a smooth transition and extension of the horn mouth to the bottom of the dash. Moving the horn body to the bracket front side looks to disrupt that transition.

I appreciate all the comments and tips guys. I hope to have a few screen shots of the frequency response of this horn setup soon, so you all can see what I'm hearing and missing.


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## asawendo (Nov 22, 2009)

Bravo...keep experimenting Bro! Awesome...


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## onebadmonte (Sep 4, 2008)

Wow, time flies when you're not in jail.  I don't know how some of you guys do it, posting day in and day out with build updates and advice. Well I'm back with a little update of my own. 

I opted to replace the compression drivers with something a little more robust. Here is what I got.



Here is a little side by side of the original driver next to it's replacement. :O



The Dayton driver is a little more substantial but nothing like what I use in my home stereo rig. 



One more shot, now of the business end.



Here is a shot of all three.



With a larger compression driver, I had to update the rear mounting bracket. Here is the horn assembly with the new rear bracket.



Before I get into the re-installation of the horn assemblies, I opted, after hearing many suggestions, to update the mounting hardware. 

This is what I started off with.



Here is my painting rig with homedepot's finest 97cent rattle can paint.



After a couple of layers and a once over with a heat gun this is what I ended up with. 



Here is the final product.



Lastly, a shot of the underside.



Fingers crossed, hope it sounds good. LOL!


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## MinnesotaStateUniversity (Sep 12, 2012)

^MUCH better

wike wowza

Those bolt heads were drivin me crazy


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## pickup1 (May 6, 2008)

Got them playing yet?...I know when my horns were in the were pretty loud...


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