Arion
Active member
Yesterday I spent several hours, excluding breaks, installing Spyder Extras dual horns, sold by Sling Mods, on my charming wife's 2021 Sea to Sky. To arm myself with all the information available I read the Spyder Extra instructions several times and then watched the Sling Mods installation video several times as well. My first observation was that each offers a different and, as it turned out, less than fully detailed approach. In the Sling Mods video the battery is removed while in the Spyder Extras instructions it is not. Sling Mods instructs the wiring harness be inserted from below while Spyder Extra instructs the wiring harness be inserted from above to the left side when facing the battery.
The issue faced was which instructions to follow. The Spyder Extras instructions aren't as detailed as they could be and the photos are too dark and too small to be of significant value. The Sling Mods video, as is rather typical in my experience, glossed over a few steps that are not as straight forward as they appear. Perhaps a combination of both would work. And it did, after a fashion.
The first step was jacking up the Spyder and placing jack stands under the A arms to provide adequate work (and swearing) room beneath the machine. Removing the battery cover in the frunk and the right side access panel beneath the Spyder were the easy parts. The stock horn lives above said access panel in a very tight space, and it was hard to envision the twin horns fitting in the available space.
Removing the stock horn was not difficult; however, installing the pair of horns was a very different matter. Removing the OEM L bracket to which the horn(s) attach requires removal of the battery (as indicated in the Sling Mods video) but with the right tools installing the new horns without removing the L bracket is possible, although it does require patience, a bit of creativity, and a good vocabulary of words not spoken in polite company.
The installation sequence while laying under the Spyder, according to the instructions, is (from left to right): Spyder Extras-provided long 10mm bolt, left horn bracket, through the stock L bracket, then the provided spacer, the right horn bracket, and finally the 13mm nut (re-used from stock horn removal). Following that sequence, no matter what I tried, there was not enough space to reach the bolt head and nut with any of the tools at my disposal. However, if the bolt is inserted from the right side (following same sequence for the horn brackets, spacer, and L bracket) and the 13mm nut is installed on the left there is just enough room to tighten everything. I used a 13mm wrench and a 1/4 inch 10mm socket with a universal joint and a four inch extension and was ultimately successful.
The wiring harness came next. The package arrived with the harness attached to both horns. However, with the harness attached it is virtually impossible to mount the horns because there is too much in the way to be able to see or manipulate all the bits and pieces. Taking note that the ground connection is closest to the horn bell while the positive connection is above, I removed the wires from both horns which made mounting the horns possible in the very tight space. Then the longer of the pair of horn leads were taped to a 10 inch zip ties and threaded it down through the opening on left side of the battery (while facing it). Then, from beneath the machine pulled the harness through sufficiently to give access to the two pair of horn connectors and the two yellow connectors that plug into the stock horn wires. Sling Mods removes the plastic insulation covers from the stock two horn connectors and then tapes the connections while Spyder Extras instructs that the small tabs on the stock insulation connector covers be trimmed off to allow the yellow connectors to plug into the stock ones. That seemed the best alternative and it worked as advertised.
The final part of the installation dealt with connecting the positive and negative leads to the battery, testing the horns, then tucking the relay and wiring harness into the space above the battery, re-installing he battery cover, bandaging all the scrapes and cuts, and apologizing to anyone who might have overheard the creative language. The bottom line is that it was certainly worth the effort - the 118 db twin horns are MUCH more reassuring than the pathetic beep of the single stock horn.
As seems usual for me, this is another wordy explanation but too few words for installation instructions are often more trouble than very many, yes, no?
The issue faced was which instructions to follow. The Spyder Extras instructions aren't as detailed as they could be and the photos are too dark and too small to be of significant value. The Sling Mods video, as is rather typical in my experience, glossed over a few steps that are not as straight forward as they appear. Perhaps a combination of both would work. And it did, after a fashion.
The first step was jacking up the Spyder and placing jack stands under the A arms to provide adequate work (and swearing) room beneath the machine. Removing the battery cover in the frunk and the right side access panel beneath the Spyder were the easy parts. The stock horn lives above said access panel in a very tight space, and it was hard to envision the twin horns fitting in the available space.
Removing the stock horn was not difficult; however, installing the pair of horns was a very different matter. Removing the OEM L bracket to which the horn(s) attach requires removal of the battery (as indicated in the Sling Mods video) but with the right tools installing the new horns without removing the L bracket is possible, although it does require patience, a bit of creativity, and a good vocabulary of words not spoken in polite company.
The installation sequence while laying under the Spyder, according to the instructions, is (from left to right): Spyder Extras-provided long 10mm bolt, left horn bracket, through the stock L bracket, then the provided spacer, the right horn bracket, and finally the 13mm nut (re-used from stock horn removal). Following that sequence, no matter what I tried, there was not enough space to reach the bolt head and nut with any of the tools at my disposal. However, if the bolt is inserted from the right side (following same sequence for the horn brackets, spacer, and L bracket) and the 13mm nut is installed on the left there is just enough room to tighten everything. I used a 13mm wrench and a 1/4 inch 10mm socket with a universal joint and a four inch extension and was ultimately successful.
The wiring harness came next. The package arrived with the harness attached to both horns. However, with the harness attached it is virtually impossible to mount the horns because there is too much in the way to be able to see or manipulate all the bits and pieces. Taking note that the ground connection is closest to the horn bell while the positive connection is above, I removed the wires from both horns which made mounting the horns possible in the very tight space. Then the longer of the pair of horn leads were taped to a 10 inch zip ties and threaded it down through the opening on left side of the battery (while facing it). Then, from beneath the machine pulled the harness through sufficiently to give access to the two pair of horn connectors and the two yellow connectors that plug into the stock horn wires. Sling Mods removes the plastic insulation covers from the stock two horn connectors and then tapes the connections while Spyder Extras instructs that the small tabs on the stock insulation connector covers be trimmed off to allow the yellow connectors to plug into the stock ones. That seemed the best alternative and it worked as advertised.
The final part of the installation dealt with connecting the positive and negative leads to the battery, testing the horns, then tucking the relay and wiring harness into the space above the battery, re-installing he battery cover, bandaging all the scrapes and cuts, and apologizing to anyone who might have overheard the creative language. The bottom line is that it was certainly worth the effort - the 118 db twin horns are MUCH more reassuring than the pathetic beep of the single stock horn.
As seems usual for me, this is another wordy explanation but too few words for installation instructions are often more trouble than very many, yes, no?
