Fitting the Nautilus Horn to a 2010 1200GSA

Just picked up a Stebel Compact Nautilus from my local Halfrauds for £15 instead of £19 due to a labelling error having seen one installed on Driver Dave's (Dave the Driver?) 1200GSA at Vines last week (sorry about name uncertainty). It is to replace my Magnum horn which has cracked and was always slightly dissapointing owing to its single note.

Anyway, Dave's Nautilus compressor was mounted in the space reserved for the charcoal canister - which is where my Magnum was located - using fixings screwed into the mounting points for the charcoal cannister let into the tank. I had hung the Magnum onto a bracket atatched to the frame above the cannister space.

My questions are: what is the thread for the charcoal cannister fixings and how deep are the fixings? Also, has anyone had problems with mounting an item as heavy as the Nautilus compressor on these points which are let into the fuel tank wall? I'm concerned that the vibration will cause the compressor to flex the mountings and crack the tank around them.

Dave had removed the trumpets from the Nautilus from the compressor and clipped them around a fork leg running a length of polypipe between them - the fork leg is the same diameter as the Nautilus compressor!

TIA

Richard

Just picked up a Stebel Compact Nautilus from my local Halfrauds for £15 instead of £19 due to a labelling error having seen one installed on Driver Dave's (Dave the Driver?) 1200GSA at Vines last week (sorry about name uncertainty).

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Hello that's OK

My questions are: what is the thread for the charcoal cannister fixings and how deep are the fixings?

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Standard Thread and 10 - 12mm deep

Also, has anyone had problems with mounting an item as heavy as the Nautilus compressor on these points which are let into the fuel tank wall? I'm concerned that the vibration will cause the compressor to flex the mountings and crack the tank around them.

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as of yet no and it has been off road, lumps bumps falls and all.




PS if you want a hand as your just down the road give me a shout

Any chance of piccies. I put this horn on my ST and its the bees knees. Would like to see how it fits in that cramped space?

Cheers

Dave The Driver said:

Hello that's OK






PS if you want a hand as your just down the road give me a shout

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Thanks Dave

If I get stuck I'll give you a shout. Present project is a full service on a Vardero!

My GSA is currently with Vines having the final drive case replaced - BMW didn't like the look of the bubbles in the paintwork.

Cheers

Richard

Further question Dave:

Having removed the horn assembly from the pump body I note that the air outlet from the pump simply plugged into the socket on the horn assembly.

So, how did you connect the hose to the horn assembly?

TIA

Richard

RSavage said:

Further question Dave:

Having removed the horn assembly from the pump body I note that the air outlet from the pump simply plugged into the socket on the horn assembly.

So, how did you connect the hose to the horn assembly?

TIA

Richard

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MAGIC


Had a small bit of tube that just fitted ......I will try and get some pics up today or tomorrow

Dave The Driver said:

MAGIC


Had a small bit of tube that just fitted ......I will try and get some pics up today or tomorrow

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Hi Dave

I wondered if you had simply stuffed the air hose into trumpet body. It was my first thought, but then I concluded that you must have found a more impressive solution. BTW was the trumpet assembly glued to the compressor? Had a fairly nerve-racking few minutes prizing the two apart.

Cheers

Richard

RSavage said:

Hi Dave

I wondered if you had simply stuffed the air hose into trumpet body. It was my first thought, but then I concluded that you must have found a more impressive solution. BTW was the trumpet assembly glued to the compressor? Had a fairly nerve-racking few minutes prizing the two apart.

Cheers

Richard

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Yes a bit........pics




This is just to show how it is fixed using the canister mount





This is from the outside of the forks





And this is that pipe thing that I had.....





sorry about the pics the camera just did not want to focus and this may or may not help

Dave The Driver said:

Yes a bit........pics




This is just to show how it is fixed using the canister mount


View attachment 176666


This is from the outside of the forks


View attachment 176664


And this is that pipe thing that I had.....


View attachment 176667


sorry about the pics the camera just did not want to focus and this may or may not help

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Perfect Dave.

Taking meaningful pictures of items in confined places is really difficult.

I'll let you know how I get on when I get the bike back from Vines. Some wretched oil seal for the final drive was 'wrong part in box'.

Richard

Wiring up the Nautilus Compact

Hi Guys,
I think I'll follow you down this route of splitting the unit and mounting the lightweight horn on the fork leg
How did you electrically wire it up? Did you wire the relay to the battery and use the OEM horn wire as the relay trigger? I'm just asking in case it can simply be run off the OEM horn wires without the need for a relay, but I think probably not

Thanks, Spanner

Spanner said:

Hi Guys,
I think I'll follow you down this route of splitting the unit and mounting the lightweight horn on the fork leg
How did you electrically wire it up? Did you wire the relay to the battery and use the OEM horn wire as the relay trigger? I'm just asking in case it can simply be run off the OEM horn wires without the need for a relay, but I think probably not

Thanks, Spanner

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The words with the Steibel indicate that you must use a (supplied) relay and 2.5mm cable to the battery for the compressor supply (and the same for the earth. Cable with a csa 2mm is rated at 17.5A, csa of 3mm is rated at 27.5A so I wouldn't entertain the idea of running such load via the horn button, never mind the fine wiring to the existing horn. I bought a plug from Nippy Norman with my Nautilus horn that plugs into the loom in place of the OE horn. I plan to use that to connect the relay coil in place of the OE horn without having to butcher the wiring. It is, unfortunately, rather dear for a plug, but he's the only supplier I have found.

Funnily enough I'm now in the process of fitting my unit. Despite learning from the AdvRider site that the charcoal cannister weighs in at 600g - which is more than the Steibel compressor - I'm reluctant to use the captive nuts in the tank to mount the compressor. I'm looking at suspending it from the side rail immediately above the compressor in Dave's pictures.

Do bear this in mind when making connections to the battery:

This URL explains how to increase the underseat space

http://www.r1200gs.info/misc/seat-trick.html

This URL explains why the author of the first URL cut the bar short.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=496595&highlight=fire


BOL

Richard

RSavage said:

Perfect Dave.

Taking meaningful pictures of items in confined places is really difficult.

I'll let you know how I get on when I get the bike back from Vines. Some wretched oil seal for the final drive was 'wrong part in box'.

Richard

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Hi guys Heres a third tosser following you down this route, It seems a better way of doing it , now i just gotta wire it up and find a little bit of hose

I'm just in the process of fitting a Stebel Nautilus to my 2010 GSA too, although mine has the larger horns (was sold as black compact, but I got the full size one in chrome ) >> this one <<

Going to wire it in situ with the existing horn too, so least then I have a backup incase the Stebel decides to stop working

Dave The Driver said:

And this is that pipe thing that I had.....
View attachment 176667

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Out of interest Dave, what did you use at the end of the pipe to attach it to the horns? Was it some threaded sort of plumbing item with some PTFE tape to get a good air-tight fix?? Did you fix it in place with some silicon or hot glue or something??

Only thing I'm not looking forward to is this great big hunking chrome bit stuck to one of my front forks... Ahwell

Hose fittings for the Nautilus

Paul

I've attached some pictures which might help.

The first is the plug that I fitted to the hose after gently filing the thread down so that it was a tight fit in the hole in the trumpet section of the Nautilus. I have an idea that the plug came with the Nautilus kit, but I'm not certain. I debated glueing it into the trumpet but didn't know what glue to use as it and the trumpet are different plastics. So, I sealed it with some silicon sealant. Around the air hose (stolen from a dead Camelback) I slid a short bit of flexible plastic conduit. This fits quite tightly between the hose and the clip on the trumpets. I then used a cable tie to secure the hose/conduit arrangement to the trumpet. I did this because I doubt that the silcon sealant will provide a mechanically strong joint. Hot melt glue is good idea but I don't know if it will stick to the trumpets or air hose.

I've also included a photo of the compressor in situ. I've hung it from the frame above the air cleaner pocket. Although the air cleaner is heavier than the compressor - it weighs 600g - I'm very wary about having anything attached to the tank. I did ask Vines about attaching the compressor to the tank and they couldn't see a problem so, clearly, I'm being overly cautious.

BTW the white stuff in the air hose is cable wrap. Inserted into air hoses, it prevents 'necking' and allows quite tight loops to be formed.

Oh, and I measured the load of my Nautilus at only a shade under 20A, so don't skimp on the wiring.

More info.: I mounted the trumpet on the right hand fork leg. Although this makes for tighter bends in the air hose, it does mean that the mouths of the trumpets face slightly backwards, i.e they are less inclined to fill with rain (I hope). Dave mentioned, I think, I think that he'd had to clean accumulated muck from the trumpets.

How are you splicing into the existing loom? I was thinking of doing the same and using a quick dab of the switch to operate the OEM horn as a 'polite' warning and a longer press to inflict hearing damage.

HTH

Richard

Fitting the Stebel if you don't have ESA

If you don't have ESA fitted the Stebel fits very nice underneath the headstock, where the ESA usually goes.

Great Thread - I've added a link to this in the Useful Links thread in the 1200 section

advancedbiker said:

If you don't have ESA fitted the Stebel fits very nice underneath the headstock, where the ESA usually goes.

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Indeed I spent a long time looking longingly at that space. It is where I put the compressor on my 1150GS.

However, I didn't have the Nautilus trumpet to fit perfectly on the fork leg and contrived a pair of horrible P clamps to mount the trumpets on my engine bars. The clamps broke on my first long trip and were bodged with cable ties.

Richard

RSavage said:

Paul
...

HTH

Richard

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Hi Richard.

I'll be using the positive feed to the horn to trigger the relay, the current draw shouldn't cause any issues with CAN, and the stock horn should still work just fine. Bit of a faff looking at it though to splice into the existing wiring without lifting the tank, but I'll sort it out somehow!

The only issue I had was finding suitable hose. The largest I could find was 5mm, managed to get it onto the compressor ok after heating it up, but the method I've used to secure it to the horn is far from elegant...





Ended up using some silicon sump gasket sealer, should form a pretty tight bond so atleast it will be airtight! I can tidy it up a bit when it's dry tomorrow.

Only fun I'm having now is securing the compressor. I might make a bracket like you have which fastens it from the top, and use one I made earlier aswell to help secure it in place (which uses the 2 securing points already on the tank) just a simple strip of metal held in place with 2 old manifold bolts from a V6 I'm rebuilding.

Fun

PaulW21781 said:

Hi Richard.

I'll be using the positive feed to the horn to trigger the relay, the current draw shouldn't cause any issues with CAN, and the stock horn should still work just fine. Bit of a faff looking at it though to splice into the existing wiring without lifting the tank, but I'll sort it out somehow!

The only issue I had was finding suitable hose. The largest I could find was 5mm, managed to get it onto the compressor ok after heating it up, but the method I've used to secure it to the horn is far from elegant...

<snip>

Ended up using some silicon sump gasket sealer, should form a pretty tight bond so atleast it will be airtight! I can tidy it up a bit when it's dry tomorrow.

Only fun I'm having now is securing the compressor. I might make a bracket like you have which fastens it from the top, and use one I made earlier aswell to help secure it in place (which uses the 2 securing points already on the tank) just a simple strip of metal held in place with 2 old manifold bolts from a V6 I'm rebuilding.

Fun

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Hi Paul

Yes, elegant is not the phrase that leaps to mind! ;-) But if it works who cares? And since when were BMW bikes known for their elegance??

My hope regarding running both horns in parallel was that you had found an easy way tap into the feed to the existing horn without resorting to Scotchloks or similar obscenities. I doubt that the CANBUS will notice the extra draw offered by a tiny relay. A bit of bracing across the compressor to help the top mount is a good idea.

Have you tried the horn? It's VERY loud!

Richard

Yeah I gave it a quick blast, very loud indeed! Much louder than the old Magnum setup I had on my Bandit.

Regarding wiring it to the existing loom, I've been looking here

http://www.maxbmwmotorcycles.com/fiche/DiagramsMain.aspx?vid=52024&rnd=03252011

From what I can see, under 61 Electrical, there are replacement electrical connections, so it's just a case of figuring out what ones I need to create a successful bypass and not have to cut the existing loom on the bike.