Ok I have a Leslie. I have been tring to find the answer to this but I get conflicting info. I want to know what is the BEST kind of valve to use. Electric or Manual. I want to do it right and not damage or shorten the life of the horn. And second, what min. size tank should I use. I know this depends on use but in general what do I need. I know its easy to just call and buy a kit but want to make sure I do this right the first time and not spend money upgrading later.
I could help you with a few questions. I have a nathan and i use an electric valve. you cant control the sound with an electric valve like you could with a manual valve at all. its either all or nothing with the electric. i chose electric because i didnt want a big hand valve with airlines running all over the interior of my truck, but some poeple dont mind that and have the manual valve right next to the driver seat. ive never heard of a manual or electric valve damaging the horn itself, the horns are pretty tough. i pieced my whole kit together the way i wanted it, so its custom but the way i wanted it. it depends on how long your gonna blast the horns i guess, if your just doing real short blasts you could get a smaller tank, something between 5 and 10 gallons. but if you wanna impress people and blow the horns for a while at a time i would go with a big tank like 20 to 30 gallons. I have a 20 gallon tank, and trust me i wish i had a bigger one cause my k5la’s are real air hungary and eat up 20 gallons in a hurry.
You have a Nathan though, the internals are much tougher on them than on a Leslie.
I’ve put my Leslie on my brother’s truck with an electric valve. I hated to do it but I did. While it didn’t hurt my horn, it did make it sound weird. We put a GW valve in there and it sounded great. For the manual valve, you’ll only have to run 2 airlines, one to the valve from the tank and one from the valve to the horn. It’s not too bad doing it, I did it on my Honda Accord. Oh, and also, the bigger the tank, the longer the honk. Leslie’s are even more air hungry than any new model Nathan. I would recommend the biggest you can afford right now. At least a 12 gallon or so. My brother only had a 5 gallon on his truck and it would still honk it but you wouldn’t be doing alot of it. Hope this helps!
ok sry hondaguy, i didnt realize the leslies internals were weaker than the nathans. the only reason i dont have a manual valve is becuause i have a new truck and i just didnt have it in me to run an airline through the cab with the vlave in the cab to. I have it so the factory horn button on the steering wheel blows the k5 and i have a switch that i can control it between the nathan and the factory horn.