Post by arsenal on Sept 7, 2004 2:54:44 GMT -5
God damn did I have a hell of time finding a replacement antenna for my Celica. Lots of forum time and looking around at radeo shops just to find out there were two options:
#1 - factory antenna
#2 - build my own from a broken factory antenna
Since #1 will eventually leave you with a non-functional electric antenna, I naturally skipped it and went right to #2...
1. Remove the antenna from your car and remove every non-essential part of it. Then remove the housing from the bottom of the antenna. You can now see alot of white grease and a piece of white plastic which extends into the antenna mast.
2. Cut the mast half way up the 1st (thickest) section and pull the white plastic wire out of the area you exposed in step 1.
3. Cut a 2" piece off the white wire. Now, inject silicone up into the hole the plastic wire used to enter the mast and slide your 2" piece into the solicone filled hole. This is going to act as a plug to garantee that this mod doesn't become a potential water leak should the seals in some of the later steps fail.
4. Cut a piece off the 2nd thickest part of the antenna mast, 3/4" in length. It's very important that you use the 2nd thickest part of the antenna here, because this will have to fit snugly into the mast you cut in step 1.
5. Soddering wire around the screw-portion of your new Honda S2000 antenna. Wrap it right from the base to the tip so that it looks like there is a compressed spring wrapped around it. You'll want to select a soddering wire which is going to make your screw/wire wrap-job slightly too thick for your 2" piece of mast to slide over (I used a .75mm thickness). Now, use a soddering iron to melt the sodder into a sheet around the screw. Don't worry about making it into a perfectly even layer, that's too much work. Force the 2" piece of mast over your sodder. It probably won't have a very tight fit, so use some sort of clamp or plier to crim the mast over the sodder layer....
the rest is pretty obvious, so I'll just show some pictures.
The black stuff comes in rolls, like tape. I forget it's name right now but it's used for making gaskets. Any glass shop will sell it to you.
Before you slide the 2"/antenna combo into the mast, try forcing them both into a slight oval shape, then rotate it as shown in the next pic...
The pic is an exageration, you want the oval shape to be very slight, just enough to force the two pieces to be snug.
I justed an automotive adhesive to seal the antenna to the base of the mast. That's it.
#1 - factory antenna
#2 - build my own from a broken factory antenna
Since #1 will eventually leave you with a non-functional electric antenna, I naturally skipped it and went right to #2...
1. Remove the antenna from your car and remove every non-essential part of it. Then remove the housing from the bottom of the antenna. You can now see alot of white grease and a piece of white plastic which extends into the antenna mast.
2. Cut the mast half way up the 1st (thickest) section and pull the white plastic wire out of the area you exposed in step 1.
3. Cut a 2" piece off the white wire. Now, inject silicone up into the hole the plastic wire used to enter the mast and slide your 2" piece into the solicone filled hole. This is going to act as a plug to garantee that this mod doesn't become a potential water leak should the seals in some of the later steps fail.
4. Cut a piece off the 2nd thickest part of the antenna mast, 3/4" in length. It's very important that you use the 2nd thickest part of the antenna here, because this will have to fit snugly into the mast you cut in step 1.
5. Soddering wire around the screw-portion of your new Honda S2000 antenna. Wrap it right from the base to the tip so that it looks like there is a compressed spring wrapped around it. You'll want to select a soddering wire which is going to make your screw/wire wrap-job slightly too thick for your 2" piece of mast to slide over (I used a .75mm thickness). Now, use a soddering iron to melt the sodder into a sheet around the screw. Don't worry about making it into a perfectly even layer, that's too much work. Force the 2" piece of mast over your sodder. It probably won't have a very tight fit, so use some sort of clamp or plier to crim the mast over the sodder layer....
the rest is pretty obvious, so I'll just show some pictures.
The black stuff comes in rolls, like tape. I forget it's name right now but it's used for making gaskets. Any glass shop will sell it to you.
Before you slide the 2"/antenna combo into the mast, try forcing them both into a slight oval shape, then rotate it as shown in the next pic...
The pic is an exageration, you want the oval shape to be very slight, just enough to force the two pieces to be snug.
I justed an automotive adhesive to seal the antenna to the base of the mast. That's it.
Nice write up. I'll archive it when I get home and can UL the pics to the 4g Server. Thanks man. ;D