S-Chassis.com - Fixed Antenna Pics and Quick How To

Alright, for a while I've had this vision of dumping the old power antenna in favor of something better. I've seen a lot of cars with the small stubby antennas and I decided I wanted one too.

After some thought, I decided that I didn't want a honda S2K antenna, and opted for a VW '03 Jetta roof antenna. A quick trip to the dealership snagged me an antenna (base, mast, and wiring) for about 80 bucks. I know someone out there can do better :P

The only problem I ran into in this whole install and what set me backa few hours was the fact that the antenna relay plug is different on the VW piece. Nissan uses a typical male style plug while VW uses a weird male/female plug. If you're good with splicing, take the plug from the Nissan and splice it to the new one (if needed), or take it to an audio shop and have them do it. I wasn't familiar with the style of wiring from either, so I took it to a shop to have spliced.

Pulling the old antenna out is pretty simple and easy. I'm not sure how similar the hatches are to the coupes, but this is a coupe/convertable install.

First, you'll need to retract the antenna all the way (trust me on this and don't ask why) and get some snap ring pliers. But the tips of the pliers into the two hols on either side of the mast tip and turn counter clockwise. My snap ring pliers couldn't get deep enough into the holes, so I opted for something more destructive, but ultimately quicker. If you don't care about keeping the original antenna, you can do this. Take a lock wrench or normal pliers and grab either side of the silver ring and turn. It'll tear the chrome up and eat at the rubber, but hey, you're not keeping those pieces anyways :p. Once it's broken and turning, it should unscrew. Now just slip it over the mast tip and remove the chrome and rubber pieces.

Take the jack out of the well and grab the interior plastic piece. It has two pop tabs holding it in place, and they'll pop right out with a little bit of pressure. Be careful cause you don't want to tear the plastic. I used the jack to just hold the plastic out of the way, but you can remove it completely if you want.

Next, you'll want to remove the 3 bolts (10mm) holding the jack mount in place and then the jack mount. There are two more 10mm bolts left on this piece of steel and they hold the antenna system in place. Go ahead and remove them to release the atenna assy, now just monkey wrangle it out. There are three plugs (two from the harness for the power motor and one from the antenna relay). It's easier to wrangle if the mast is down (which is why I said to retract it before this started), but you can have a bit of leeway when you remove the exterior mount peices. I made the mistake of extending the antenna while I was trying to figure out how to get the rubber and chrome off and couldn't get it back down afterwards. A hacksaw and a set of snips solved that problem.

Clean off the paint around the hole and drop the chord of the new antenna through it and get ready to mount the new one. Set whatever locking mechanism the antenna comes with, in the case of the Jetta, it's the nut/washer combo, and plug the antenna in. You're done!

Just reinstall the jack mount, the interior piece, and the jack

Now for the pics! Unfortunately, all of my pics of actually doing the work weren't that great, and were more for assessing what was going on behind the frame. After you see the old antenna out of the car, you'll understand what to do.

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...18_31_full.jpg
The new VW '03 Jetta antenna and mast.

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...18_30_full.jpg
The old antenna assy. Notice the bracket at the bottom. Thats all that holds it in place.

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...18_29_full.jpg
The antenna

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...18_32_full.jpg

http://images.cardomain.com/member_i...18_28_full.jpg
don't mind the duct tape, it won't be needed after i take her to the upholstery shop next week