Those of you following my build thread are aware that I recently replaced the power antenna in my car. I wanted to do a write up on my experience and hopefully it will help somebody. My car is a Grand Prix, so this will be specific to the 81-87 GP but it should be a pretty similar procedure on other models.
When I bought my car, the antenna was in the up position and was non-functional. The mast was slightly bent and had some overspray on it, so I knew it was non-functional when the car went to paint. I started out by buying a book on Kirban's on how to replace a power antenna on a Turbo Buick. Here is a link...
http://www.kirbanperformance.com/pr...MOVAL+AND+INSTALLATION+GUIDE++BOOK+#6976.html
The book was helpful for me but hopefully you won't need it after reading this write up. For the price it is a nice reference though.
My next step was to come up with a replacement antenna. There are several options that I'm aware of:
1. Kirban's will rebuild your antenna or sell you a rebuilt antenna. This wasn't a good fit for me since my mast wasn't in great shape.
2. If your antenna runs but doesn't go up, you could buy the steel replacement cable from Kirban's and fix it yourself. I think there is a thread on how to fix the antenna yourself on the Turbo Buick forum. Here is a link to Kirban's where they offer the cable, the rebuilding service or the rebuilt antenna.
http://www.kirbanperformance.com/products.php?search_text=power+antenna&submit_button=
3. You can buy an aftermarket new antenna and make it work (not my favorite option). One is the Delco 88891020. It's kind of expensive for how universal it is.
4. You can buy a new old stock (NOS) antenna. Be careful. Many of the antenna failures are a result of the nylon cable drying up and breaking. I bought a NOS antenna from a member on here. He indicated mine had a blue insert in the mast and was date coded to 1999. He added that the older replacement antennas that have the white insert in the mast and are dated to the early 90's and late '80's tend to be the ones that are dried out and snap. The antenna I bought from him was tested and he had a video of it operating.
These are just some options I'm aware of. The metal cable to repair an antenna may be available elsewhere so doing your own research is a good idea.
Here is a look at my replacement antenna. It looks like it was AC Delco 22048604...
Sorry for the upside down picture. I can't seem to get it to cooperate on this machine. I'll fix it at work next week if I remember.
I had the passenger inner fender out of my car when I decided to do this repair. It made it easier but it is not necessary to remove the inner fender to do this job and I don't suggest pulling the inner fender as it is a little bit of a pain, especially with an engine in the car.
I started out by disconnecting the antenna from the wiring coming from inside the cockpit. The connector is over under the passenger side of the HVAC case. There is a connection for the antenna lead over there as well. Mine was a threaded connection. That booklet that I mentioned earlier indicated that the later cars had a quick connection instead that you should not attempt to unplug. Instead drop the antenna assembly out of the fender and then disconnect the lead at the antenna. I tied about five feet of wire to both the antenna lead and the three wire connector (the ends that connect to the power antenna) to use as fish wires. On my car, there are two openings in the fender inner structure panel and the two connectors came through different ones. Hence, I didn't use just one fish wire....
Next, I taped up the leading edge of the passenger door and the trailing edge of the fender with blue tape. I did this because you have to remove four bolts along the rear edge of the fender skin. Three of those bolts secure the fender skin to the fender inner structure panel and the fourth secures the antenna to the back edge of the fender skin. The tape needs to go pretty far back on the door since you will be right next to your paint with your tools.
Here is a look at three of the four bolts. The top two secure the skin to the inner panel. The third one down secures the antenna to the skin. Mine was missing this bolt. The fourth is very low and secures the skin to the inner panel....
The top three bolts will all come out with a 1/4" drive ratchet and an 8mm socket. The bottom bolt, you'll have to use a wrench. It is not visible in my picture above. It will be obvious to you when you look for it. It is coarse thread and you barely have enough room to get it out if you have the trim on the bottom of your door like mine. You will need an assistant to hold the door wide open for you while you remove and install this bolt. The bottom bolt on mine was a bit grumpy from corrosion I guess. I had to be patient and work it back and forth a little bit. When I put it back in, I used some anti-seize on it and it went back together much better. Here is a look at the top two bolts and the bottom bolt...
The bolts along the wheel arch that secure the edge of the skin to the inner structure panel will also need to be pulled. There are six of them. You need not remove the chrome wheel arch trim. My car has a lower rocker panel moulding and I had to pull it loose from the first two clips closest to the front of the car so the bottom of the fender could be pulled outboard. The black trim in this picture is the moulding I'm referring to....
You can get the moulding loose by pushing down on the top edge and pulling outward on the bottom of it at each clip. Here is a look at what the clip looks like. Of course I broke one of the little tabs off of the first one....
No problem. They are available. You can buy them here...
http://www.autofastco.net/catalog/item/7780351/10040135.htm
That's 10 pictures so I'm going to go ahead and post this. To be continued....
When I bought my car, the antenna was in the up position and was non-functional. The mast was slightly bent and had some overspray on it, so I knew it was non-functional when the car went to paint. I started out by buying a book on Kirban's on how to replace a power antenna on a Turbo Buick. Here is a link...
http://www.kirbanperformance.com/pr...MOVAL+AND+INSTALLATION+GUIDE++BOOK+#6976.html
The book was helpful for me but hopefully you won't need it after reading this write up. For the price it is a nice reference though.
My next step was to come up with a replacement antenna. There are several options that I'm aware of:
1. Kirban's will rebuild your antenna or sell you a rebuilt antenna. This wasn't a good fit for me since my mast wasn't in great shape.
2. If your antenna runs but doesn't go up, you could buy the steel replacement cable from Kirban's and fix it yourself. I think there is a thread on how to fix the antenna yourself on the Turbo Buick forum. Here is a link to Kirban's where they offer the cable, the rebuilding service or the rebuilt antenna.
http://www.kirbanperformance.com/products.php?search_text=power+antenna&submit_button=
3. You can buy an aftermarket new antenna and make it work (not my favorite option). One is the Delco 88891020. It's kind of expensive for how universal it is.
4. You can buy a new old stock (NOS) antenna. Be careful. Many of the antenna failures are a result of the nylon cable drying up and breaking. I bought a NOS antenna from a member on here. He indicated mine had a blue insert in the mast and was date coded to 1999. He added that the older replacement antennas that have the white insert in the mast and are dated to the early 90's and late '80's tend to be the ones that are dried out and snap. The antenna I bought from him was tested and he had a video of it operating.
These are just some options I'm aware of. The metal cable to repair an antenna may be available elsewhere so doing your own research is a good idea.
Here is a look at my replacement antenna. It looks like it was AC Delco 22048604...
Sorry for the upside down picture. I can't seem to get it to cooperate on this machine. I'll fix it at work next week if I remember.
I had the passenger inner fender out of my car when I decided to do this repair. It made it easier but it is not necessary to remove the inner fender to do this job and I don't suggest pulling the inner fender as it is a little bit of a pain, especially with an engine in the car.
I started out by disconnecting the antenna from the wiring coming from inside the cockpit. The connector is over under the passenger side of the HVAC case. There is a connection for the antenna lead over there as well. Mine was a threaded connection. That booklet that I mentioned earlier indicated that the later cars had a quick connection instead that you should not attempt to unplug. Instead drop the antenna assembly out of the fender and then disconnect the lead at the antenna. I tied about five feet of wire to both the antenna lead and the three wire connector (the ends that connect to the power antenna) to use as fish wires. On my car, there are two openings in the fender inner structure panel and the two connectors came through different ones. Hence, I didn't use just one fish wire....
Next, I taped up the leading edge of the passenger door and the trailing edge of the fender with blue tape. I did this because you have to remove four bolts along the rear edge of the fender skin. Three of those bolts secure the fender skin to the fender inner structure panel and the fourth secures the antenna to the back edge of the fender skin. The tape needs to go pretty far back on the door since you will be right next to your paint with your tools.
Here is a look at three of the four bolts. The top two secure the skin to the inner panel. The third one down secures the antenna to the skin. Mine was missing this bolt. The fourth is very low and secures the skin to the inner panel....
The top three bolts will all come out with a 1/4" drive ratchet and an 8mm socket. The bottom bolt, you'll have to use a wrench. It is not visible in my picture above. It will be obvious to you when you look for it. It is coarse thread and you barely have enough room to get it out if you have the trim on the bottom of your door like mine. You will need an assistant to hold the door wide open for you while you remove and install this bolt. The bottom bolt on mine was a bit grumpy from corrosion I guess. I had to be patient and work it back and forth a little bit. When I put it back in, I used some anti-seize on it and it went back together much better. Here is a look at the top two bolts and the bottom bolt...
The bolts along the wheel arch that secure the edge of the skin to the inner structure panel will also need to be pulled. There are six of them. You need not remove the chrome wheel arch trim. My car has a lower rocker panel moulding and I had to pull it loose from the first two clips closest to the front of the car so the bottom of the fender could be pulled outboard. The black trim in this picture is the moulding I'm referring to....
You can get the moulding loose by pushing down on the top edge and pulling outward on the bottom of it at each clip. Here is a look at what the clip looks like. Of course I broke one of the little tabs off of the first one....
No problem. They are available. You can buy them here...
http://www.autofastco.net/catalog/item/7780351/10040135.htm
That's 10 pictures so I'm going to go ahead and post this. To be continued....