Cheap Shark Fin Aerial from Ebay

[Keethos 842]

Hey,

 

There was a topic regarding this cheap shark fin aerial (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190907491383?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649) before the update but sadly that was lost into the depths of oblivion.  Anyways...I decided to get one myself and after a long struggle of finding the right time and getting the bloody original aerial off (couldn't figure how to disconnect it as there's little room to work with the roof lining not offering much room), but once I did, I stuck the aerial into position first to see how it'll look and to my disappointment, the bloody thing doesn't sit right:

 

 

 

You can see there's a gaping hole, even if I pushed down, it would not close the gap and I could see it pushing the roof in slightly, so I didn't even bother to try and screw the part down as I'm pretty certain it wouldn't make a difference.

 

So to those who've had this installed, did you have this issue?  Did you seal it with something or did yours sit flush no problem?

 

Thanks!

[rob275 1817]

That is a very strange aerial, the ones others have got you do not need to pull the roof lining off. 

[Keethos 842]

That's cos this isn't the mega expensive Beat sonic ones what go over the original aerial base, this is the one that BRZ2 and tegunulgener brought (I believe) which replaces the original aerial completely.

[tegunulgener 84]

Yes I did. And Paid about £10. (Free postage). Works very fine and painted matt black (from halfords) and fits perfectly. Actually, apart from connector, there is no any installation issues or difficulties at all. Roof lining wasn't off at all. Only 3 pins at the very rear of the lining been removed and there is enough room to work. Actually more than enough. Me and Angela (she was holding the torch as it was dark) worked together (almost)

 

PS: There is no gap between aerial and the car!

 

Here is my installation:

 

 

 

 

[rob275 1817]

That's cos this isn't the mega expensive Beat sonic ones what go over the original aerial base, this is the one that BRZ2 and tegunulgener brought (I believe) which replaces the original aerial completely.

 

I'm fairly sure Steve didn't have to pull his roof lining off, I may be wrong. But he's inactive as hell :{

[Keethos 842]

Here you go Rob, to show how certain I am that Steve has one of these:  http://www.gt86.org.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/771-cheap-way-to-get-a-shark-fin-antenna/

 

Hmmmmm.....is mine just a dodgy one then?  I've removed the rubber bit on the underside and instead of it being tucked away, I'm guna give it another try but this time I'll just have the rubber seal/bit resting infront of the base of the aerial, this way the rubber sits a lil further out and hopefully seals the aerial better and leaves no gaps.....but if it still does....I'll have to give the sell a bell and see if he can swap it 

[Keethos 842]

Well, I gave it another shot while in the car park of the Premier Inn while people were leaving for the Karting place on Saturday and this time, I pulled the rubber out from underneath and just had it laying there (rather than it being tucked around the metal plate on the underside.  With it sat on the roof this time you couldn't see a gap, so I started to tighten the nut which took ages, after it started to tighten a little (but it can still be screwed more), I checked the aerial and you could no longer see the rubber, so hopefully it's just squashing the rubber under the aerial and not actually bending the roof at all to match the curve of the aerial.  I've not tightened it any more as you can't really move or twist the aerial any more so don't really want to over tighten it.

 

 

 

 

A tip I forgot to mention in my original post for those who might want to try this themselves, pulling out the 3 plastic grommets can be tricky if you dig in too far and try and pull too much of the grommet out, what I mean by this is that the plastic grommet has 2 circular discs, the outer black disc and an inner white disc sandwiched together, make sure that you are only pulling on the black outer disc and that you are separating it from the white disc, this will eventually pop out and you will be able to pull the whole thing out then.

 

Secondly, to disconnect the aerial from it's connector, reach behind the connector from the left hand side and pinch the left side of the connector horizontally, while pulling on the cable from the right, this should then pop the connector out and you can go ahead and unscrew the 22mm nut.

 

And lastly, before you pull the original aerial out, you will need to pinch in 2 lil tabs on either side of the screw thread for the aerial to unhook it and then pop the aerial out.

 

I didn't actually bother connecting this new aerial up as I don't actually listen to the radio but if you did, you would need to cut up the oem aerial cable and splice or crimp connectors to the oem pin connector with the new aerial, this is a photo of the oem aerial and the connector that you need:

 

[keelerad 256]

All that mucking about and you don't even listen to the radio 

 

You Keith are a fashion victim !

[Keethos 842]

[tegunulgener 84]

well, I did cut and soldering myself. I don't listen to the radio but I want to be sure everything works fine. And it does actually.

[Keethos 842]

Yeah, I could do the soldering, or even just crimp them......but I don't really fancy cutting up the oem aerial.....even though what I could do is crimp the oem aerial as well so I could always still reconnect the original aerial if I wanted to go back.....but I'm just being lazy 

[rob275 1817]

You can probably get a connector identical to the OEM Aerial Keith, worth a look?

[Keethos 842]

LOL, I'd love to know how to search for one of these, these silly pin connectors, I've heard it was difficult enough finding ones for the head unit which you'd think are more common, but to try and find this connector for the aerial....no idea....don't even know if it's a common connection or not.