I am looking for an aftermarket power antenna for my 1989 trans am.Looking for an aftermarket plug and play easiest to install any recommendations?i see in some pictures the anteena cable unscrews on some that i have seen would save me the aggravation of fishing it to the back of the radio anyone with this fix would be a help before i go forward so i get the correct antenna.thanks in advance Jim

 

Does your car still have the factory GM power antenna in it now?

 

to the best of my knowledge yes

 

The CROWN?? brand unit is supposedly almost a direct replacement for our stock power units. try look into that / research it. Its pretty cheap as i recall

 

What's wrong with the original one? I'd recommend just getting that one fixed. Do a search for Barney Eaton. He does a great job and once he's done it'll probably last longer than anything you can buy off the shelf.

 

Crown Automotive 56003151 Power Antenna

Powerbuilt 640922 Antenna Wrench

This power antenna is for a Jeep application but it fits the third gen Camaro and Firebird just perfect with a few very simple mods.

You need to remove the coax cable from the Crown antenna and the factory antenna.

You need to rotate the tubular housing the mast is inside of 180 degrees to match the factory antenna. It has a yoke inserted into some rubber grommets.



You will install the factory coax cable onto the Crown antenna.

You will need to cut the Grey, Green, and White wires that power the antenna between the rubber grommet pressed into the sheet metal of the car and the power antenna. You will also need to cut the same color wires on the Crown antenna so you can splice them together using butt splices with sealing gel and heat shrink tubing.

 

Before you buy anything post a picture of the power antenna bezel and nut on the passenger side fender so we can make sure your car still has the factory GM power antenna installed. This Crown antenna only works with the factory GM power antenna nut, bezel, coax cable, and wiring. If someone has already hacked an aftermarket power antenna into the car then all that stuff will probably be gone or hacked up.

 

Have the pictures but can't figure out how to upload will post later today with help from my kids. Thank you, Jim

 

Here are the pictures. Thank you for the help

 

Yep that is the factory antenna with the factory nut and bezel so it will work with the replacement Jeep power antenna by Crown Automotive. Your antenna is stuck in the fully down position so will be a breeze to get out. Since it will come out intact without having to cut the mast off don't throw it away. Some guys like to rebuild them by replacing the plastic cable inside with a stainless steel cable that will never break. But it is a process to rebuild them. Back when replacement masts and replacement cables were available I used to rebuild them. Never did the rebuild process some of the guys here do with the stainless steel cable though. Since finding out about the Jeep antenna never bothered with rebuilding them again. For the price vs time it's not worth my time to do and I've replaced dozens of these over the years so if it fails years later I'll just swap it again.

Note always test the new Crown antenna before installing it for proper function. Before you have everything apart to do the swap, first remove only what is necessary to access the connector under the passenger side dash to plug the Crown antenna into then sit in the car on passenger side with door wide open and plug the connector in and cycle the radio off and on and make sure the new antenna works right.

I use a piece of cardboard with a hole in it sized to fit over the nut and bezel tapped to the fender when removing and installing the antenna to prevent paint damage if the tool used to loosen and tighten the nut slips. In the good old days I used a pair of needle nose pliers. Now I have a set of Snap-On antenna sockets.

Somewhere on the site is a write up about removing and replacing the power antenna. Have fun. It's way easier to do on a Firebird than a Camaro.

You can get them from Amazon, Summit, Jegs and other places.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cwa-56003151
https://www.jegs.com/i/Crown-Automot...03151/10002/-1

 

thank you again for the help and yes that is my intention to rebuild the OE.Jim

 

Don't understand the push to replace the unit, especially with one you have to mod to get to fit right. Just send in the original one to Barney Eaton and get it fixed right.

 

Well to be honest with you seeing as the antenna motor is 30+ years i will put a new antenna and run with that,i lan on fixing the OE one and put that on the shelf as a spare(cheap enough)I had to replace the motor on the rear hatch release as it's non-serviceable and rebuilt the assembly while i had it apart,also had to rebuild the two head light assembly also as well.Jim

 

The only thing you have to change on the crown ant is the position of the mast as seen in post #6 instructions. You do not have to cut the wires, its easy enough to pull the thick grommet. Unplugging the harness behind the dash is probably the biggest hassle.

 

I've had to cut the green, grey, and white wires on everyone of them when swapping them. The wires and the coax go through the rubber grommet. You can't push the power wires with connector or the coax with connector through the grommet. The Jeep antenna has a short coax cable with a connector on the end that plugs into another coax in the Jeep that goes to the radio. The F body has one coax cable that goes from back of radio to the power antenna mast. So far I haven't found the right coax cable connector to fit it. I haven't looked very hard either. If I find the right connector I'll just make the extension coax cable the right length with a Motorola antenna connector or the GM Mini Motorola antenna connector. But It's just as easy to reuse the existing coax and cut the wires. I use a 3 pin weather pack connector so it is easy to take out again if necessary.

It does make things easier to cut and reconnect the 3 wires if you disconnect the antenna from the back of the radio and fish the coax cable toward the grommet then push the grommet out of the hole then pull everything out enough to have it outside the fender well. Connect everything then pull the wires back in and push the grommet back into its hole.

Also on the Firebird it is super easy to unplug the power harness. It's the Camaro the connector is buried up under the dash.

 

If there is some trick to not cutting the wires I've missed it dozens of times. Please clue me in.

I guess I could push the grommet out of the car and slice it in two just until I got to the coax and do the same to the other grommet then swap the GM coax cable into the grommet of the Jeep antenna. I also haven't checked to see if the power lead is long enough to reach the connector in the car if doing this.

I have three of these to put in. I'll try this idea and see if it works out.

 

The crown comes with a new coax cable bundled with the harness (which is long enough to reach the relay). So i just popped out the grommet and switched the whole thing, but i fixed my OE antenna and swapped it back on and kept the crown for a back up. So im not sure i ever plugged in the coax.

I did add a connector after the grommet when i fixed the OE ant. This way when it breaks again i can just unplug it there and disconnect the coax and not have remove the whole harness from the car. Would the Jeep ant cable from the radio the ant work on the f-bodies? This way you wouldnt need to cut the f-body cable out of the grommet.

Crown ant, before i rotated the mast 180 degrees.

 

I don't know because I've never removed the antenna cable out of a Jeep to see. I have no idea how long the in car cable is or which antenna connector it has on the radio end of the cable. Most likely it doesn't have a GM mini antenna connector. Probably has the full size standard Motorola connector.

 

They make adapters that reduce or enlarge the banana plug to the radio. Gonna have to check them jeep cherokees at the JY.

 

• 1987-1996 Jeep Cherokee XJ
• 1987-1992 Jeep Comanche MJ
• Happy JY hunting

 

 

I have been repairing GM power antenna for about 20 years. I got started because I am the Buick Club of America technical advisor for Buick Reattas.
People would call me saying their antenna was running and they could not shut it off. I would tell them what to do (on the Reatta you simply unplug the connector at the antenna.
GM used the Slimline on all their cars from around 1980 until they no longer offered power antenna around 2005
The slimline is the unit shown in one of the post earlier.....gold tinted mast...black plastic housing with little metal clips around the perimeter and eyelets.
The common failure is the cord that raises and lowers the mast. These were available from GM but they are no longer available from GM.... there are some other sources
but be careful, some are coming from China and the top mast section is chrome plated steel (Delco used stainless) and they are easily bent.
I presently use plastic coated steel cable to replace the plastic. I can also replace broken mast....new mast are no longer available but I have good used mast.

The attached photo shows some antenna I rebuilt for a online seller..... these are for Buick Riviera.... the main difference is at the fender, GM used different mounting methods

If you have a question or antenna issue contact me at.......... barneyeaton1@gmail.com

 

Thank you

 

I am not familiar with the "Crown" unit but suspect it is a Chinese reproduction here are the clues
(1) gold tone mast is solid on reproduction....Delco has a seam that is tack welded.

You would need to open the unit but the mast contacts are brass sleeves, not flat leaf like the Delco.
The brush assemble often fails because the brass arms that hold the on/off contacts are not the correct material or are not heat treated and they deform and stop working.



The top small diameter mast is stainless on Delco.... the reproductions are some chrome plated copper alloy and are soft and easily bent.