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I don’t like my power antenna, and I plan to downgrade. It’s distracting, it occasionally pops a fuse, and it’s prone to mechanical problems. When I had a Toyota 4Runner, I read about the whip antenna mod. It was instructions on how to replace the power antenna with a standard antenna from a Toyota Tacoma. After my 4Runner’s antenna failed the 2nd time, I did the mod. It worked great. Hopefully I’ll have similar results. I bought a standard antenna mast from eBay (gm part #10026633). I’ll replace the antenna wire all the way back to the radio.
Having never owned a thirdgen with a power antenna, I can't say that the fixed mast antenna bothers me in the least. Even having to unscrew it when putting the cover on the car, it's really just not an issue.
Pretty sure the antenna assembly is easy to convert. On the fixed mast cars, it's just a 90* tab bolted to the body, with a 10mm bolt and star washer retaining the antenna base to the tab, then the bezel and nut on top of the fender. Not sure the power antenna uses the exact same tab, but even if not it'd be easy to fabricate.
Thanks - the old antenna and wiring are out. The new antenna cable is in along with the grommet. I realized that I need a different bezel and retaining nut. I just bought those from Hawk’s third gen. I’m going to start with a small flexible antenna and see how it goes. http://www.hawksmotorsports.com/ante...tenna-82-2002/
You guys that want to ditch the front antenna and still want good fm reception check out Tune Trapper, I took my antenna out and capped the hole, 2 good places to mount the antenna are beneath the dash pad and inside the headliner if you have t tops put it right in the center pointing front and back. I tried in both locations and it works amazingly well and no ugly antenna. I tried the center console that wasn't as good reception so don't mount there.
I’m still refurbishing my interior. Once I get the car back on the road, I’ll post an update. The new antenna looks good, and the antenna wire was easy to route to the radio.
I FINALLY finished my interior project. The project included a new alpine head unit, and I powered it up for the first time today. All FM stations sounded nice and clear. The AM stations had a little static, though. The seek passed over the talk radio station I usually listen to. I manually tuned in the station, and I could hear it fine. All in all, I’m happy with the small stationary antenna.
