AERIAL FITTING - Help much needed!!

adbart · Post by **adbart** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 7:36 pm

Hi there,

My 1992 mk3 polo has one of the standard factory-fit metal coathanger-type aerials fitted on it.

As expected, 13 years of ageing have bent the thing into a horrible shape. Went to a breakers yard last weekend and found myself an identical car with a much better, black rubber coated short aerial.

I thought it would be a simple old-one-off-new-one-on kind of job, but oh no!

The original aerial has the base and what looks like a black plastic washer surrounding the bottom of the metal aerial.

I cannot for the life of me get the thing off - tried unscrewing it and it did allow that for a while, but I've now reached a point where it won't unscrew any further (it's about 10cm taller now!? - still working).

The new aerial appears to have the same black tube fitting underneath as I expect the current one to have, but the construction on top is different, with a nut above the aerial base instead of a washer. On the new aerial, the actual aerial itself has a female fitting on the bottom and screws onto the bolt sticking out of the end of the nut above the aerial base.

How do I get the old one off and the new one on?

What I thought might be best would be to leave the black tube tunnel that is currently on, but just change the fitting on the top, and the aerial. Is this possible?

Thanks so much in advance for your help. If you need pictures to make this a bit clearer, just say and I'll take some.

Cheers!

hardhitter · Post by **hardhitter** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 9:34 pm

Have you looked at it from under the arch liner ?

adbart · Post by **adbart** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 10:57 pm

yep, i can see the black tube bit and not much else! its extremely awkward to angle my head under there because of the wheel!

what should i be looking for?

polonuts · Post by **polonuts** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 1:02 am

ok its been a while since I took mine off, but if memory serves, you will have to take off the passenger wheel, remove the inner arch cover (the plastic lining in the arch, you will then have full access to the underneath of your aerial. There should be a retaining nut. Undo the nut, disconnect the cable and it should lift free. re-fitting is a reversal of removal.

I never re-fitted mine tho, just filled the hole and fitted a bee sting instead (I'm a glutton for punishment!!)

hope this helps

adbart · Post by **adbart** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 4:13 pm

are you sure it's necessary to remove the wheel? it might be sufficient to just turn the steering so they're not so much in the way... what do you think?

about this nut that holds it on under the wing... how do i get at it in order to remove it? the interior walls of the wing are so close together, I don't see how it can be easily unscrewed...

If anyone has actually done this on a similar car I would be most grateful if they could post a little guide on how to do this!!

Thanks in advance...!

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 6:19 pm

Replacing
The Aerial
Is An Arse
/shatner

the thing is directly wired in all the way to the dash, where the plug goes in to the stereo, so you WILL have to jack it, remove wheel, remove arch liner (try to remember where all the screws go!), unscrew it above and below, pull it up (or down) outwards, and - this is the crucial bit - tie a good length of string around the plug on the old one before you withdraw it, so you've got something to pull the new one through with.

you may get lucky and find that the old one comes apart properly into aerial and base, and the new one can be inserted in the base without having to withdraw the cable ... i didn't.
(on top of the thing not merely being a bit bent and ugly, but completely snapped)

adbart · Post by **adbart** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:57 pm

You know what - the German engineering on VWs is great - but this is definitely an exception.

I've fiddled around with it for most of today and can't get it off easily.

So I've given up and bought a rooftop aerial, and yes, I'm going to drill a hole in my roof

(oh god, why?)

This of course means that I'm going to have a hole after I've removed the old aerial in my front wing.

What is the best way of getting rid of the hole and smoothing it? And can I re-touch it simply using a touch-up paint pen?

I'm sure someone's done this before..... ?!

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 9:19 pm

ah, people fill in the wing and put beestings on all the time ... standard fit on some models

might be easier just to get a replacement left-front panel in the right colour though.

bstardchild · Post by **bstardchild** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 9:31 pm

adbart wrote:This of course means that I'm going to have a hole after I've removed the old aerial in my front wing.

What is the best way of getting rid of the hole and smoothing it? And can I re-touch it simply using a touch-up paint pen?

I'm sure someone's done this before..... ?!

Yep - just stuck a gromet in it - or ariel blank

As long as the car is dark colour no-one notices

adbart · Post by **adbart** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:15 am

bstardchild wrote:As long as the car is dark colour no-one notices

It's in arctic white

adbart · Post by **adbart** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:16 am

does anyone have a part number or a link to a website where i can get something suitable (like a metal blank or a grommet that fits)??

Cheers..

Mk2Adam · Post by **Mk2Adam** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:45 am

i never thought i'd find a website devoted to grommets but hey...
http://www.grommets.co.uk/index2.html

don't know if this is any help?

adbart · Post by **adbart** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 4:05 pm

Thanks for the link Adam...

That company does a grommet that's a perfect fit, think I'll go with them.

Although I am wondering if anyone here knows a way I can do this without having a black grommet on the side of my car... having it all white would look a lot better.

I'm not doing any welding though

polonuts · Post by **polonuts** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 5:49 pm

spray the grommet white

Mk2Adam · Post by **Mk2Adam** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 8:51 pm

heres a white grommet...