Aerial Fun

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I've been a member for a few months now but this is my first real call for help. My girlfriend bought a roadster a few months back with a broken aerial, no problem I thought, I'll pick up a replacement and switch them when I have time. In the meantime I had performed a limited amount of troubleshooting to determine that it was the motor unit that needed replacing (ie no noise when switching the radio on/off)

So, inevitably I put that job off for a few months until last week when I found a second hand one on ebay for a reasonable price, it arrived today so I had a go at replacing it, and I've uncovered a few problems.

It seems the aerial that was fitted was not standard and the previous owner in their efforts to fit it have modified the wiring somewhat. I'm not 100% sure on this however so I could do with those more in the know to confirm a few things for me

Could anyone take a look at the following two photos to confirm that I am right about the old one being non standard (and the new one that I've bought is the correct model):

New aerial:
IMAG0395 by robert.colclough, on Flickr

Old aerial:
IMAG0397 by robert.colclough, on Flickr

And also the wiring seems strange, the new aerial accepts a square connector block with 5 pins but the current wiring in the car is as follows:

One cut (and previously taped up) aerial lead which runs to the front and disappears into the  scock cock scock pit through a small hole.
Three more wires coming from the front (same as the aerial), which were not connected to anything.
Two wires which ran from the back of the car (both were connected to the old motor unit to the red and blue wires in the picture), I can't see where these go as they run over the wheel arch and I was running out of light at the time.
If you look at the pictures it seems that the earth for the old aerial was wound around the bracket and screwed in.

Sorry about the lack of pictures, I've ran out of light today and I don't have a garage so I will resume my investigations tomorrow and obtain some.

I'm thinking that for some reason the power has been connected to something at the rear, maybe the lights? But I can't fathom why the old connector has been butchered and the aerial lead cut off and re-taped together with electrical tape. It seems like a real bodge job that I want to correct, my backup plan is to fit a fixed aerial and sell the one I bought on ebay but I'd like to have a stab at correcting this mess first!

Does anyone know what connector I need for the power and how it is wired?

Any help appreciated!

Thanks

Rob

[Anonymous]

From memory its just one plug apart from the signal wire. The old one is the wrong aerial. Where in Essex are you as I could have a look if your not to far.

[trevsmr2]

Neither of those are the correct standard aerial
the first one is a MK2 rev1 ,and the second one is a generic aerial

 
here is a bad pic of mine and wiring ,you can see the fittings are different



the wiring connects to a relay under the storage bins



For info this is the correct one

 m http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electric-ante ... 2ec4b54475 m

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the help everyone, as always it's top notch. It's annoying that the new one is the wrong aerial, I have to be honest I didn't check it out completely but jumped on this when I saw it  as it stated it was from a 53 plate.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321043938209?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Thanks for the offer of help rbuckingham! Unfortunately I'm in Chafford Hundred so I'm quite far from you.

The one I have has a relay attached to the aerial motor itself which explains somewhat the state of the wiring. I think even if I did have the correct one I would have a mission figuring the correct pin out for the plug, I'm not even sure all of the wires still run through to the wheel arch so recrimping and extending the coaxial cable and fitting a fixed aerial may be the way to go. Are beestings really that bad?

[Anonymous]

Bee sting is really only a cosmetic thing as it don't really get any radio. The stock one might make the car look a bit more rc but it always gets your radio station.

[frogger]

Bee sting is really only a cosmetic thing as it don't really get any radio. The stock one might make the car look a bit more rc but it always gets your radio station.

Install a beesting as a cosmetic thing, and put a £5-£10 boosted internal aerial inside the car. Best of both worlds.

I have a non-functional beesting aerial on the side, and get FANTASTIC reception via a boosted internal aerial stuck behind the rear view mirror.

It's definitely better than the stock MR2 aerial, probably due to the boosted reception.

[trevsmr2]

Alternative option

I fitted a roof aerial ,but couldn't get a good earth




so changed it and made my own from both parts  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  



 l viewtopic.php?f=8&t=38731&p=461977&hilit=aerial#p461977 l

[simers]

Sorry for off topic here but trev where did you get your arch extensions???

[trevsmr2]

Sorry for off topic here but trev where did you get your arch extensions???

They are part of the full Postert body-kit, bumpers as well

 m http://www.tuningshop.co.uk/acatalog/To ... __kit.html m

[Anonymous]

Looks good trev, I'm popping to halfords now to see their wingmount aerials, I think I'll have enough clearance underneath for it to fit. I'm not sure yet but I may run the new coaxial cable all the way to the headunit rather than terminating the butchered one...

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_173381_langId_-1_categoryId_165622#tab4

[trevsmr2]

Looks good trev, I'm popping to halfords now to see their wingmount aerials, I think I'll have enough clearance underneath for it to fit. I'm not sure yet but I may run the new coaxial cable all the way to the headunit rather than terminating the butchered one...

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_173381_langId_-1_categoryId_165622#tab4

Have a good look at them ,the problem you will have is the angle the aerial sits at, and the hole it leaves when removed requires a large washer behind it, to make an earth ,roof mount ones are better because some can be angled to suit
 
I ran the new coax lead direct to the head unit on mine ,i dont find it very good connecting aerial wires together,

have a look at the interior mount aerials as well as an option ,some people recommend them