aerial replacement

[nadz325i]

anybody have any idea on how to rpelace the standard aerial on the e30, rear wing position on to say, an invisiable one (lol), something discreet to give the car a clean euro look, no horriable mast erect into the sky lol,

something along the lines of attaching a booster or small aerial box/pickup signal by the rear screen would be kool,

ive seen like the dab aerial like a small box, can they be used with standard am/fm radios?

how about this one
http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/product ... ts_id=3687

does any body know of anything like this?

[Sjoerd320i]

i believe placey has a hidden arial, maybe you could ask him how he did it.

cheers Sjoerd

[placey]

nadz

i have an aerial hidden in my a-pillar. simple. the trick is to get it to attach to the roof panel - thus using this to pick up a signal. simply solder a coax or twisted pair cable to your aerial plug at the head unit end, run this up your a-pillar and attach the -ve (i think - i can confirm this with my local ice and car electrics god) to the inside of your roof.

329i - that's well remembered mate!

paul

[nadz325i]

so let me get this straight,

get hold of some coax (tv lead should be ok?) and attach the middle wire onto the roof, insualtion tape?

if so that a bloody genuis idea!! creadit to ya

how good the reception? the whole roof the aerial lol.

also why solder, what if you keep your standard aerial adapter and just modify to fit the wire in there and crimp maybe? and wire it up?

[StuBeeDoo]

Alternately, you can get a box out of a '83-'90 Orion from your local breaker. It fits in the left-hand rear roof pillar and uses the heated rear screen elements as the aerial. I never had any problems with the reception in either of the Orions I owned, and I lived in a bad reception area.
Not certain, but I think a similar set-up was used on the E34.
I have thought about doing this on my Touring, but at the moment, I've got more urgent jobs to do on it!
HTH
Stuart.

[nadz325i]

Alternately, you can get a box out of a '83-'90 Orion from your local breaker. It fits in the left-hand rear roof pillar and uses the heated rear screen elements as the aerial. I never had any problems with the reception in either of the Orions I owned, and I lived in a bad reception area.
Not certain, but I think a similar set-up was used on the E34.
I have thought about doing this on my Touring, but at the moment, I've got more urgent jobs to do on it!
HTH
Stuart.

kool stu, another nice tip,

my dads got a e34, and he has no mast aerial to, must be with the rear screen.

but both ures and placey idea are very good.

thanks.

[placey]

nadz

the reception on mine is reasonable. quite often i pick up the stations and not the rds data - so that means i don't get the station name on the display. seeing as i only ever listen to the football commentry on the radio if i'm driving and my team are playing and i have the display on blackout mode permantly it doesn't bother me.

when we did the aerial 'conversion' we were aware that it was a bit of an experiment and that as i hardly ever listen to the radio anyway it didn't matter if it failed. my local ice god man says that he's done a few other customer's cars now after he tells them about mine. he loves it when i visit - he uses my motor as a seling tool.

paul

[StuBeeDoo]

Just had another thought....... I've heard of people using the boot lid as an aerial, but I don't know how you'd wire it.

[tari]

Hmmmmm... Interesting as I'm in the same predicament...

[tailoutcharlie]

i got a glass mounted arial from halfrauds, is just a strip stuck to inside of rear window top or bottom you dont notice it.

i wired it up to original 12v feed for the bmw power arial and have perfect signal all the time.

now to smooth over the original hole

[Nemo]

I am also removing the aerial from the rear wing because my hole went rusty!!! So I thought I'd smooth it off as it was letting water into the boot. I went to my local car shop and bought an interior screen mount aerial for £15. I've just got to stick the aerial box to a window, ground it, connect the power wire and signal cable and hey presto Chris Moyles is a go go!

[tailoutcharlie]

yep exactly as i did, seemed to be the best way. i did it to an ex-e30 so will be doing same to current e30, in fact may do a little guide if anyones interested.

still dont know how to cover the hole on the cheap tho (cant afford a bodyshop visit)

[Nemo]

To cover the hole I've just used a rubber bung at the mo, it looks like a giant mole but it stops the water getting in! My Dad works for an accident repair centre so there's a few people there that are a bit handy with metal and filler!

[StuBeeDoo]

still dont know how to cover the hole on the cheap tho (cant afford a bodyshop visit)

This may sound a bit of a bodge, but here goes.
1) Key the area around the hole with P80 paper and get rid of any loose paint and rust. If there is any rust, treat it with Kurust.
2) Knock the panel in slightly into a dimple with a ballpeign hammer.
3) Fill over the hole with Isopon P40, but don't make it level you still need a bit of a dimple.
4) Smooth the dimple off to the correct contour of the panel with Isopon P38.
5) Prime, then paint body colour, blending-in to the existing paint.

Usual bodywork Cardinal Rule applies - careful preparation is required for a successful job.

HTH
Stuart.