Aftermarket aerial removal any ideas?

[SundayDriver]

Dear All,

Come across a small issue while trying to replace my car aerial. Long story short I am trying to take my E30 back to stock and remove and redress some of the decisions made over the past 30 years by previous owners.

For a while I've not liked the aerial on my car which looks aftermarket and quite worn. To sort this I purchased a stock original replacement. Thinking it would be a quick job I removed the rear carpet and was surprised to find a small mental cylinder which appears to have been welded into position to take the aerial housing.

I am keen not to do further damage to the unit/housing/pannel.

Has anyone come across this before? It would appear at some point in the past someone has removed the retractable aerial and simply somehow put this in it's place.

Any ideas on what I might be able to do to remove this? I've tried to unscrew the cap/nut on the outside of the car but that simply twists the unit inside the cylinder which ended up snapping the wire.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Dan

[Tzantushka]

Welded?

Looks like corrosion (steel & aluminium) and or some type of bog/sealant.
- have you tried loosening the antenna housing clam nut on the top?

[Brianmoooore]

If I were removing that, my tool of choice would be a 115mm angle grinder and a cutting disc.
Protect any glass from sparks, and go at it slowly. Don't get things too hot.
Deal with any rust around the hole properly before fitting the new antenna, and don't forget the drain tube.

[SundayDriver]

Thanks for your help. I have tried the nut at the top but the entire unit has either rusted into one unit or was indeed one originally. It appears the trickle on the inside is from whatever material was used to seal the unit in place.

Thanks very much for the list of tools. I'll have a look and see what I can borrow from mates etc. One of those jobs which I thought would be an hour and turns into a mission.

Thanks again for all this advice.