pmb692

Cool... I like it. I didn't know if it had been done before or not. Mine is a paintable antenna that I think will look great when done in the Lenin Metallic of the body.

Ninespub

pmb692: When you get that antenna thing figured out, let me know the who, how and what of that project and hookups (take pictures).......or perhaps Martin will chime back in with the details of his. Please and thank you!

Ninespub

Any updates?

pmb692

UPDATES: Sorry it's been a while, but I've been a bit under the weather lately. Here's where I'm at so far with the antenna. I found a fin that I like and bought 2 of them. The first I took apart, modified the base so the mounting bolt was farther to the rear. I also had to modify the cables on both of them to work with a universal antenna cable as I removed the Porsche one because I couldn't find a connector that would work with it. Therefore, the whole cable got replaced. Anyway, I made the modifications to the antenna and installed it in the stock location. I hated it there. It just looked way to high up on the roof line and didn't do the car any favors. Plus anyone that knows the 928 would just see a replacement antenna. So, I modified the cable on the second antenna, but not the base and found a place on the rear hatch. Once I decided that was where I wanted the fin, I grit my teeth, centered the hole, and cut out a new opening in the rear hatch. It looks so much better there, and I'm glad I did it. Now anyone that knows the 928 will know that some actual thought and fabrication was done to modernize the car a bit. I still have to get the hole in the roof welded up, but it's small and should be pretty easy to do. I also mounted the XM and GPS antennas in the 3rd brake light housing while I was messing with the hatch. Thanks Keith for the heads up. That's a great place for them. The 3 new cables were ran into the cabin of the car in the same place as the regular hatch electronics. I did all this yesterday, so when I get home from work I'll take some pictures. The fin is black now, but will look much better once it's painted to match the car. Slowly but surely it's coming along.

pmb692

Additional updates about the dash mods. I found a way to keep the vacuum actuator for the vent flap in the same area by doing a couple of things. Shortening the arm on the flap lever slightly, modifying the metal arm on the vacuum actuator, removing a wee bit of plastic on the flaps box, and by tilting, and moving the actuator holding bracket slightly. I'll take pictures of that as well this evening. I've also received my ABS plastic mounting brackets for the head unit, and AC controls from the 3D printers. They came out great and are solid as hell. Last night I drilled them in the places I needed to for the screws that hold everything in.. This evening, I'll be working on the holes for the vent tabs so it can be taken out like factory. After that, I'll be looking for suitable relocation places for the relays that sit on the tunnel under the radio. It actually looks like there might be room to keep them there just moved a bit. Things are coming along quite well at this point, and I'll take more pictures this evening.

Ninespub

Great! looking forward to the pics and ultimate completion. I'm in on this party!

pmb692

I hope the pics loaded

pmb692

The one with both fins is just to show where one would have been had I left it there in the stock location. I'm so glad I didn't. The other pictures are of the antenna I chose in the final location on the hatch. I can't wait to get it painted so it looks like part of the car, You can also see the original mounting hole that has to be filled. Removing the factory antenna was a bitch because the sunroof workings are in the way. You have to undo all the bolts and move the pieces out of the way to get to the antenna nut.
Where the new one fits on the hatch is very straight forward, even easy to do once you get the upholstered upper portion removed. Take out the light first and take a picture of where all the connections are. I didn't take a picture of the GPS and Sirius XM antenna mounting in the 3rd brake light housing because i did it like Keith did his. This is also a great time to clean the hatch glass and the red lens that sits under the housing.
You'll also see an up close picture of the flap actuator. How I made it work was to modify the arm so it would lay a different way. I slightly moved the mounting bracket and tilted it, but was still able to use the original vacuum line without having to lengthen it. Plus as you can see in the pic, I shortened the lever arm. The next time I have the console out to work on the vent flap above the radio I'll take a pic. I put the heater control in and connected everything so I could see if the mods I made to the valve worked. They worked flawlessly.

Ninespub

Great work! Again, the K.I.S.S. method of solving a seemingly tough issue with an elegant solution trumps an overthought and complex myriad of engineering that nobody wants to mess with. That does not mean I'm capable of doing it myself too, but it sure beats removing and shipping your console out for a couple of months, spending hundreds of dollars and getting a design that dictates a not-so user friendly style that solves problems that didn't exist instead of the clean, simple look of form following function.

Tom in Austin

Great thread, enjoying following this one .... a few questions on the antennae ...

Does a fin-type FM work as well as an OEM 'bee-sting' (assume both have amplifiers)? Are there 'combo' fins that do both FM and XM/GPS, or do these applications normally require separate antennas?

pmb692

Hey Tom, my initial plan was to use a combo antenna thinking one fin would have FM/ XM/ and GPS capability. I work at a GM dealership and with the help of my parts guys went through a million ideas with the antenna. What I found out was a few important things. 1. The FM antenna in most modern cars is NOT in the fin where the XM or GPS receivers are. Most FM's are in the glass somewhere. I checked this out, and on a lot of cars you'll see something that looks like a rear defrost. On closer inspection, I saw there were 2 distinct units, one of these was the FM antenna. As for the GPS and XM, what I found about these is they are very manufacture specific and tie into a universal wiring harness in a car with GPS and XM capabilities. So, what I'm saying is that you still need multiple antennas. I opted for the FM fin, and putting the GPS and XM in the 3rd brake light housing. (Thanks Keith for that ingenious fix.) They're out of the way, easily accessible if ever needed. Now, as for the signal strength of the FM antenna, I can't answer that at the moment as I don't have everything hooked up yet. However, my fin antenna doesn't have an FM signal amplifier. One could be added in line if the signal isn't good enough should that turn out to be the case. On a side note though, when I was searching for a head unit I did ask about needing an antenna booster. The reply was that many of the new head units don't really need them anymore because of the power increases. My personal thoughts on it are this.... I have XM in my truck, and couldn't tell you the last time I listened to an FM station. So in my opinion, an FM booster won't matter.

Ninespub

pmb692: FLYVMO just had me check out the new Alpine iLX-007 2-DIN media receiver which is only 3" deep, is designed for the I-phone/I-play system and comes with NAV, Sirius/XM, rear camera and flash drive imputs. Being only 3" deep may solve some potential installation issues with the relays and HVAC control unit in your design. Check it out! This is getting closer to uber-cool. Crutchfield has it priced at $600 on the first day from a $800 suggested list.

pmb692

Checked out that Alpine you mentioned. I don't think I'd be a big fan of that set up.

Ninespub

pmb692. I missed your reply on the alpine unit yesterday. I'd be interested in knowing what you are looking for in a system to fit your needs. I don't need a cd/dvd player and digital is where it all seems to be going anyhow so something like that unit will satisfy me. I suspect there will be follow-up models and competing formats (e.g. google music, android, etc.) in the near future and I would probably wait till the selections get a little fuller before I'd pull the trigger myself.

pmb692

Hey Paul, The system I'm going with is the Pioneer AVIC 7000 nex. It has everything I want, GPS, XM, Bluetooth, Camera, CD player, DVD, USB, SD card reader, and touch screen. Truth be told, I like this one, or the comparable Kenwood Excelon DNN991HD. I didn't get the Kenwood because I couldn't have it ordered at my local Best Buy store.