Jadz928

There is something special when latex, thongs, and Phillip Morris get together with a tan Hungarian.

The stars are in perfect alignment at this moment.

White Lightnin'

I may have found the future ex-Mrs. Lightnin'....... can we find this girl a green card?

VehiGAZ

Project update (with updates):

I got the shark fin antenna from Rod. JUST what I was looking for! Thank you, good sir!

So I got into the roof yesterday (turns out headliner removal - a huge PITA - is thankfully not necessary), and as often happens with 928 projects, I ran into multiple confounding challenges...

1) Removing the antenna base.
This is a toughie, because the locking nut is recessed through a tiny hole on the underside of the two-layer roof, and the antenna and booster wires run through the stem and nut, so you can't get a socket on it (due to the wires) nor can you turn it with a wrench (due to the tiny recess hole). WTF?!

Some forum searching turned up this old thread with a nice post (#5) by borland about how he removed his antenna base with a shower faucet tool that he bought at Home Depot. Yay!! No problem - I have a Home Depot a mile from work! But of course, they don't have shower faucet wrench in metric sizes, nor does the specialty plumbing shop I use. HD did have a set of them which included a 21/32" wrench, which translates to 16.6 mm, so I'm really hoping that one will work on the 17 mm locking nut. I PM'd borland about it but have not heard back yet. The shark fin antenna I have has a cutout in the mounting stem for the wires to run through without getting in the way of a socket. The only potential pitfall there is that its locking nut might be too big to be installed and tightened with a socket through the access hole. If so, out comes the Dremel!

UPDATE: a 21/32" faucet wrench just fits the 17 mm nut. Yay! Downside, you have to buy it as part of a 6-piece set at Home Depot. Whatevs - it's getting returned as soon as I finish this job.

2) Antenna wire connection
Both the shark fin antenna and my backup antenna base have a now-standard male slide-in coax-antenna connector on the pigtail - the same type you find on every aftermarket radio. This same connection is used at the headunit end of the antenna wire. BUT... Porsche used a screw-in style connector at the roof end of the antenna wire! (WHY, you bastard engineers, WHY?!?!?) This of course will NOT plug into either replacement antenna, and judging by the fact that a replacement antenna base from 928intl.com includes a new antenna wire to run through the car to the headunit in the dash (something I REALLY don't want to do), I'm guessing that a replacement from them doesn't use the old screw-in style connector.

Back to the internet... I found a website that sells dozens of different antenna wire connection-converters, but they list 928 model years as 1994-1996, so that was no help. I called them and they came up with a part that was totally wrong, so the guy put me in touch with his supplier. (Progress at last! I love being put in touch with suppliers!) The guy at the supplier may have found the right one, but their on-line pics are too small for me to be sure, so he wants me to send him pics of the connectors in the 928 so he can be sure it's the right one. I am cautiously optimistic...

UPDATE: The tech support guy at the supplier identified the right converter based on my pictures, but it was discontinued by the e-tailer. I convinced them to un-discontinue it for one order, so that's on its way. (I bought a couple of extras for anyone else that needs to replace the antenna base on their S4)

More progress has been made, and the path forward is taking clear. When I get it sorted out, I will post a proper how-to with pics and tools and part numbers.

Rob Edwards

So was there a happy ending?

S4ordie

Bumpity bump. Inquiring minds want to know.

Randy V

You may not get an answer - dude has not been by here since last September:

https://rennlist.com/forums/members/45746-vehigaz.html

G8RB8

No posts since 2010, but membership still active so maybe he's just shy. I would like to see results too.

hacker-pschorr

I thought the avatar was a self portrait, doesn't look very shy.

G8RB8

Yes, that is a fabulous ***-
pect of the female anatomy.
Sorry, my spelling is not good.

protraxduner

For those of you wanting a shark fin antenna i worked closely with VisualGarage and they sent me an antenna that fits with no issues. Using a contour guage I created detailed drawings and sent to them. I am not sure if they used an existing mold (i assume they did) or they created a new one. They were concerned with close proximity of roof edge,angle and hiegth of the base but it worked fine. I have used these before on my Pontiac G8 GT and it looks and works fine. However I am not sure i like it on my 93 GTS. Its more of a 'bloated' shark fin, but think this is necessary to cover and work with existing base. And finally my reception SUCKS now. In my other car it was not affected. I live 45 minutes from major stations so this may not be an issue for those close. I assume this is due to car height, factory radio FM power or a combination. I will post pictures

http://www.visualgarage.com/

ROG100

I have a Shark Fin ala BMW on my GTS and the reception sucks. We have tried replacing it but reception still sucks. Checked power to the antenna and grounding and all seems good. I may have to revert back to the Porsche original.
We are using a Metra 44-UA44

VehiGAZ

And now for the requested and long-awaited happy ending...

I got the converter cable (several) and they were just the ticket. I still have 3-4 of them if anyone wants one. The reception with this configuration sucks, as noted.

Sorry for dropping off the face of the planet - I was spending way too much of my day here, so I quit RL cold turkey. My shark has been running well so didn't need to come back looking for fixes either. It is for sale now btw - click the link in my sig to jump to the listing.

Ninespub

Welcome back, even if only for a short time... GLWTS! I'd be interested in one of the cables. Just let me know where to send any monies.

VehiGAZ

Thank you Ninespub - PM sent.