BlackGold

Anyone here have experience replacing the power antenna on an '80s G-body? 1987 442 to be exact.

I scored a NOS GM replacement antenna cheap, but the mechanic who was going to do the work (and who has done many other GM cars over the years) took a look and chickened out. He says he has to cut the inner fender and even then might have to unbolt the outer fender. Is this really necessary? Any other tricks we can use?

starfire

He does not have to cut the inner fender (you might want to consider using another mechanic in the future). The CSM gives the exact procedure for doing it, but it isn't quite as easy in practice as their theory is. You can supposedly unbolt the bottom part of the fender (including the bolts that hold the fender to the wheel well) and pull it out, get your wrench in there and unbolt the old one, then bolt in the new one. I was not able to do that as I was taking out my power antenna so I could rebuild it and installing a mast antenna in the mean time. It really helps if you have done one before with this method as you are kind of working by feel. I hadn't, so I ended up just taking the whole fender off (in the long run that was easier for me, but if all I was doing was swapping out an electric for an electric I'll bet I could have done it with out taking the fender all the way off). It also helps if you have really skinny arms (I don't). Whatever you do though, don't let anyone cut out part of your car to do this replacement. Taking off the fender is not that big of a job if you:

a.) have a helper.
b.) keep really good track of what bolt came from where (ziploc baggies, sharpie marker and digital camera are indespensable here).
c.) mark the hood hinge location before you start.

Good luck with it, if you don't have a copy of the Chassis Service Manual you should get one. They are practically giving them away on ebay.

BlackGold

Thanks for the complete answer. I should've known to check the Chassis Service Manual (I have an '85 manual, but I'm sure it's the same for '87.)

In my mechanic's defense, he stopped precisely because he knew that a body shop would be better equipped/experienced for the job. Besides, he was going on vacation the next day and didn't want to start a task he had expected to be simpler.

In the meantime, I've just extended the antenna by hand and will install a couple pieces of shrink tubing to keep it from collapsing. Radio works fine, and this car never sees a car wash, so there's no need to lower the antenna.

starfire

All you need is a set of wrenches.


Then that is understandable.

You would think it would be simpler. I think they should have put the power antennas in the trunk like they did on the '68 442's. But what do I know?

Lady72nRob71

One thing to keep in mind before pulling the fender back, is to remove a lot of bolts so that you do not have to pull too hard on it. If you do pull too hard, the fender will warp and the gaps along the door will no longer line up.
I found this out in my younger, dumber days, not wanting to remove all the upper bolts...

cjsdad

I have replaced quite a few of those and it should only take a couple hours if you are swapping power antenna with power antenna. You will need to remove all the bolts along the bottom of the fender behind the wheel well, and most of the bolts inside the wheel well. The more you remove and loosen along the bottom, the easier it will be. There are a couple bolts in the door jamb that are a booger to remove, 10MM as I recall. I used a flex head wrench that was taped up for those so as not to chip the paint. Once the fender is nice and loose there should also be a 10MM bolt that holds the antenna to the inner fender that is accessible through the door jamb. After that the top nut can be removed. The coax will be fed through the inner fender behind the kick panel. If you have the ECM behind the passenger kick panel it may be a bit difficult to get to it but removing the glove box will make it easier. There may or may not be a connector in the coax behind the glove box, but if not, it isn't too much farther to the radio. Feed the coax out through the fender and the antenna can be removed out the bottom of the fender. There will also be a power plug inside the fender that can be unplugged. TaDa! You have just removed your power antenna. Reverse the procedure to reinstall the new one.

chipd

Ok... I apologize in advance for resurrecting an old thread. I started the replacement today. Got all of the bolts out and I can reach up in and feel and see the power antenna. However, it is mounted with the screw coming from inside the inner fender. This is a picture that I took from a video online. But my car is the same exact way. What am I doing wrong? Thank you so much!

chipd

Here is a better photo...

joe_padavano

Don't apologize - yours is probably one of the few cases where the resurrection was appropriate. You have exactly the same topic as the original post and you've added relevant pictures to the thread.

This thread from G-body forum has a complete set of photos of the process. That person removed the inner fender and separated the outer fender at the bottom.

69HO43

Keep in mind that link goes to a Pontiac. Not an Olds 2-door Cutlass. The bracket bolt is in a different place on the 2-door Cutlass. Like on the inside of the inner fender instead of the back of the fender where you can get it. 10mm head either way I think. Still a PITA.

chipd

Thank you everyone. I am going to work to take the inner plastic fender off today and see if I can access it. I will keep you all posted.

BlueCalais79

I was able to remove the bolts from the plastic inner fender in my 79 H/O and then bend it back to create an opening to get at the power antenna. I used a bungee cord to hold the inner fender out of the way while I worked on the car. This may or may not work for others. Also, I jacked the car up and removed the wheel/tire.
The AM/FM/CB power antenna we worked so hard to install has since croaked again so I get to do this job all over again soon. Now that's something I'm really looking forward to. I think I'll wait until it's 95 out and really get the full effect of what a pain in the A*# this job is.

Like I've always heard, they built these things to sell, not to last.

69HO43

IIRC, there are bolts that hold the plastic inner fender onto the inner fender piece on the 81-88 Cutlass. Of course, part of them are underneath the HVAC housing where you can't reach anything. Unless I'm missing something, I can't see how you could do that on an 81-up Cutlass. It's a do-able job, just not an easy task regardless of how it's done. I think Regals are much easier too as I believe they have the bracket that bolts to the back of the fender like the GP. You could just jack it up, remove that bolt, spread out the bottom of the fenders and slip the entire unit down from under the car. Still a PITA, but not as bad as a Cutlass.

chipd

Ok everyone! Success! I was able to get it installed today. The first thing you need to do is remove the front tire. Then you need to remove the screws that hold the outer fender on. There are five that you need to remove with the passenger door open and there are four to remove on the inside lip. Then you need to take the bottom left screw out of the plastic splash shield. Then remove the one mid plastic wheel well that has a large washer on it. Next you need to lay flat and look up along the rim of the plastic liner. There are two bolts that need to come out. All are 10mm except for the bolt with the large washer. That is 13mm. I then used an universal joint socket with a long extension to remove the first plastic liner screw that is on the backside. Then I needed to use the 10mm socket, an universal joint, a 3” extension and two 6” extensions on my ratchet. I purchased one of the 100 point ratchets that work in very little space. This is a must. Once those were removed, I was able to peel back the inner liner to give myself some area to work.



Next I used a 45 degree offset 10mm box wrench. This honestly took me 45 minutes. You have to work by feel. I used a mirror to be sure I understood the area where the screw was. It is set in about 3/8”. There is no way to put any sort of ratchet on this. You get about a 1/4 turn each time. Sometimes I would get in the zone and put the wrench right back on it. Other times I would fumble for a few minutes to find it again.I was able to look inside the inner and outer fender to see my progress. It is a 1” bolt! Dang it took a long time. Once that was done though it is really easy.



The wrench has to be 45°. 60° and 90° offsets will not allow you to reach it. I purchased the wrench at advance auto. This is what it looks like.



A comparison of the old and new. They were almost identical. I got this from Parts Place. The original owner was not shortchanged when he bought undercoating! I then wired up the new antenna. I did as the original poster did and attached a string that I pulled through when removing the old one. I’m not sure you will ever get it back into the engine compartment with the line to pull it back up. Reassembly was a piece of cake. Once I got the new antenna in place, I screwed the antenna bezel in on the top of the fender. Then, I used a really nice and strong zip tie to hold the bottom of the antenna in place. There was no way or reason to try to bolt it back up. I believe the zip tie was a lot more stable than the single bolt. All that was left was to put back in the bolts, put the wheel back in, torque the nuts and clean my tools with lacquer remover to get the undercoating off of them! I’m happy to answer any questions!



#3347 is almost ready for summer. Over the next week, all of the hoses, coolant, thermostat, therm gasket, belts, throttle position sensor, plugs, wires, oxygen sensor, distributor cap, rotor, battery, coolant, engine oil, transmission filter, transmission pan, transmission fluid, rear end fluid, rear end gasket, rear end cover, springs, shocks, body mount bushings, fuel filter, wheel bearings, rear wheel cylinders, front rotors, front brake pads, rear drums, rear brake shoes, upper and lower control arms, center link, sway bar bushings, trailing arm bushing, upper and lower ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends, bump stops, control arm bumpers, idler arm, adjustment sleeves, upper and lower trailing arms, upper and lower rear bushings, and wheel bearing dust caps. I was fortunate to be able to track down all ACdelco parts expect for the suspension and springs (I chose MOOG). I have already redone the wheels and had new Eagle GT and lug nuts installed. I rebuilt the radio and now the antenna works! I bought this car after the first of the year and I always like to know what I have. It appears from the breather element I changed and by the looks of all of the shocks, bushings, body mounts, etc. that these are all original. I like the originality of course, but I want to drive and enjoy the car without the worry of something breaking as much as possible.



Repainted the headlight bezels and have a set of NOS grills that I will be swapping in.



I am thrilled with how the wheels and tires turned out. Was a bit of a project but they turned out great. The tires were difficult to balance so I had the tires "trued" and now they are balanced perfect.



Last but not least, I removed all of the windshield trim and polished and painted the sides and the top. I also put in new gaskets. On the bottom, I repainted the black and it really freshened things up.

BlueCalais79

You hit a home run using the zip tie instead of bolting in on the bottom bracket. I did exactly the same thing. It was snug, secure and is out of sight of prying Judge's eyes. You'd have to look really hard to find that one. And since I have to do this job all over again, screwing off the top bezel nut and then snipping off the zip tie on the bottom will save a whole bunch of time.

69HO43

Congrats! Looks like you've got a good project with the H/O as well. Try to find some gray Dill valve stem caps for the wheels if you're going for that OEM look.

Maybe want to put at least 10 lbs of air in those shocks in the back, if they're original (10-90 psi range). I don't recall if there's anything in the owner's manual about it. There's a whole section in the CSM about it. I know I didn't find anything in my 85 442 glovebox when I got it home from the dealership. First time I put gas in it I saw the air shock fill line back there and I was like wtf? They shipped the car with NO air in the system, no or not enough limited slip additive, no carb linkage return spring, the locks weren't locked on the front hood adjuster screws, and no bullet retainer on the transmission speedo gear setup. That's 80s GM quality for you.

olds 307 and 403

Gorgeous car and a good write on doing these, which seem to be a common failure. Now is the time to own G bodies, they are finally valuable, especially special models like your H/O. You will have a new car after you are done.