Charlie Robinson's '99 Riv

albertj wrote:

What are you using for an antenna? I forget...

'

CDs. No antenna until I get a new one.

charlieRobinson wrote:

albertj wrote:

What are you using for an antenna? I forget...

'

CDs. No antenna until I get a new one.

this may or may not interest you

http://www.ioffer.com/i/hidden-antenna-car-radio-stereo-amplified-am-fm-antenna-166532155

don't install it exactly as they say, get it behind a **plastic** body panel somehow, it will work OK. Rear fenders not far from the trunk air vents oughta work.

That is exactly what I am interested in. Reviews look good too. To me, the image looks like a scary unknown toxic chinese brain cancer device. I am sure its ok as long as you wash your hands after handling it. Looks promising. Thanks for the link.

charlieRobinson wrote:

That is exactly what I am interested in. Reviews look good too. To me, the image looks like a scary unknown toxic chinese brain cancer device. I am sure its ok as long as you wash your hands after handling it. Looks promising. Thanks for the link.

my understanding is they don't work for beans if installed behind a metal body panel. And they work OK if behind a plastic panel.

You could do this yourself with a 75-300 ohm transformer (radio shack, sold for coax, they will call it a "balun" for FM radio) and a piece of the old fashioned twin-lead (you might be able to find one, a home-stereo fm antenna like this

http://www.techforless.com/cgi-bin/tech4less/210-020?mv_pc=google_pla&tts=20130717123701&utm_source=google_shopping&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google_shopping&gclid=COSWnLb-t7gCFUyi4AodF00Aew

Affix the antenna behind the rear bumper skin, it is T shaped just get the center near the middle of the bumper skin away from the metal reinforcement. "Glue" it down with doubleface 3M trim tape. Run the twin lead into the trunk behind the taillight (loosen taillight and run the twinlead base of the T under/behind the license plate, it won't be seen) and into the trunk cavity behind the carpet in the vicinity of the current antenna cable. Adapt the Motorola connector on the lead to the current antenna to the balun with an adapter (such as one you can make with any old Cable TV cable, and an solder/crimp-on Motorola connector you get, again, at radio shack for a couple bucks)

Alternative-alternative just get an antenna plug from scrap (a dead power antenna) and solder a long length of wire (10 - to - 20 feet I'd guess, the longer the better up to about 90 yards ha ha) to the center lead and a short piece to the braid (or just strip the wire so you can make a pigtail out of the braid). Insulate the solder joint. Ground the braid under a convenient screw and run that wire out under the license plate and again under the rear bumper skin, glue it in place with that doubleface trim tape. That will get you decent urban FM reception. To get good AM reception be sure that the part that extends outside the metal skin of the car is a multiple (preferably even multiple) of 22.8" long. 91.2 inches doubled back along itself oughta do it well.

I think I saw somewhere plug`n play antenna that looks just like that Charlie.

This is kinda funny. I take a CD out last week and the radio comes on. Girlfriend says, "I thought you chopped the antenna..?" I'm like, "...yeah.. I did". She's like, "then why is it coming in clearer than it was before?!" I scanned through stations and more came in better than before. After I deleted the antenna, I took the ant. plug and hung it through the ground wire that was mounted in the trunk, effectively making the entire car an antenna. Go figure, but it works awesomely.

OK. UPDATE!!!

Finally got my exhaust and front sway bar installed! I've only put ~20 miles or so on it but things I can note thus far:
Sounds awesome. Quiet but meaty.
I can feel more air being pushed out faster, the gas pedal feels plumper.
Shifts are weird. Feels like it's not shifting fast enough now. I need to drive/experiment more to get a better idea of this.
Sway bar + new bushings feel great.
Front end feels much tighter now.
My passenger CV joint has a tear in it and needs replaced. You may have read earlier where I replaced the drivers side because of the same issue and had wonderful results. So i'm looking forward to this.

Anyways, I love my Riv, blah blah blah.

Can you take a picture of how you did the antenna? My signal sucks with this headunit. Anything I can do would help.

My brother and i turned the frame on his '69 Caddy into an antenna and it worked great! I wonder if the shifting thing is less torque due to less back pressure from opening up the exhaust?

Yeah when removed the mufflers from mine (put back on within a month), the car was definitely louder but also really felt like it was much slower. Prob a back pressure issue

The car as   antenna thing on the Riv works because the ground actually "floats"

I don't recommend it, an electrical storm will likely punch your radio's ticket.  Just saying.

Albertj

Interesting, but is there really any other way to get a better signal? The spot where I park my car has had lightning strike twice within 10ft (not while the car was parked there though). Theoretically, it wouldn't make a difference because the antenna still touches metal on the car both with the support bracket and the ground wire.

Edit: I read somewhere that the rear defroster wires on the glass itself can be used as a decent antenna. Anyone done this?

Matt, i believe that the Crown Victorias had that from the factory. Thats what it seemed like anyway... Its been a while since i owned the car. The signal was good usually, but absolutely terrible when defrost was on. Maybe mine was just screwed up.

matt270avian wrote:

Can you take a picture of how you did the antenna? My signal sucks with this headunit. Anything I can do would help.

Believe it or not, it works.

As rigged as it looks, I'll give it a shot. What did you do with the one connector that plus into the antenna, leave it hanging? I'll probably just leave my antenna plugged in since my backup camera goes off of it. Either that or find another 12v switched constant.

I took a picture Friday night. It's cool.

From a distance, she looks mighty fine. How about up close?  

And the car doesn't look bad either  

charlieRobinson wrote:

I took a picture Friday night. It's cool.

Westfield?

Yeah....who's that chick?

Don't worry about the chick, guys. Yall wouldnt like her anyways..... 

Thought it was a cool scene with the sky and glass pyrmamid n shit.

Westfield but I'll call it franklin park til I die.

haha....

My dudes, I am about to go shopping for air intake parts now and look around to price out a pass. side CV joint. After that, I want to put resources where the car MAY need it most. Right now I'm thinking fuel pump because currently, when my fuel level gets low, the fuel meter wacks out and reads inaccurately.

Other than the fuel pump and a new oil pan + gasket (mines got a dent), in terms of preventative maintenance, where on my car should I focus resources that would be most beneficial?

I've got a brand new set of Riv wheels and tires from my last Riv. Not getting cool wheels and tires until those die. So I dont need to allocate for that.

I dont plan on painting the car until next summer. So i've got time on that.

Higher performance isn't my goal right now. I only wish to strengthen what I have. Any suggestions are appreciated!  

I plan on doing a gen5 swap so I dont know if I should do a new gen3 gasket now or wait. It's not critical but it's not perfect.
LIM gasket too.

I would recommend doing your LIM gasket. You WILL cringe when you pull off your intake and see what the OEM gasket looks like.

If you havent, i would say get your injectors cleaned and flow matched.

Check for rust anywhere and lick that.

I tried the antenna mod today, no luck. I got worse reception with it like yours than with the antenna itself. Maybe I'll get one of those ones you stick across the top of the backseats?

I ordered a 4" and got this?

Is this what 4" spectre flex tube looks like? box says 4" part # but ID looks 3.5"?
Did I get the wrong pipe in the right box?