This is one of the few visual mods that applies to both the sedan and the coupe. The antenna on the Ion is rather ugly, and none of the aftermarket solutions look right... So the Saturn community came up with their own solution.
I did this to my Ion, and can't say I've noticed a difference in reception, which is probably due to the fact the Ion retains Saturn's signature dent-resistant plastic body panels. Once again, I didn't document doing this myself, but the rest of this is a write up done by the Saturn community.
Courtesy of ionjentzsch
You will need to remove three screws and and retainer clip at the top..
Garage is a mess, I know.....
Not a very exact pic, but hopefully you get the idea!
Additional Info from SaturnFans Courtesy of snobrdrdan
This is by far the best visual mod for FREE!
The stock antenna is in a weird location and there's no replacement antennas available that look halfway decent, but with this mod you can keep your stock antenna and get great reception still but it just won't be seen at all.
I take no credit for this mod, I just wanted to post a How To/write up for people wondering how to do it. It's very very simple and should take like 15 minutes.
Tools Needed:
T-15 Torx Bit
7mm wrench
10mm socket & ratchet
10mm wrench
Small slotted screwdriver
1. Take off the stock antenna using the 7mm wrench
2. Open the passenger door and you will see a T-15 Torx screw holding on the small black trim panel.
3. Unscrew it and then gently pull the panel towards the back of the car to remove it and put it aside. Then you'll see another T-15 Torx screw behind it and also a 10mm bolt.
4. Now you want to unscrew the 5 T-15 Torx screws on the underside that hold the top painted trim piece that goes alongside the windshield and towards the roof. Peel it back a little and then pull it forward towards the front of the car (there is a tab that slides into the rear piece). Put that piece to the side.
5. Now you want to remove the bolts that hold the fender on. There is one 10mm bolt under the cover you removed earlier.
6. Now open the hood & there are 3 10mm bolts & then one plastic body clip--use the screwdriver to pull up the pin in the middle and then pull the body of the clip out.
7. Now you can pull the fender carefully back a little and you can see the antenna mount
8. Undo both 10mm bolts holding the antenna base to the car with a wrench (a ratchet box wrench would be VERY handy here since there isn't much room to work with). Pull the base out & now you wanna flip the antenna plate over (so that it's facing outward instead of inward) and then screw the antenna back in
9. Now feed the antenna tip into the fender towards the corner lens. You can adjust it how you feel, but there's only 2 different places it can go and mine ended up going under a plastic headlight piece and is in there really tight (which is good)
10. Then you wanna put only one of the 10mm bolts back in (the top one) and then tighten it down.
11. Put the 4 bolts & body clip back in for the fender, then put the top roof trim panel piece back on, and then the little black corner piece.
12. Look at your work & enjoy!!
Also, if you wanna fill in the hole from the antenna.....you can go to ACE hardware or Lowes and pickup a 7/8" nylon cap/plug for $0.65
It's in the hardware (nuts, screws, bolts) aisle in the little plastic drawers where you can buy everything individually
Looks a lot better & finishes the clean look (mounts flush)!!! It's in there super tight and isn't going anywhere and matches the cowl perfectly too!
pics:
No comments:
Post a Comment