DIY: $2 Home Depot Racing Stubby Antenna

fullahwickednez · 08-31-2009, 07:42 PM

This is a Home Depot Racing mod brought to you by ME so if you post this somewhere else, please give me credit for my hard work (/sarcasm)

So a few weeks back some idiot tried stealing my Onstar antenna and ripped half of it off in the process.

Not only did it look like crap but I never did get good reception with the Onstar. I'm in Home Depot the other day just browsing and I saw this spring door stop and thought I could turn it into a stubby antenna.

Well, I DID IT.

These are the screws I used, you can probably find whatever u have around the house that will thread into the antenna hole.

Put the nut first then the base of the spring door stop and tighten the screw down but don't overtighten it or you could ream out the threading on the antenna base. Then tighten the nut to hold the spring base down.

Once that's secure thread and turn the spring onto the base as you normally would if u were using it as a door stop until it's secure.

Obviously this is a prototype which explains the electrical tape wrapping. I just wanted to see how it would look in a vinyl wrap. I'm going to take off the cap on the top and dip the entire thing in plasti dip. Should look a lot better.

Anyway here's a few pics. My car is dirty as hell due to the road being repaved in my area as u can see in the pics.

Final Impression:

Looks good for a $2 mod and the reception is actually A LOT better than the Onstar. I pick up a lot more stations now than I did with the Onstar. I have a video clip of the sound quality but Youtube is being ghey at the moment.

TommyD241 · 08-31-2009, 08:17 PM

Props for your ingenuity.

fullahwickednez · 08-31-2009, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TommyD241

Props for your ingenuity.

Thanks

On the other forum I posted this on some people were being douchebags because they can't read so I'll just clarify again (it's also in the first post) that this is not the final look, it will get a plastic/rubber coating if I'm satified with how it looks and functions.

I think it will look a lot better with the rubber coating because you won't even see the spring but I figured for $2 maybe someone else would like to try it out instead of shelling out $30 for an Onstar antenna like I did.

sr20_sentra · 09-03-2009, 11:41 PM

looks pretty cool might have to do that to my car

.someone broke my antenna off

Sir Real · 09-04-2009, 11:28 AM

That's pretty sweet. My SE-R didn't come with an antenna, radio or speakers so I never worried about such things. But now that I got a free radio and speakers from a friend, I started hunting an antenna.

Your $2 mod is the way I think I'm gonna go. Great idea! I'll give props to you when people start asking me where I got my "stubby". (bring the jokes...lol)

STRATTON · 09-04-2009, 06:28 PM

no offense but that looks like sh*t.

stratton.

DphillipsB13 · 09-04-2009, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STRATTON

no offense but that looks like sh*t.

stratton.

Thank god! I though I was the only one. Whew!

On the other hand, keep up the ghetto ass modifications. It makes us who do it right look that much better.

Another thing, I cant believe you did this in a sort of "how to" fashion. Around my area youd fit right in with the late 80s honda crowd.

StinkyTurbo · 09-06-2009, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STRATTON

no offense but that looks like sh*t.

stratton.

No offense, but that bootleg stubby antenna looks better than the 3ft B13 antenna.

sr20_sentra · 09-06-2009, 07:02 PM

well for a 2 dollar mod its not bad for someone not wanting to spend to much and plus like he said its temp for now and will get the finish product soon .

fullahwickednez · 09-16-2009, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STRATTON

no offense but that looks like sh*t.

stratton.

It would help if you bothered to read the post..I know the electrical tape looks like sh*t..

Quote:

Originally Posted by DphillipsB13

On the other hand, keep up the ghetto ass modifications

Hey if you want to pay $30 for an Onstar antenna go right ahead but to me the Onstar antenna was not worth spending my money on TWICE. The reception sucked. I have better mods to spend my money on than an antenna but if that makes me ghetto then welcome to the hood..

Quote:

Originally Posted by StinkyTurbo

No offense, but that bootleg stubby antenna looks better than the 3ft B13 antenna.

Ok well this project is finished and I am more than satisfied with how it came out.

Home Depot didn't have the color Plasti Dip I wanted to I bought heat shrink instead..

You will need heatshrink, a heatgun and cloth gloves because the heatshrink gets hot. Make sure to let it cool for atleast 10 minutes before you touch it.

I cut off about 3/4" heat shrink and placed it sideways over the white plastic cap on the door spring and shrunk it.

Then cut out the hole using an Exacto knife or blade..whatever you have laying around

Use the remaining piece of heatshrink that you cut before and place it like this, leaving a bit of extra on both sides

fullahwickednez · 09-16-2009, 04:45 PM

Then Shrink it and you're done. The cloth fibers you see is from my gloves and it just rubs off once it's cool. You'll notice the dimple on the rubber cap but that doesn't bother me. You could either leave the plastic cap alone or do it like I did..your choice

STRATTON · 09-16-2009, 06:13 PM

it looks like a door stop...

stratton.

DphillipsB13 · 09-16-2009, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STRATTON

it looks like a door stop...

stratton.

This.

If I was your friend, everytime we were hangin out by your car, I would flick that thing none stop.....Booooiiinnnggg, booooooiiiiiinnnnnnggg, bbbooooooiiiinnnnngggg!

fullahwickednez · 09-16-2009, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STRATTON

it looks like a door stop...

stratton.

nobody is holding a gun to your head to put it on your car so why even bother wasting your time posting?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DphillipsB13

Booooiiinnnggg, booooooiiiiiinnnnnnggg, bbbooooooiiiinnnnngggg!

Actually this isn't one of those flexible ones, the spring is pretty solid.

nvturbo · 03-07-2010, 10:15 PM

that's not bad at all. Like some of the other posters have said...the 3' metal antenna looks tacky. Plus, I'm not gonna dish out $100 or so for the powered one from a Nissan Sunny. I'm definitely gonna do this on mine. You did say the radio reception is good with this...right? What if my stock antenna is there....do I just break/cut if off at the base?

97SR20DE · 03-07-2010, 11:10 PM

SHRINK-WRAP!

bigfnogre · 04-06-2010, 12:50 AM

Way to use your head and make something for your car dude thats how new sh*t is made all the time.Big props from me a average joe(i know im not great LOL).Don't let stratton or DPhillips reign on ur parade.Let them hate hate hate all they want because,well it's ur design and they are haters end of story.

nissannut · 07-25-2010, 01:06 AM

Everybody is entitled to have an opinion.My opinon is this.It might not be pretty but IT DOES LOOK BETTER than a 3 ft tall stock antenna.Hell it's so damn small most people won't even see it.If he wants to use a friggin coat hanger thats his choice.So i'll say what everyone else should say.Its not what i would do but at least he's not paying $100 dollars for a stock jdm antenna just because its from japan.

DeathByNissan55 · 10-28-2010, 11:40 AM

Custom is always better than store bought, good idea!

Taurus45acp · 10-29-2010, 04:04 AM

^shut up.

it looks like asshole, do it right and get a proper part...its a bloody antenna for god sakes.

http://www.namotorsports.net/detail....-101/xref/base

is 30 bucks REALLY that much.

The level of brokedickishness is unbelievable...