i went to look at something in a defunct car dealer's lot which had nylon rope across the driveway. the car easily went under the rope...except the antenna which got yanked out. no big deal, it is easily put back in. however, the threads on the mast unit are plastic and are shot. i tried finding a tap/die to clean them up but could not, (i think it is 20 or 22mm x 1.0 or 1.5). i tried some teflon tape to add a bit of bulk but the antenna popped out like a jack in the box.
any suggestion on how to get the chrome collar to hold tight?
peter, are you talking about a na or nb? power or manual antenna? the manual antenna in the na/nb have something called an antenna body that is mounted under the fender (by the battery) and pokes up through through the rear passenger where a rubber weather seal and chrome hold down screws on top to hold it in place. this provides a threaded stud for you to attach an antenna. in other words, unlike most cars, the miata manual antenna is not mounted directly to the fender but instead uses this complicated antenna body to mount it. i have cracked off the threaded stud on mine when trying to replace the antenna and the old solution is to replace the antenna body. the antenna body part differs from the na and nb. i have found that the nb one is for sale on ebay and that
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has the antenna body (used) for about $20 but you need to call them to order it. now, if you are talking about a power antenna that was ripped out of the power antenna body and the plastic teeth on the tail of that antenna being damaged then you will need a new power antenna mast. the power antenna mast (complete with nylon toothed tail) sells at
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for $25/40 for the na/nb. in order to install it there are great instructional videos available on youtube that show you how.
Sorry Peter, I did see your post but couldn't help as I had no knowledge of the antenna unit. (haven't got my MX5 yet). I assume that the connecting contact is sprung so in the absence of threads it pushes the antenna out. Are the threads broken on the stick bit or inside the bit that's attached to the wing? Don
Without the antenna, you can always resort to: Putting a satellite radio adapter in. Or, using the old commuters ghetto solution, hang a pocket radio from the mirror.
By the way, with a little ingenuity, a radio antenna can be integrated into the soft top above the rear window. If you have a heated rear glass window, it's even possible to use the heating element as an antenna. GM did this on a heck of a lot of cars.
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