Antenna Replacement Replacing the Power Antenna in the First Generation RX-7 Installing an Aftermarket Power AntennaThis page last updated December 4, 2005.When I first developed this web page, I wrote it to describe installation of an inexpensive Radio Shack antenna that was available at the time. That part has since been discontinued, but I've had a few people write to tell me that the instructions below work just fine with any number of other replacement power antennas on the market. 'Metra' is one of the brands that is most frequently cited, and they make a series of antennas that are commonly available through suppliers such as Circuit City and other nationwide electronics retailers. One person was good enough to suggest that Metra part number 44-PW22 or AW-PW22, marketed through the Metra subsidiaries “RoadWorks” and “AntennaWorks,” will be a very close match to the Radio Shack unit.
Metra Product # 44-PWR22 is a aftermarket antenna that fits all vehicles.
The basic design and wiring are nearly identical. The most significant difference between this model and the Radio Shack antenna is that the RS unit is 39 inches in length when fully extended, versus the Metra antenna’s 31 inch height.
I did a little further investigation online and found that many other Metra antennas have the same characteristics of design and wiring, but antenna height is the most frequent variable. My expectation is that the tallest antenna will yield the best reception, but will also be most prone to breaking or bending. So my advice to you is to try to find a similar antenna, but don’t get too bogged down with trying to find an exact match for the Radio Shack unit. Many different antennas will do the job just fine. When you get yours installed, drop me a line and let me know what worked for you.After a quick Google search, I found the Metra 44-PW22 for $33 at.
As an added bonus, the Metra 44-PW22 has a replacement antenna mast available for only.Note that Audio Outfitter suggests using the less expensive when the 44PW22 is out of stock, but I have no information that the 12B will or will not fit in a first gen RX-7. Somebody let me know!If you ever want to replace a broken power antenna in one ofthese cars, Radio Shack sells a power antenna for a whopping $39.95 that seemsto do the job just right. (Part number 12-1330 – note that this part is nowofficially discontinued, so in-store stock will be sparse. You can still orderone from Radio Shack at 817-415-2829. Best of all, the clearance price is only$19.95, plus $5 for shipping and handling!) What's more, I've come up with someeasy instructions for wiring this new antenna so that it works the way a powerantenna should: when you turn the key off, the antenna goes down automatically.(The stock antenna must be lowered by turning off the radio before the car ispowered off. I always hated that about the stock antenna.)Another factor that should motivate you to dump Mazda's OEM antenna, if itshould every break, is that Mazda wants $80 just for a replacement mast, whichstill has to be installed in the stock power antenna assembly.
Thatinstallation job is a chore and a half, as the antenna motor has to bedisassembled, including a clockwork-like spiral spring that's just dying for anopportunity to eject antenna parts all over your work area. Don't bother!A complete replacement antenna, as of this writing, will cost you $240 fromMazdaTrix, and it still won't retract at shutdown the way a power antennashould.The Radio Shack antenna looks much like the stock antenna when it's down.Height, when fully extended, is about the same as the stock antenna too.
Themotor noise is virtually identical to Mazda's - that is, it's noisy. I'dexpect that Radio Shack gets these antennas from a reliable manufacturer, so Idon't hesitate to recommend them. I've had one in my '84 for about three yearsbefore I sold it, and I installed one into my '85 when I bought that. Both arestill working flawlessly. Lastly, if I should ever manage to bend anotherantenna mast and I can’t find any more of the Radio Shack units, these sameinstructions can likely be used for other aftermarket antennas. (Tip: READTHOSE SIGNS AT THE ENTRANCES TO AUTOMATED CAR WASHES!):)Removal of the OEM antenna, and installation of the Radio Shack unitRemove the right taillight assembly, then the antenna willeasily come out the back of the body. With a little bending and cutting, youcan get the OEM antenna mounting bracket to bolt right up to the stock boltholes of the Radio Shack power antenna.
The way I refabricated the mountingbracket, the antenna leans slightly backward when extended, as opposed to theOEM antenna which used to extend straight up. An electrical engineer couldargue that this slight angle could compromise radio reception very slightly,but I've never experienced any reception differences from between stockantennas and the Radio Shack replacements.Below are the Radio Shack antenna, on the left, and the OEM Mazda antennawith the mounting bracket installed, on the right. The OEM bracket has fourremovable bolts on it. The two riveted screws in the middle will still be usedto mount your new RS antenna to the body with this old bracket, but the verybottom of the bracket - where it makes a u-turn, looping back up - will haveto be bent down 90 degrees to get the bolt holes to line up to the bottom ofthe RS antenna.
(Don't break it, or you'll be heading off to a junk yard to buya new one for $20 or so.) The top of the OEM bracket can be unbolted with thetop two bolts and re-installed on the RS antenna. All images below areclickable, by the way.The mounting bracket has a 180 degree bend on the bottom. (right) Ipartially straightened it to a 90 degree bend, and snipped a portion of one ofthe bolt holes to accommodate the Radio Shack's bottom mounted bolts. (left)The finished product.You can see that I had to bend the bottom of the bracket to lean it over insuch a way that the antenna mast and studs on the bracket would all line up tothe holes in the chassis. Brad Good, from the first generation RX-7 mailinglist, recently reminded me of why I chose to do this: I wanted to make surethat both mounting bolts, on the bottom of the antenna, were secured to thebracket. Brad instead chose to use only one mounting bolt, on the left of thispicture, and install it through the right mounting hole of the bracket. This isslightly less secure, in my opinion, and may allow a little more flexing of thebracket or vibration that could eventually allow the bolt to back out or themast nut to come loose; Brad also had to install that single lower bolt afterthe antenna and bracket were in place in the fender, in order for the wholeassembly to clear the tail light hole.
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But I’ll concede that Brad’s method iscertainly easier, and that the bolt or mast nut will probably never come loose.As an added benefit, the backwards leaning antenna on my car is probably moreresistant to damage from low branches than a perfectly upright antenna wouldbe.Wiring it upLike most aftermarket antennas, the RS unit has three leads- 'accessory on' (the orange lead, usually powered directly by asignal from a tuner), unswitched power (red) and ground (black). These aredifferent from the three Mazda leads, and you cannot merely plug them into thewiring harness for the Mazda antenna. The black wire should be easy enoughto wire up - it's just a chassis ground, and I hooked mine up to one of theOEM-turned-Radio-Shack mounting bracket nuts. The red lead must have full timepower regardless of whether or not the ignition key is in the accessory or onposition. I found a great source nearby the antenna: the hatchback interiorlight has a full time power lead going into it. If you remove the rear hatchpanel, you'll see two wires connecting into the back of the light. Theblue/yellow wire ( on the light, not on the OEM antenna harness!) isunswitched power - the switch is a plunger mechanism on the driver's left sideof the hatch latching mechanism.
Finally, the 'antenna up' signal forthe orange wire can be used from the blue wire on the original Mazda antenna wiringharness.As an aside, that blue wire was the most 'interesting' part ofthis whole project. Mazda's OEM antenna is controlled by a relay under thedash. The relay is activated by a fairly common +12v signal from the tuner, butMazda chose to send a completely different signal back to the antenna, via thisconvoluted relay. The three wires on the original Mazda antenna wiring harnessplay a three way shell game between battery positive and battery negative. Whenthe antenna is going up, the blue wire gets battery positive, and the red wiregets battery negative. When the antenna is going down, the red wire getsbattery positive, and the blue/yellow wire gets battery negative. So the redlead alternates between positive and negative, the blue wire only sees positivewhen the stock antenna is supposed to be up, and the blue/yellow wire only seesnegative when the stock antenna is supposed to be down.
Got that?:) The cool thing is that you don't have to, because mostaftermarket antennas have the relay mounted on the antenna, making the wiringlogic a helluva lot easier to follow for you and I.Another little tip: I used tap-in squeeze connectors (Radio Shack partnumber 64-3053) to connect to these wires without any cutting or soldering. Alittle electrical tape around the OEM antenna wiring harness would also be asmart idea to keep the hot leads from ever accidentally contacting the chassis.These tips should allow you to retain the stock wiring harness, just in caseyou or some future owner decides he/she wants to restore the car to totallystock parts.
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