Galant antena

[Jordan1249]

So i notices MRD out up a thread something about antennas which reminded me of how crap my galant one is so wondering what and where did anyone upgrade theres

[LukeAussie]

Mine is my boot lid (I always said Mitsi/Chrysler were always thinking ahead!), and it works fine. It's important you have a good connection between the antenna connection on your stereo and the boot, and that the boot lid itself ha s a good rubber seal. This one has never given me any trouble and I've always had clear reception, even in the country

[Jordan1249]

Luke can you take some photos i dont quite understand yours is your boot lid

[75wagon]

Have a look at the way your bootlid and bootlatch are attached.
You will notice that they are insulated from the body, and I think it's the left hinge has an antenna wire attached to it.

[Jordan1249]

not mine

[LukeAussie]

Hey guys, yeah I'll take some photos when I go for lunch. That's right, the boot lid is isolated from the rest of the body (hence the requirement for a good boot seal!), which is the ground plane for the stereo (ie earth).

The Galant was ahead of its time in this regard, with the actual boot lid itself forming a plane antenna suitable for FM reception. When my dad got a BA Falcon for his work a few years ago (he's since got himself a Galant VR4 to keep things in the family!), the guy at Ford was saying how clever it was that they'd put the antenna as a sticker on one of the rear wagon windows, and this removed the need for a dipole (the normal pointy ones). Dad said big deal, as the 1975 Galant already did that by making it the boot lid!

Essentially, it's a cable that connects to the antenna output and is attached with a spade clip to the boot lid, which is isolated from the rest. I'll do some photos soon...

[LukeAussie]

And now for some pics:

The antenna is connected to the wire on the left side of the boot lid


It's connected via a spade clip, and as you see, the lid is insulated from the rest of the car


The striker and its bolts are also isolated, so that the boot lid is an independent antenna plane, separate from the earth of the car.


I would assume you'd still have the insulating plastic on your car, so it'll just be a matter of running a lead to the boot from the antenna, making sure you have a good boot seal, and then plugging the hole in your roof left by the current antenna! Good luck!

[VGJONO]

Jordan, didn't your car have a CB in it??? that might explain that antenna

[Jordan1249]

nah didnt have a CB and hmm idk how good my boot seal is as its glued on (previous owner) because its partly rusted out

[LukeAussie]

You still should be okay, as long as the boot seal isn't broken. Essentially, what you want to prevent are shorts between the antenna (boot lid) and earth (rest of the body). You should be able to test this using a multimeter con continuity (beep) testing mode. If the boot seal is damaged, I got mine (around 10 years ago!) from Rare Spares, and I'd guess it's a fairly generic part... Good luck!