Anyone had any experience with automatic radio antennas
installed in `56 f100 in original hole? If so what brand and model have you had sucess with. And will one fit if you have
speakers in kick panels? Thanks for any info.

 

If you are talking about in the cowl near the windshield: Mine had one when I got it, brand unknown, but the PO had beat on the metal around the hole and used bondo to try to make the hole more level. The bondo cracked and peeled, and the last section of the mast got bent, so I took it out and threw it away. I then frenched a tube in where the antenna used to be and installed a new Auto-loc one. I didn't need it, but the autoloc looks like it may have enough angular adjustment to fit the cowl. If not, you could make a tapered rubber shim to go between the body and the mount to make up the difference. I like using hocky pucks for material for such parts as it drills and bandsaws cleanly, but is still soft enought to conform to a curve if not too thick. I'd saw out a section of the puck a bit wider than the mount, then use a belt sander or similar (curved wood rasp would work) to shape a concave in one side until it matched the curve of the cowl (hint: tape a piece of course sandpaper upside down on the cowl and run the rubber over it to fine tune the shape) now cut the top at an angle with a bandsaw or even a hacksaw with a course blade, The actual angle isn't critical jst as long as it's enough to get the top surface into the range of the angle adjustment of the mount. Now hold the oversized piece over the hole and drill a pilot hole vertically thru the rubber. Using the pilot hole as a guide to drill the finished size hole with a holesaw or spade bit the right size. Temporarily mount the rubber shim and antenna then mark the rubber around the base of the mount and eyeball the angle the rubber needs to be trimmed to. Remove and trim to size, remount the antenna and you are done.
AFA your speakers, the antenna will take up most of the space above the horizontal brace if you use the Auto-loc, it is a little more compact vertically than many others. If your speakers are below the brace you should be fine.

 

AXracer, Great info. Never heard of using hocky pucks to manufactur parts.
Sounds like they could be used for many applications.
I`ve been following your work on your panel and am very impressed.
You should be very proud.
Thanks for the info about the Auto-lock antenna.
I found on line a automatic antenna that needs only 8 1/2" clearance
under mounting hole. Should clear speaker.
Thanks again AX for your expertise.

 

Hockey pucks are very handy and inexpensive. They make good soft dollies for body work, I used them under the feet of my compressor to reduce the vibration and walking, and even on top my floor jack to keep from crushing the seams under the rockers when jacking up our unibody race cars.

 

AX, great info! Maybe you should get a thread going
to get ideas on how many uses the guys can come up with
for the use of hocky pucks. Hocky is not big here in the west
so hocky pucks are not thought of very much for the use of repairs or fixes. Thanks for the great ideas.

 

Hockey is only a few years old here in NC there is only one small independent sporting goods store in the area that carries hockey pucks, none of the big names stores stock them. They are cheap tho ~ 2.00 each without a team logo on them.

 

I`m going out this afternoon, buy one, bring it home,
cut it, drill it, etc., just to see how it can be worked.
Thanks again, AXracer

 

Or, you can just go buy the 29.00 power ant at auto zone,napa or kragen / checker and simply install it. Kraco is one of the brands. It has a uni-fit ball on the top end that acts like a swivel of sorts to conform to all hole angles. Should install in about 10 minutes or so. No machining required . The KISS method is usually better IMO. I used this type of unit in a shock tube 8" deep with a washer welded at the bottom as a mount and there is still plenty of room for a 6" round speaker. Easy to wire up too. Goes up when radio turned on/down when turned off. Either way, have fun. Jon

 

The auto loc has that same type swivel mount, but that area of the cowl has a very steep angle, I don't know if you could get it vertical.

 

I must be forgetin where the original hole is (or was in my case) But , I'm sure your'e right. There is not alot of tolerance on the power unit compare to a manual mast.
Jon

 

fact is I was planning to french mine anyhow and had to cut away the banged out metal, so I never tried mine to see if it would have angled that much or not, it just looked like quite an angle and the PO couldn't make the one that he installed work.