Drilling holes through roof...

[CXS]

A friend of mine did the NMO in my roof for me. It was kind of scary watching him grab hold of the liner a yank it down after removing a few parts. Total time was probably 30 minutes but he wires emergency vehicles for a living.

 

[testshoot]

A friend of mine did the NMO in my roof for me. It was kind of scary watching him grab hold of the liner a yank it down after removing a few parts. Total time was probably 30 minutes but he wires emergency vehicles for a living.

Your friend is a ways away. Actually I am meeting up with some Colorado people in San Antonio, hence my recent flurry of activity.

I think for the CB, I will go magnet mount. For the ham radio, I really want a roof mount.

I found a local radio club that has a list of "resources". On that list were a couple locals who were listed as doing mobile installs. A person doing mobile installs has probably gone into some liners. I did see a YT video of a guy accessing the A pillar and the panel running above the front door, but he didn't show getting the liner loosened and putting it back.

Another question. The ideal situation would be a base-loaded antenna, center roof. What if that is by a rail on the rack. What distance should the antenna be from a rack rail and other antennas?

 

[CXS]

I'm far from expert but my local ham shop owner has multiple antenna mounted to his roof rack. I was surprised but he says they work great, fold down when not in use and easy to install. Maybe something to look in to.

Personally I went to a handheld ham since I hardly ever use it.

One note: If you go with a NMO in the roof remember it's there when you pull in to a garage. Those mounts are stronger than our roof! Yeah, don't ask!

 

[Guitarplaya39]

Solid roof mounting is definitely the best way to go for any ham radio install. It gives you the best, most solid grounding.
Look for NMO mounts that require only a 3/8" hole - a bit easier to drill than a 3/4" hole. With that option, you do need to remove the entire headliner, which is a pain. All of the interior panels need to come out, then the headliner slides out of the back in one piece. There's a nice writeup someone did on this side about removing it when he installed a stereo system. The problem with having a sunroof is the limited availability of space. Reference the image I posted earlier - that's the closest forward I could mount the antenna and still leave room for the sunroof to slide back. I used thicker, low loss coax to feed that antenna since it's a 800MHz scanner antenna, but it wasn't hard to route it to the side and down the B pillar. If you have the time to do all of this, it's definitely worth it. It made a HUGE difference in the received signals.

 

[pkfj60]

Has anybody tried marine grade silicone sealant?

 

[chili]

 

[clevclev]

I drilled holes through my 2nd gens roof to mount a roof rack on. Used rivets and put a silicone sealant over it and never had any problems. I even had one hole that was mis-drilled. So I filled it with the silicone sealant, it was perfect. I was nervous.... but it turned out just fine.

I am about to drill into mine for a rear deflector. I am curious specifically about the silicone placement. Do you drill hole, add silicone, then rivet, then screw? Or some other order.

 

[Warwicke36]

Has anybody tried marine grade silicone sealant?

I realize this is an old thread but in case someone comes here and sees it i am going to chime in.

The above comment about marine grade silicone was going to be my recommendation.

3m 5200 will seal it.. It can seal a leak while submerged in water. Beware it IS permanent!

3m 4200 will seal it too. Very well. It is not permanent and cab be removed (with a lot of elbow grease) if necessary.

I have used both for transom bungs and other marine applications. If it were me I'd use 4200 for this.

 

[CarlosV]

are not silicone

agree with above post. Keep in mind those are more than plain silicone . Actually polyurethane and yes 5200 is permanent.