Date: 16 Jun 96 23:12:11 EDT
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Linda J. Bartnik" <76065.3075@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: cb installation (try # 2)
Hey all,
First off, I am wondering why it is that all my posts from my wow account get
majorly chopped, right after the "hey all." Any ideas Gerry?
Now, about the subject. Today I installed a cb in my '78 bus. I bought a
fairly basic Uniden 40-channel cb radio and a standard magnet-mount 39.5" whip
antenna. The cb radio cost $40, not too bad, and the antenna around $17. I
bought both at wal-mart. the antenna came with 17 feet of coaxial cable. The
whole deal with tennessee's outrageous 8.5% sales tax came to just over $61.
So, about installation, I know some folks have been asking about this. It was
really very easy, taking around 2 hours this afternoon in the 90-degree heat :(
. I decided to mount it under the dash on my '78, to the right of the ashtray
and parking brake handle. It is a bit hard to reach over there, but it was the
most convenient place to mount it. I considered on top of the dash over the
speaker grate for the factory radio, but then the mic cable hung down on the
dash, obscuring heater controls/radio controls. Considered under dash
immediately to left or right of steering wheel, but steering wheel would have
blocked my view of cb display and controls, and mic cable would have constantly
been hitting my leg. Considered Joel's idea of mounting it on the passenger's
seat under-seat storage area, in the walk-thru, but I found that to be too low
and out of the way for my purposes. I even considered a bitchin' truck-type
installation, mounting it tilted slightly toward me on the middle part of the
overhead a/c duct, but decided that (a) it would be a pain to run the wires up
there and (b) that duct would rip right out of the ceiling with the cb's weight
on it.
So, installation. I could not use the screws supplied with the unit to mount
the radio under the dash because they were too short, and the radio would have
pulled out of the foam dash padding. So, found some longer screws with nuts and
lockwashers, took out the glovebox (remove screw on bottom of clamp-thing and
pull it out from under the dash), removed rear defroster switch (unscrew switch
knob, stick big screwdriver is weird-shaped metal thing and unscrew it, and pull
switch out from behind dash), got out the drill and drilled up thru the foam
into the metal dash backing. This took care of my mounting problem. Hooked up
the bracket, then attached the radio. Next came the electrical connections. I
disconnected the battery, unscrewed the two screws that hold the fuse box onto
the wall there and looked for a spare connector on a fuse for a system that was
switched by the ignition switch. Found this connector on fuse 12, and plugged
my cb in there. Ran ground to a bare metal point somewhere, replaced the fuse
box. Got up and put the antenna in the middle of the roof even with the rear of
the front doors. ran the cable in through the driver's door, down that door
pillar, under the carpet right behind the driver's seat, under the walk-thru
floormat, under the front floormat, behind the passenger side kick panel and up
into the radio. Tied off excess antenna and electrical wires using garbage bag
ties, tied them where I could find a place. Even though I had 17 feet of
coaxial cable, there was barely any left over when I was done.
Hooked the battery up, fired it up and it works a-ok. The only problem is that
I had to mount the antenna on the roof, which extends the height of my van by 3
feet. No more mcdonald's drive-ins for me i guess. My van is now about 9'5"
tall. The nice thing is, though, I can just reach up there and pull in the
antenna if I need to go into a parking garage or something. I was going to
mount it on the rear bumper, but the bumper is not exactly flat, and the antenna
pointed to the back rather dangerously. Put your eye out! :) . I've only
whacked one tree with it so far though and I was going really slow so it was ok.
Have fun,
Sean
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