company_man

I just received my new 2008 Taurus company car, which came with a "shark fin" antenna and no factory installed Sirius sat. rad. I purchased a new Sirius Sportster 5 unit and installed it yesterday.

If you did not purchase Sirius from the factory, the "shark fin" has NO antenna /wire installed! I scoured the web looking for an answer to this question, and could not find anything until I did this project!

I removed the rear dome light assembly to access a nut and retainer that holds the fin in place. I removed the nut/retainer and removed the fin without dropping the headliner (difficult but do-able). I had to grind off the high spots on the shark fin's metal base plate and grind a little of the plastic off the Sirius antenna to make it fit within the fin (very carefully!). I also removed a plastic clip/plug which was attached to the base plate with 2 tiny screws on the metal base plate, so the Sirius antenna wire could be fished through the base plate easier. It took a few hours, but I installed it within the stock fin and ran the cable up to the front dash and installed the Sportster on a dash air vent. It works well and looks decent.

If you spend a LOT more money you can buy the Ford Visteon kit, which comes with its own sat. antenna which probably fits right into the shark fin assembly without modification. I would rather save $$ and do it myself! The Sportster also has a lot of perks that the factory sat. rad. doesn't have.