I have successfully bypassed the amplifier with excellent results. FM reception is probably as good as any radio I have owned, and AM seems very good, although maybe not the best I've experienced. I would be curious to know how much is added by the amplifier, but since I bought the car used and the amp was bad when I bought it, I have no way of knowing.
The first step is to remove the antenna from the car. This process is described in detail in other articles, but the short version is to remove the plastic trim piece at the rear of the headliner and then pull the headliner down an inch or two. The antenna is fastened to the roof with a nut. Unscrew the nut and remove the antenna.
The next step is to disassemble the base where the amplifier is located. This is a delicate operation and care must be taken not to destroy the unit. On the bottom of the base are two phillips head screws which fasten an aluminum cap to the bottom of the black plastic base . The problem is that when the base was assembled at the factory it was filled with foam adhesive. This was probably done for two reasons. First to seal the unit from water, and second to provide added strength to the finished assembly. After removing the two screws carefully insert a thin screwdriver blade down the sides of the base cutting away the foam. Work your way around the base until it finally separates from the aluminum cap.
The amplifier should remain attached to the aluminum cap. Mine had obviously been wet and had corrosion all over it. Someone skilled in electronics could probably repair the amp, but I elected to rip it off with a pair of pliers.
At this point you should have the plastic base, and the aluminum cap with two wires attached, the power lead, and a lead from the coax cable. Pull the power lead out of the cap from the bottom, it no longer serves any purpose. In the bottom (top) of the plastic base you will see a metal "button" which is the bottom of the threaded insert the mast screws into. Take a piece of wire and solder one end to the "button" and the other to the coax cable lead.
Now you can reassemble the base and cap using the phillips head screws and put the antenna back on the car.
I do think that without the foam adhesive the assembly is not as strong, therefore it might be wise to remove the antenna mast before going through a carwash, but I have not had any problems during normal driving.
First, keep in mind that the foam adhesive completely fills the black plastic cone. This means that in order to remove the outer cone, you must detach the foam from the majority of the inside of the cone. I started using a small screwdriver to do this, but migrated to a long, thin bladed pocket knife. This process took some time and requires patience. It also took some force - I wouldn't necassarily describe it as a delicate procedure.
Once the cone was off, I made a slight error when I removed the foam encased amplifier with a pliers. Doing so removed the coax cable at the base, making the soldering of the bypass wire more interesting. In retrospect, I would spend a little more time removing the foam and amp. The coax cable connects to the amp at the base and was not in the normal coax sheilding - all I saw was the copper wiring.
After soldering some wire between the button at the top of the cone and the coax in the aluminum base, I covered the solderings with some silcon. The rational being to protect the connection against moisture because of the hole in the base left when I removed the power cable.
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