Dragging My 96 Into The 21st Century

blhfla · Sep 21, 2016

I used some flexible bailing wire to reach in behind the dash from the footwell area and tape the wires to it so I could pull them back through.

I then routed the microphone up to the top of the top steering wheel cowling where I mounted it with the double sided tape.

The reverse wire I routed along the framing underneath the steering column to the left and suspended it there for later connection to the reverse wire running along the kick panel. The last step was to reassemble the panel under the steering column and the dash consule control panel, as they say the assembly process is the reverse of the disassembly.

Next up is the backup camera installation.

blhfla · Sep 21, 2016

The reverse camera needs the RCA video cable run from the head unit to the camera in the back of the vehicle. I already ran the RCA cable out from the radio and down the passenger side of the dashboard console behind the glovebox when I installed the head unit so now I just connected the RCA patch cable and ran it to the back. I included some 14 gauge speaker wire with the backup camera RCA cable when running it from the dash to rear of the vehicle to pre-wire it for a 400 watt RMS sub that I plan to install very soon in the passenger rear quarter panel, that way I can have all the wiring run at once under the body panels and won't have to tear it again up later. The amp for the sub will go where the factory one was (that I am bypassing) in the passenger side dash adjacent to the glove box. This also prevents having to run low level RCA cables, which are susceptible to picking up noise, all the way to the rear for a rear installed amp, especially when adjacent to power cables that the rear amp would need to be run there as well. Not to mention running a power cable from the battery in the driver side front corner to the passenger side rear corner would be a VERY long cable run, but only to the glove box location is not. First I need to tape the RCA cable and speaker wire together so they will fit under the body panels tight space and to help protect them. I kept the RCA cable in the groove between the two speaker wires. Then I ran them under the body panels that just pull up and out from the chassis.

blhfla · Sep 22, 2016

Next I installed the camera on the back bumper. There were two sets of 1/2 inch bolt holes in the center of the bumper so I used the bottom two as a mount point. The are a bit overkill but the are perfectly placed to mount the camera at the hitch ball height. I made a bracket out of 2 inch angle aluminum I had by drilling two 1/2 inch holes to align with the holes in the bumper and two 3/16 inch holes to match the camera's mounting bracket.

The camera mounted at the bottom of the bumper so that the RCA cable slipped between the bumper and hitch nicely. The aluminum bracket is also heavy enough to provide protection for the camera and conceals it quite well from eyeball height too.

The 1/2 inch bolts look a bit silly for the little bracket but I wanted it to fit right and tight.

After running the camera cable to the passenger side and zip tying it to the hitch I ran the RCA video patch cable from inside the cabin out to the camera cable. I ran a coat hanger through a grommet just above the muffler underneath the truck that leads into the passenger rear quarter panel and taped the RCA cable to it and pulled it back through the grommet and outside under the truck. I had to make a hook on the end of the coat hanger to ensure it wouldn't not lose the wire.

Below you can see the coat hanger pulled through and the yellow RCA cable connector just coming through the grommet under the truck.

blhfla · Sep 22, 2016

With the patch cable extended under the truck I ran it over to the camera's yellow RCA video cable and connected the two.

I then sealed the joint with heat shrink tubing to protect it from the elements but I left a small space at each end to provide access for scissors should it ever need to be disconnected.

Now the camera's power/ground cables needed to be attached. This time I had to run the wires from outside, underneath the truck back through the grommet and inside the rear quarter panel. For this I used a small pick and taped the wires to it.

Here you can see it coming through the grommet inside the quarter panel.

blhfla · Sep 22, 2016

Then I pulled the wires through and spliced them into the reverse light circuit power and ground wires. The reverse power (positive) wire is red with a blue stripe and the ground is white with a black stripe.

I tied into the harness between the grommet below and a joint connector above near where the grommet for the tail light fixture is in the rear quarter panel. I used some nifty electrical connectors called Posi-Tap from RacerPartsWholesale.com to splice into the wires. They are great for getting into tight spaces where a 90 degree splice is all you have room for.

Here you can see how they are constructed.

You slip the slotted green endcap over the existing wire through it's slot and then tighten down the red barrel with the piercing pin side facing the wire to tap into it.

Then you place the new wire (with 3/8 inch insulation stripped) though the red end cap and down onto the barrel and tighten down the red end cap.

blhfla · Sep 22, 2016

Here is the slotted end cap around the reverse light circuit positive wire.

And with the barrel tightened down piercing the power cable.

Slipping the open endcap onto the new wire.

With the new wire spliced in and the gorund wire prepared to splice.

After the power cables were spliced all that was left was to connected the power cable from the camera (underneath the truck) to the power cable extension (with the red and black wires that were just spliced) coming out of the grommet from inside the cabin.

blhfla · Sep 22, 2016

Now I heat shrunk the camera power cable connection and zip tied them to the trailer hitch.

Now the camera will work when activated from the head unit "Camera" menu selection while the vehicle is in reverse. Once the reverse signal wire is connected to the reverse light circuit under the dash in the driver's kick panel it will activate the camera automatically without having to select it from the head unit's menu, so that is the last step. I am quite happy with it so far.