Hello again all,
Another little update which finishes off the tailgate swap which was conducted a couple of weekends ago...
You've all seen that the tailgate swap was quite a success but after refitting Neil’s rear window trim surround panels I actually left my trim panels off. This was to add a Nextbase 522GW with rear camera that I wanted to take through the left tailgate long grommet/weather shield.
To start with I fitted the front camera in a suitable place that doesn't contravene frontal viewing. I then laid the installation/power supply cable along the front of the headlining and down the passengers A pillar down to the group of connectors at the base. The cable was plenty long enough and actually cut quite a lot off. Soldered the 2 trailing wires into the vehicles electrics, one being earth which went to the 10mm earth point bolt, the other being an ignition live wire which I soldered into the ignition live supply on the blue connector. Quick test and all was good and very happy to see the front camera spring into life when he key was inserted and switched to the on position. That was the easy bit..
Next up was to plug the rear camera command cable in at the front camera then decide which route to take to the rear of the vehicle. The 2 options I deemed as available to me was quickly remove the nearside roof furniture and poke the cable above the headlining or take the more involved option of removing all the near side sill trim panels and hope that the cable was long enough for this option.
You know me though, I went for there more involved and risky (as the cable looked to only just be long enough) option. The rear camera cable followed the same route as the front cameras power supply down to the passengers A pillar. From there it followed the existing loom run to the rear of the vehicle along the sill, over the nearside rear wheel arch, to the rear light cluster then up the D pillar to the start of the long rubber grommet/weather shield. By the time the cable was in this region I was getting little worried as it was quickly loosing its length, I remained hopeful and continued as planned but was already thinking I should have just went over the headlining.
The long rubber grommet was easy enough to remove whilst being very careful to not damage any if the wires that it contained. Here is the grommet removed from the body and tailgate:
You'll notice the metal coat hanger type item that's been pushed through the rubber conduit, care must be take choosing this method as you could easily catch and open one of the existing wires. I simply taped the end up to ensure it wasn't sharp as it was being passed through.
I next taped thin but strong string to the metal and puled it back through, leaving just the thin string inside the rubber conduit. The string is thin enough to loop around/tie to the 3.5mm jack at the end of the rear camera cable.
Look how thick that 3.5mm jack is in the below picture. It's a lot to get through the conduit but totally achievable with a few squirts of silicone spray and taking my time like a snake digesting a larger animal.
After some 30 minutes of being patient and 2 re-try’s; as the 3.5mm jack got stuck so removed it and started again, it was through:
Such relief but I wasn’t safe yet as this took even more of there cable length up and I was really getting nervous that I’d wasted my time and was going to have to resort to the earlier option 1. After cable tying the cable to the existing loom it was clear that I was on dangerous ground but finally pulled the remaining length of the cable through for the moment of truth. Was I to start all over again at the passengers A pillar or had I got away with it:
Looking at the above picture I'd say that I did indeed get away with it. Such a relief after messing about with the rubber grommet and that I didn't have to undo the work done so far to start again at the front of the vehicle. The rear camera that plugs into the jack has a few inches of cable so I was hi-fiving myself that all was going ti work out.
Heres the front camera in operation without hideous cables hanging around the cabin:
I'll cable tie the 2 cables to tidy the look up later on but very happy with what has been done here. Lets not forget the rear camera with all the rear windows trim panels all back where they should be:
Couldn't resist getting a shot of the Jaipur Red Votex spoiler!
I have quire a few things to update you all on but will get to them as my online time is pretty much spent for today. Enjoy what's left of the weekend all.
Kind regards,
Tom
5 metres is quite a lift 
