Rear view camera and LCD mirror install on my vert.
 

Not really sure where to post this, but it looks like there might be some differences between the coupe and vert for this, so I will post it here.
The ZL1 will have a back up camera and what sucks is that our cars already have the reverse wire going to the mirror and there is a spot blocked off by the license plate that looks like the location where the camera will be.

Ok, first off the parts you will need are:
1. rear view camera
2. rear view mirror with LCD screen (i used one out of an 2011 GM truck)
3. a harness to connect the mirror to your stock connector (you can also wire it up yourself, I was going to do this, but 2SSRS had a great price on a ready to go harness)

This whole process took about a couple hours since this is the first time I have taken apart the interior of a 5th gen. I has very impressed at how well the interior pieces came off and snapped back in.

First thing I did was take off the A pillar covers, these just unsnap at the top and then you just slide the bottom out of the dash. BE CAREFUL, with the drivers side one, it has what looks like a microphone attached on the inside of it. This pops right out of the clip.

Next you will be taking off the top trim on the very top of the windsdield (the part that the convertible top attaches to). This part has a bunch of clips that you just pull on straight up.

Next you will remove the stock mirror. Pull off the little plastic cover that houses the connector. The mirror's mount has a torx screw that locks it in place. Loosen this screw and just pull the mirror up and out. Also disconect the connector. You can go a head and mount the new mirror.

Next you will be pulling off the trim piece that has the sun visors, interior lamp and garage door/vert top buttons. This piece has 4 Torx 15 screws holding it in. these screws are covered by the sun visors and little removable tabs. You remove these tabs with a thin flat head screw driver from the outer most side (I almost broke mine trying to remove them from the inner most side, but luckily they are VERY flexible. I will post the pictures in order from drivers side to passenger). After removing the little covers unscrew the 4 trorx screws and then pull down on the trim piece where it meets the windshield (it will only come loose on the front) after you undo all of these clips you will pull the whole piece back toward the rear of the car. There are a couple connectors on either end I left plugged in so it will hold the trim piece. You can now plug in the new adapter harness and run all the wires along the top trim piece and down the a pillar.

Next up you will take off the side dash panel, kick panel and rocker trim panel on the driver's side. Also pull off the rear trim panel right above the rear sail panel, then the rear sail panel (be sure to unplug the rear speaker that is attached to the sail panel). You can also pull out the rear seat bottom by just pulling up on it and making sure it doesn't get caught on the seat belt receivers.

Now you have to pull off the rear license plate and pretty much all the panels out of the trunk (you have to do this part with the top up). These panels are pretty easy to pull out. BE CAREFULL with the sensor attached to the side molded carpet panel. Now you can look at my picture so you can see where to run the cable through. I used a coat hanger to snake my cable through this little opening.

Now all you have to do is mount whatever camera you have, drill a hole for the wire, run the wires and put all the trim pieces back on.

Great post, I could not do this but I am impressed with those that can!

A side note: the video quality has some interference. I'm thinking bunching up the excess wire like that and putting it right next to the battery wasn't the best idea. I will fix it tomorrow.

how much in parts??

I spent about $380, but there are better deals on mirrors out there (I jumped on the first one I saw) so you could get this really close to about $300.

Almost forgot to comment on the actual mod itself! LOL
The mirror is HUGE. It borders on the line of almost too big, but I like it. With the top down it looks like I am looking at my 58" plasma screen out of the back of my car. You can see EVERYTHING. It actually sits up pretty high so the top 3/8 inch or so is useless because it is blocked by the upper console but I like it. I still have to adjust the actual tilt of the camera to see what I like.

Nice job

That's a fantastic job, thanks for the great how-to. A rear camera is HIGH on my list of priorities.

With the 2012 having the option for a rear view camera designed for the car itself, I wonder if waiting for a couple of months wouldn't result in a camera designed specifically for the car with the guide lines and all.

I'll be keeping an eye out on this topic to be sure.

Tib

Great job!, waaaay beyond my abilities but great idea.

I agree with Tiberious and am going to wait a little bit, but I am spoiled by this feature in my other vehicles and can't wait to add it.

Nice work, It seems a bit easier for me to just turn my head and look like I've been doing for the last 35 years, but hats off to you on the great job!

Nice job on the mod but how long did you have your Camaro when you started this mod? I mean I would at least driven it a awhile and enjoyed driving it before I started disassembling it. But to each his own. :chevy:

4 days. You should see the room full of parts I have waiting to go on. The only thing I am waiting on to start tearing her apart is the 1/4 mile track to be open so I can get my bone stock 1/4 mile times and dyno numbers. If the track was open the night I got it I would have been there that night and had her apart the next morning!

I have a mirror from brandmotion (OEM supposedly) being installed today. I didn't have the nerve to try it myself. Not cheap, but apparently meant for the 2010+ camaro. Supposedly mine will be the first vert install.

If it's intended for the Camaro, will it have guide lines or just the image? I'll take any help I can get keeping from hitting hidden objects....and yes, I look too!

Tib

My wife's Terrian has guidelines, but it is displayed on the huge nav screen. I haven't seen mine work yet, but from what I can tell with the display being on the mirror it's just the image.

http://www.brandmotion.com/media/cat...18-9540a_1.jpg

Great job. I will be doing this when my vert arrives. Also I am doing a complete custom stereo system. Can you tell me what size the rear side speakers are. Thanks :)

My camera has two little buttons to turn on/off the grid lines and to reverse the image (in case you mount it up front). I might look into mounting one up front and have a switch to activate it when parking forwards.

Nice mod!

I cringe everytime I see a new car tore apart like that, but nice job on the install. I just can't see going with a bigger mirror than the monster already in these cars.

Why not make a monitor where the DIC is at? That would give everyone something to look at...

:w00t:

Nice job, on the coup you don't need to drop the head liner for the install, if you have a lot of noise in the image you need to shield the cable from the trunk all the way to the side cover.

I've got the same kind of problem with interference, but I don't think it's a problem with the video signal or the wiring to the back of the car. I think it's a problem with the power or the ground. I'm getting the power from the harness green wire and grounding to the little black bolt just in front/above the drivers side fuse box. If I unhook that and just power the camera from a 9v battery, the signal to the mirror is nice and clear.

Hmmmm interesting, I remember reading somewhere about the power going to the stock camera being 6 volts. Maybe the green write is only provoking 6 volts and that is why the quality is crappy. I'll plug mine into a different power source when I get home.

Yep, I just ran camera power from the cigarette lighter adapter and the picture quality was much better (still a teeny bit of interference visible but 90% better). I think I need to try to run a separate ground up into the mirror harness rather than grounding to the chassis.

Man I need one of these on my car! It is hard for me to tell how far to pull up when I'm parking this car! I'm use to pulling up until my tires hit the curb in my truck and that does not work in this Camaro

Nice post, was wondering why that wasn't an option when buying.

I'm guessing it will be next year with the ZL1 having it.

Whats the model # of the parts you use if you have them handy? I have to do this:) And how does it know when to come on?

Got the harness from "2SSRS", so pm him to get one, or you can wire it yourself. I was going to wire it myself but his harness was too good of a price to pass up!
My mirror is out of a 2010 GMC Acadia, but it is the same mirror for every GM with this feature. Part number 25794381
The camera is a VTL420C BOYO camera. There are dozens of cameras out there that do the same thing, basically just pick the one that looks best to you.

Thanks I sent him a PM and ordered a mirror

Completelyover looked your question, sorry. I have no clue. They were right there when i pulled the panel off but I didn't even think to look.

Your mirror seems to "fit" better than what I got - the part number translates to a Gentex GNTX-657, wheras the kit I bought uses a Magna Donnelly. Would you say you can "adjust" your mirror well? Mine ended up behind yet up against the light panel and in the end the mirror just can't be adjusted. Looking for a better solution, so please let me know if you are have a lot of clearance. Thanks!

It does hit the panel and the very top of the mirror shows a reflection of the back of the panel ( only the top 3/8" or so), but I can still adjust it perfectly where I need it.

Interesting - it sounds like it may end up in the same place. Are you real tall by chance? :) I can't get the mirror to go "left" enough to center the rear window from where I am sitting at 5' 8". Trying to point it down at all is near impossible.

I'm about 5' 10". I just sat in my car and checked it out again. If I was shorter or a little taller I can still put it right where I want it. If I was a lot taller then I would not be able to move it left enough to put it where I want it.

I scrunched down in my seat and I could actually adjust it better. I do have my seat adjusted as low as it will go and my back sucks so I don't slouch at all in my seat, if that helps.

When I look at one of the first photos you posted there appears to be a lot of clearance between the mirror and the panel, a lot more than I have at the moment. I found the guy on ebay who sells the mirrors, he's going to let me try the Gentex and apparently the wiring is exactly the same. There may be just enough difference in the mount to make all the difference in the world - we'll see.

I was wondering when this was gonna happen :)

Wonder louder next time lol :)

Got the Gentex installed, it's a definite improvement!

My stock mirror is for sale.

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=179278