OK folks, this is my latest modification to the 1800GT. Not quite finished but I wanted to get something written, with pictures, that I can add to as I complete the install. A few weeks ago, MIATATOMATO on here, posted about his new hood that had no rear window, his solution (if he felt it necessary) was to install a rear view camera/ mirror gizmo. This got me thinking. I looked on Amazon, eBay etc at this type of thing and there are hundreds to go at. From my searching, I put together a list of what I though I needed plus some “nice to have” features. I looked at upgrading my current head unit anyway, so needed to replicate the functionality as much as possible, details here;
https://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/yaf_postst95758_NC1-Pumpkin-audio-install.aspx
but kept going back to the mirror thing. A lot of these have two rubber straps that hold the DVR onto the existing mirror and a myriad of cables come off them for power supply, rear camera, GPS etc (well, not quite a myriad maybe) but there you go. There are other ones that fit on the dash in a rubberised plinth with a forward facing camera plus all the connection wires as previously mentioned and no way to conceal the wires properly. Or, the head unit upgrade option was also a consideration.
I wanted;
- Android
- full handsfree mobile phone
- phonebook transfer
- GPS
- Bluetooth
- FM transmitter
- Front camera
- Rear camera
- hardwired power etc
- picture in picture
- mirror rear view from camera (wide angle)
- Built in WiFi
- Sim card for Internet
In the end I bought this,
This is the unit I purchased in the end,
So far, my thoughts are, (not fully installed yet), the packaging is high quality, the very rigid box it comes in has a flap held in place with magnets and covered in fairly plain printed paper ( understated) with essential info on, the mirror itself has a very nice weight and looks and feels high quality, both mirror, front lens and rear camera came with protective films over them. Inside the box, semi rigid foam holds the mirror in place while underneath a cardboard cover are all the accessories and manual, individually packaged. Presentation is first class, as was my initial impression of the product.
The other thing, this unit is fixed directly to the OEM mirror bracket with only the one hard wired braided wiring sheath coming off the top of the unit for all connections, very neat and looks excellent installed. The camera, GPS connection and power (both permanent live and switched) are incorporated in one wire with very slim pre wired connectors. Everything tucked away easily behind header trim and A pillar trim.
These are just a few of the supplied cups and one of the retaining rings for different size mirror fittings (shown in situ in picture four)
The OEM mirror is easy enough to dismount from the screen, the base part stays on the screen and there is a slot in the lower edge of the cover that a flat screwdriver can get into and then it gently prises of and slides upwards. Getting the mirror off the stalk is a bit harder and brute force was applied to pop it out of its socket. I was not aware of this but there is a “peg” moulded into the ball itself, to restrict movement I think, this caught on the socket and snapped a piece of the ball off. However, superglue, the vice and a small file restored it and I removed the “peg” leaving a smooth ball for fitting the new cup to the mirror.
This picture shows the OEM bracket with the restored ball and the screw collar for the new mirror, in place ready for fitting. Picture four shows the mirror side of this with a suitable sized cup fitted in place, the OEM bracket pushes into the cup and the collar screws down nice and tight to secure the mirror whilst allowing adjustment.
In position, with only an inch or so of braided cable coming straight out of the top of the unit and the original OEM mirror bracket being utilised, the whole install looks very tidy.
The header rail trim and drivers side A pillar trim needed to be removed so I could route the wires behind and then under the dashboard. Unscrew the two torX bolts each side for the hood receivers and one more behind the sun visors, to prise off the header trim, not forgetting to unplug the interior light. The A pillar trim which actually comes off first, is easily prised off with a plastic trim tool. In this picture is my screen mounted aerial as I deleted the OEM aerial completely and filled in the hole in the rear wing. It also shows the mirror base left on the windscreen ready for the new mirror.
The braided sheath that protects the wiring coming away from the mirror DVR is about 300mm long, more than enough to get behind the header trim. Make the connections at that point then run the harness along the header, down the A pillar, under the dash and into the radio area. At this point there is a switched 12v live, a permanent 12v live and a ground wire to connect. I’ve identified these on the OEM radio plug so will be splicing into them for ease of installation.
A couple of (not too good a quality) pics of the DVR camera fully mounted.
The rear view camera has two functions, it acts as a reversing camera with adjustable ( via the mirror touch screen) parking guide lines and as a streaming video rear view acting as the mirror. This view is fully recordable (simultaneously with the front camera view if required) it’s also wide angle giving a better rearward view (I hope) The cable from the camera, which also has a connector and a trigger wire connected to the reversing light live, has an inline connector so putting the main cable in to run to the front of the car is straightforward. My previous unit has reversing camera so when I took the wiring out for that, I taped the new cable to it and pulled it through.
I used the black rectangular blanking plate between the number plate lights to mount the camera (3m supplied tape) fed the camera cable and trigger wire into the boot and fastened them to the OEM loom on the boot lid. Once inside the boot, I connected the camera trigger wire to the reversing lamp wiring and the camera to the connecting cable running to the front, all wires/cables concealed behind the boot panels, which incidentally, I had to remove both side panels and behind number plate panel to do it.
Here is the OEM head unit out of storage, ready to fit and a picture of the wiring waiting to be connected. In line fuses pre installed for the two lives and a forked fitting on the ground wire for screwing onto a suitable bolt -ve earth point.
Front camera angle is adjustable so mirror set to right position and then adjust the view from front camera. Image can be front view only, rear view only, split screen or reversing camera view with guidelines, pretty neat.
The mirror is 10" along the bottom so is bigger than OEM one to start with and switched off you have a conventional mirror. I will get the connections made and post back with first impressions.
