Originally, I didn’t plan on having a backup camera. I found some examples on the forums. I figured the touchscreen Alpine deck has provisions to add a front/rear camera. So, I thought, why not? I initially bought a license plate frame with a camera attached. But, I realized that the camera’s placement blocked the license plate lights. Also, if I flipped the frame upside down, I wouldn’t manage to open the trunk. What to do?
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I opted for a much more difficult install. Why? Nothing has been “plug and play” with this car. My courage has built up over the time building it. I chose to replicate a build from Saul on the FFR forums. Sadly, he passed away in a tragic accident a few years back. His legacy lives on with this mod.
I opted to mount the camera in the box that holds the license plate lights. Yes, this requires some ingenuity and modifications, but it works PERFECTLY and looks pretty trick in the process.
You can see in the pics below, Saul’s original design above the license plate. I drilled out the grounding bar with an 18.5 mm hole saw. The shiny chrome box holds the license plate lights. I then aligned and drilled the camera hole and test fit the camera.
This is where it gets a little tricky. Aligning the license plate light box, the Plexiglas underneath, and the actual hardware is one part. Next I needed to figure out how to mount the light box to the body. Normally, a single screw applies pressure to hold the light box onto the license plate frame. The frame is drilled into the body. Creativity was needed, patience, and a steady drilling hand.
The 1/8″ aluminum bar needed to be added. It provided some width to the screws. These screws were going to hold the light box onto the plate holder. I used some short 1/8″ rivets to mount the bar. They squished enough on the inside. This prevented them from messing with the electrical connections inside the box. It’s basically a grounding bar that holds the LEDs and they touch a positive U-bar for connectivity.
Once the bar was aligned, drilled, riveted – I then needed to drill another 18.5 mm hole for the camera to fit. Of course this was helped by a dremel with a mini sanding drum and many test fits. Next, I needed to drill the final exterior holes. I also tested the screw length to make sure it would not short out any electrical connectors or bars.
I used 10/24 hex head bolts to mount the rear box. Why? I have a huge box of them from other mods. All I needed was a #25 drill bit and a tap for the 10-24 screws. (see below)
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Now the final result! It worked out amazingly well, we had to clock the camera to make sure it was up/down/side-to-side aligned. Absolutely LOVE the functionality and the install is pretty stealth!
So, is this mod worth it? It depends…
- Is this needed? absolutely not
- Is it functional? absolutely!
- Would I recommend doing this? Yes, on an unfinished car it’s easy, on a finished car – plan on running wires, etc.
- Was it hard? In a sense, yes. It took a lot of patience and walking away at times. The end result is amazing IMHO. I absolutely love the look. It will be helpful when I install a backup light. It will turn on with the camera. This is the next thing to do. See part below 🙂
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This product presentation was made with AAWP plugin.
