One of my Z’s first repairs was fixing a gashed lower front lip. The car’s previous owner hit a parking lot bump stop. Luckily for me this little mishap was a way to leverage him down to a lower selling price. Occasionally I gave some thought to simple driver aids that might help to avoid future issues. I considered ultrasonic or laser LED detectors or maybe even some kind of retractable curb feeler? I have a decent engineering background but there didn’t seem to be a solution that was both simple and elegant. Last December I happened to spot a holiday sale for this item and the light bulbs went off!!! Mount a wireless camera to the front bumper cover and monitor from the cabin.
This kit ran around $80, had a $20 rebate and needed only simple power connections. A value priced and easy to implement solution! Operating this system is easy, apply +12vdc to the camera unit, power up the 2.5 inch color monitor and see a wide-eyed image. The monitor even detects loss of video and powers down.
There’s just a handful of parts and supplies need for installation:
- Four feet of 3/8 split wire loom (highly recommended)
- A weather resistant 3rd brake light male/female quick connect
- Two bolts, washers, lock washers and wing nuts for mounting the camera sensor (highly recommend the wing nuts – very easy to tighten)
- Cold wrap self-sealing tape, electrical tape, heat shrink tubing, solder, a soldering iron and a 3/16 drill bit
The wiring plan was simple: Power the camera from one of the front parking lights and power the monitor from the supplied cigarette lighter adapter cable. The camera draws just 0.1 amps and doesn’t cause any lamp circuit overloading problems.
Installation
The remote camera unit looks like a child’s toy, certainly not industrial grade construction. It’s intended to be mounted across a rear license plate. The camera’s head can also be tilted a bit to adjust viewing angles. In addition, the monitor’s picture can be rotated to account for camera orientation.
I spent a little time removing the camera from the base – wanted to see how well it was sealed up against moisture? It turns out the camera case was glued shut, so things were petty tight there. I did spend a few extra minutes “hardening” the base station – applied white grease to a sealed spring that engages the tilt’s swivel stop gear. I also filled up the base cavities (see RED arrows on photo above) with grease to prevent water from pooling and getting into both the wiring entry point and the plastic swivel gear area. Figured this might be an issue since the camera would be mounted upside down on the bumper cover and not as intended across a license plate (which would allow water to drain). I sealed up the grease filled cavities with thin strips of plastic (see Red circle below) using automotive high durability RTV.
Here’s the camera unit and driver side park/turn lamp assembly. Reinforced the camera’s power line with a split wire loom covering – makes it much easier when pushing the wiring into the parking light bumper cavity and further protects against the weather.
Spliced in a weather resistant quick connect to the parking light wires (Red to Nissan Green/Red for +12v and White to Nissan Black for the ground). The wiring splices were sealed using a combination of heat shrink tubing, electrical tape and a final layer of cold wrap self-sealing tape. I did similar for the plug connected to the camera’s power lines. Lubed up the plug’s connections with electrical grease too.
Here’s how the remote video unit looks mounted under the license plate. It’s mounted to a stock bumper cover using two stainless steel bolts inserted through 3/16 inch drilled holes. Very stealthy and hard to spot without looking carefully.
The camera’s tilt head feature really helped in making final viewing adjustments. The head can also be pointed back towards the engine bay for times when rough drive lens scratching rock hits may be a worry.
After the camera was mounted, I routed the power cable’s wire loom behind the bumper cover’s mounting brackets and into the turn/parking light cavity (a 5 minute job!).
Once everything was ready to go – I did a test with a wood tie and a ruler. The wood block was positioned 2 inches away from the car’s lower lip
Here’s how it looks on the LCD monitor -- wasn’t able to take a good picture, but you can make out the ruler, wood block and the car’s white lower lip. Despite this picture -- the monitor does have a clear and detailed image.
This is where I plan to permanently mount the monitor…
It fits nicely in this spot! All I need to do is fab-up a small mounting bracket and attach using some Velcro. I’ll also permanently connect the monitor’s power feed to a switched key source.
Final Notes
I was impressed with the unit’s simple operation but I have my doubts about the camera’s durability over time? Seems like one good rock hit it to the body or the lens may take it out? As a back-up camera for cars or SUVs, the ease of installation makes this product appealing. If only the monitor had a video out port – then it would be easy to route a signal to either an in dash LCD display or possibly an auto-dimming/video display rear view mirror. It should be noted that the camera unit does have a video out jack which can be used to hardwire an installation should the blue-tooth signal experience bad interference.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this not very serious how-to? It works just fine for me but sure does feel embarrassing to admit I’ve gone and done it!!!
WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMERS…
The hardware described transmits wireless video images and those images may be picked-up by other nearby video receivers. In some countries, states and rural counties (often where driving a foreign car is still considered treasonous) it can be a crime to broadcast images of animals or insects during acts of copulation. This project may inadvertently pick-up those images from the ground. Please use care and always remember to turn off the video transmitter when parking in the woods, at a nearby field, on the lawn, etc.
DO NOT watch the video monitor while open road driving!!! Do not attempt to line-up the camera’s image between the two yellow lines or count white dashes as they pass under your car! This camera can be used as an inspection tool for close-ups of road kill, however, stopping on any road to perform these inspections is very dangerous and NOT recommended!
READ AND FOLLOW ALL SAFETY PROCEDURES RECOMMENDED IN THE NISSAN SERVICE MANUAL FOR WORK ON THE 300ZX Z32 AND ITS ELECTRICAL SYSTEM. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY WHEN WORKING ON YOUR CAR. THIS WRITE-UP IS AN EXAMPLE OF ONE WAY TO PERFORM THIS WORK; IT MAY NOT BE THE SAFEST OR BEST WAY TO DO IT. THIS WRITE-UP MAY CONTAIN ERRORS. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR DETERMINING HOW THIS WORK SHOULD BE EXECUTED IN A SAFE AND CAUTIOUS MANNER -- AUTHOR IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY HARM TO YOU, YOUR CAR, FUTURE GENERATIONS, YOUR PROPERTY OR TO OTHERS WHILE OR AFTER PEFORMING THIS OR ANY OTHER AUTOMOBILE SERVICING.
How-To: Blue Tooth Enabled Video Lower Lip Protector - 
