Boss 9” Elite Flatscreen radio and backup camera install

[The Volkswagen Ranch]

Let me start off by saying that I am not an electrical wiring wizard; in fact attempting this project was very scary to me… but when you live in a small mountain town in Arizona….with very few vw’s and NO other Eurovans in town you have to get your courage up.
I made a decision to not install the wiring to the rear in the traditional manner hiding it behind the plastic trim right below the headliner. Our bus is in very nice condition, was a California bus…. but it is still 23 years old. Plastic gets brittle with age and I did not want the probability of cracking some plastic trim, and having to hunt for and find (and pay for) replacement panels. So, let’s behig at the end, and review how I got there.

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1964 vert "Patience"
2002 Eurovan MV “Winnie”
Sold the 63 vert “ Lizzie”
Sold the 76 Westfalia “ Winnie”

[The Volkswagen Ranch]

Installing and connecting the wiring to the radio went exactly as spelled out in the Boss instructions. The only thing missing was a note to make sure you install the app for AppleCarPlay if using your Apple phone! To connect to your backup camera you may need an additional video cable as the backup camera you purchase may not have a long enough cable for your bus. I ran my wiring along the right side as it made it easy to connect the wire from the radio to the reverse wiring bundle on the right rear tail light.
Begin by running the video cable and reverse wiring cable under the radio and then under the dash to the front of the passenger door weatherstrip.

_________________
1964 vert "Patience"
2002 Eurovan MV “Winnie”
Sold the 63 vert “ Lizzie”
Sold the 76 Westfalia “ Winnie”

[The Volkswagen Ranch]

If you are new to Eurovans…you will soon find that the mandatory tool to own to do interior work is this kit from your local Harbor Freight. It is usually on sale for around $5.00, and makes working with plastic panels and the various retainer
“clips” doable. I used these to tuck the wires under weatherstrips and plastic trim panels. Take your time and be patient! The trim is flexible and will allow you to hide 99% of the wires. Around tight curves/corners by the lower “b” panel trim by the passenger seat you may end up showing a very, very small piece of the wire….but you really have to look for it! Same goes for the end of the plastic step panel against the side panel before you tuck the wires under the rear seat.

And run the wires under the back seat, tucking the wires carefully by the seat sliding rail.

[The Volkswagen Ranch]

Run the wires close to the seat sliding rail, then under the rear compartment wall, connect the reverse wire by splicing into the wire that is “live” when ignition is on and automatic gear selector is moved to reverse, turning on back up light. There is an excellent post on installing the prior ( now discontinued 7” Boss) detailing where to splice the wire into the wiring plug at the tail light.

You now only have one wire left to connect; the video cable wire. Remove the screws holding the trim panel behind the rear window. You now run the video cable wire up thru the panel above the rear compartment and will connect to the wiring from the backup camera. Here the pic shows the connection to the camera bundle.

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1964 vert "Patience"
2002 Eurovan MV “Winnie”
Sold the 63 vert “ Lizzie”
Sold the 76 Westfalia “ Winnie”

[The Volkswagen Ranch]

My windows are tinted, and found out that you need a very good camera to have decent night vision. First I tried a camera that had 10 tiny LED’s circling the lens thinking that they would aid night vision; but found that their bright light reflected off the rear hatch tint and rendered the camera picture useless. After a fair amount of online research found this one, which was also available on Amazon. I believe it was around $39.00… and did the job. Very hard to find a camera that had good night vision reviews!

I will finish this post tomorrow night; how to run the wiring to the hatch and mount the camera to the 3rd brake light.
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1964 vert "Patience"
2002 Eurovan MV “Winnie”
Sold the 63 vert “ Lizzie”
Sold the 76 Westfalia “ Winnie”

[SambaBurnsRed]

An option is to run the wire underneath the van; there's lots of open space and terrain to do that. It's OEM too > My RAM 1500 has got wire looms all over the place on the underside.

There is a grommet to get below at the rear taillight area. At the front I popped a hole and came up into the driver's door step well, up into the kick panel and across the back of dash to the radio cavity.

[qval]

Thank you for these pointers. I'll do this eventually and it's good to have a path to follow
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2000 MV weekender, 270k miles

[The Volkswagen Ranch]

qval, glad I was able to give you and others some ideas. Running wiring under the bus is not an option here. In the mountains here we have ground squirrels, field mice and lots of creatures that like wiring for snacks so running wiring underneath is not an option. I hope to finish this post tonight if the weather permits me to open the garage door for pics. Last night was windy and too rainy! Bob
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1964 vert "Patience"
2002 Eurovan MV “Winnie”
Sold the 63 vert “ Lizzie”
Sold the 76 Westfalia “ Winnie”

[The Volkswagen Ranch]

No rain tonight, storm coming late Monday night, then all day Tuesday and Wednesday. We really need the rain, and hope it turns to snow so we can build up the ground water. Anyway, on to finishing this install map!

I am going to go to the camera install and work backwards to where we left off, which is actually the path I took on the install. You will need to loosen the screw right under the third brake light, and remove the screws holding up the curtain rod. Then remove the screws holding the plastic trim panels. This is where I had a tough time, as you will see the trim panels both cracked when I carefully used my plastic tools to get them to move. This is why I avoided taking the
“ traditional” path removing the plastic trim running along the headliner to install! They did separate, and in the spring I will glue the broken pieces in, feather filler, and match the trim color with SEM. This pic is after I put it back together.

Mounting the Pixel camera is simple, just drill two small, shallow holes in the bottom of the brake light, and run the wiring under the trim panel( plenty of room) to the right side of the hatch glass.

_________________
1964 vert "Patience"
2002 Eurovan MV “Winnie”
Sold the 63 vert “ Lizzie”
Sold the 76 Westfalia “ Winnie”

[The Volkswagen Ranch]

Next, remove the snap screws (for the rear bug screen) and rear screws holding the rear headliner trim. At the right side near the insulated wire bundle, I drilled about a 3/8” hole to pass the RCA video cable plug thru to the body. I sealed the hole with Locktite Vinyl, Fabric&Plastic flexible sealer ( so it could be cut in the event wiring needed to be replaced in the future). I tried for about 3 hours trying to get it thru the insulated bundle and gave up. Maybe you will have better luck! The cable also has a ground wire, and you can see in the pic where I drilled a small hole and screwed the fitting to the sidewall. I secured the excess wire. Time to test the camera!

Button it all back up, and enjoy the update. Hope this will give you an idea of what is involved. It just takes time, and patience. Good luck! Bob
_________________
1964 vert "Patience"
2002 Eurovan MV “Winnie”
Sold the 63 vert “ Lizzie”
Sold the 76 Westfalia “ Winnie”

[The Volkswagen Ranch]

Next, remove the snap screws (for the rear bug screen) and rear screws holding the rear headliner trim. At the right side near the insulated wire bundle, I drilled about a 3/8” hole to pass the RCA video cable plug thru to the body. I sealed the hole with Locktite Vinyl, Fabric&Plastic flexible sealer ( so it could be cut in the event wiring needed to be replaced in the future). I tried for about 3 hours trying to get it thru the insulated bundle and gave up. Maybe you will have better luck! The cable also has a ground wire, and you can see in the pic where I drilled a small hole and screwed the fitting to the sidewall. I secured the excess wire. Time to test the camera!

Button it all back up, and enjoy the update. Hope this will give you an idea of what is involved. It just takes time, and patience. Good luck! Bob
_________________
1964 vert "Patience"
2002 Eurovan MV “Winnie”
Sold the 63 vert “ Lizzie”
Sold the 76 Westfalia “ Winnie”