Camera Install
Mark,
Yes, I did have to take off the plastic liftgate cover. There are 2 torx (T-25) screws at the pull-down handle, a whole bunch of spring clips and 2 plastic expanding trim anchors (visible when you open up the window of the liftgate).
Once you have access to the back of the lift gate, I went ahead and mounted the camera on the lower 2 license plate screws. I dremeled out one a groove on the left bottom license plate screw anchor and routed the wiring through this to the inside of the liftgate (didn't need to drill).
The wiring was then routed around the window to the rubber boot. Had to use a long zip tie as "fishtape" to get the wiring through the boot and into the Expy's interior cabin.
Once there, I had to add an additional 4 ft of wiring or so (used exterior speaker wire actually (with plastic shielding), and routed that back to the outside through the reverse/left-brake light rubber boot (can be seen with the interior panels removed and the left backup/brake light removed - removing the light requires a T-20 torx bit). Once again, I used a long zip tie as "fishtape".
Now that the wire is back outside, I spliced it into the left side reverse light wire before it connects to the left reverse light bulb. I also took the liberty to add some additional wiring here (paralleled another set of wiring down to the backside of the bumper for the Wolo backup horn install).
The interior was actually more of a headache for me, as I am used to wiring *** cars that pretty much make it standard that when I remove the key from the ignition, the cigarette lighter turns off. I hardwired the monitor to the cig lighter on the front instrument radio panel and the monitor stayed on forever. Looked all over for an accessory/ignition power source and found none (not even on the radio harness... I couldn't believe it). Anyways, ended up tapping into a fuse all the way on the far right passenger kick panel. Since I have an early 07, I secured the monitor via self adhesive velcro to the empty button trim where most 07's have the console control at (also where I drilled the hole for the wire to come out for the monitor).
Hope this helps.
tk
