Hi All, New Member but a long time visitor to this forum. I’ve enjoyed and have received valuable info on many jaguar topics. In my eager pursuit of increasing my post count, I would like to ask any x100 owners if they can share any tips or constructive ideas about installing a rear viewing camera system that uses a rear view mirror. I am about to install a Wolfbox 960 front and rear camera system and will need to run the wiring behind some interior paneling. I have some concerns about possibly breaking tabs or other mounting devices being my car is 20 years old. I have the tools and I have some experience doing such work. I would like any ideas about making this endeavor easier. More than that, any encouragement would be of great help.
The 2003 XKR I will be operating on is my wife’s convertible. This makes my ultimate success very important and maybe rewarding. Running the wiring along the side at the floor is not as much of a concern as the area near the mirror where the trim piece include the visors and garage door opener buttons.
Thank you in advance for taking time to respond to this post ( #2 in my count.)

 

pull the drivers side A pillar door seal, trim. use a fuse tap kit to pull power from teh accessory fuse in the drivers side cabin fuse box. Do not get a camera kit that powers the camera when the car is off - accessory switched power only. These cars hate having low battery so you don't want any parasitic draw when the car is parked. For the reversing camera itself, get one that just clips onto your rear view mirror. Make sure your mirror's mount is still stiff enough to support the weight. You will not find a mirror with a reversing camera built in that will fit the existing mirror mount adhered to the windshield, so you want to retain the original rear view mirror and just get something you can clip over it. you can probably get away with not completely pulling the trim at the top of the windshield - you can pull it away enough to tuck a wire in there. The a pillar trim is the most fragile part that you might break. I snapped mine in two and had to strip it, epoxy it back together and re-cover it with new upholstry. The tabs were solid though, it was the actual body of the trim piece that broke.

You might want to consider a wireless reversing camera. Getting a wire all the way from the trunk to the cabin is a pain in the bum. The convertible has a couple of wiring loom penetrations at the back of the cabin that enter the trunk that are hard to access due to the convertible mechanism, in order to run my reversing camera wire I had to pull the center console, rear seats, fuel tank metal cover in the trunk, and trim pieces on the drivers side of the trunk, then use a long wire fish to push through the very busy wiring penetration in the trunk and then pull the wire through with the soft top half-raised. Then you need to get to the wiring loom where it enters the trunk lid itself, clip to the wiring that attaches to the hinge mechanism, pull the trunk lid liner trim and the rear valance piece that says "jaguar", and I mounted my camera just under that, just above the license plate. I then ran it down the center console/transmission tunnel, attaching it to the wiring loom along the length of the car. I was doing a full speaker/in car entertainment/amp upgrade rip/replace when I did that. Oh yeah, you also need to get a wire to one of the rear light to tap the reversing light wire to provide power and trigger for the reversing camera.

When I started writing this reply I thought "oh yeah this isn't that hard" but now that Ive written down everything I did I realise its a massive ballache to do a wired reversing camera. I did it when I had the entire interior pulled to do a whole host of other jobs too and gradually chipped away at all the pieces over the course of a week while I did other stuff. I am slightly tech-crazy and ran two pieces of the cat 6 wire from the trunk/amp rack/fuse box area to the dashboard, so i have spare low voltage wiring I can re-use in future without pulling the trim again. You could use some shortcuts like running the wires on the underside of the car and just insulating and clipping them in place etc. Several ways to skin this cat, pun intended.

So yeah maybe strongly consider a wireless camera if you are not used to pulling interiors/trim pieces and cant take a couple days over this.
I'll go take some photos in a bit to improve this post with. I'm installing a new power steering pump and transmission connector today so will be all over the car this afternoon.