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Mod thread: 99' Camry Touring

4.4K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  Silent Runner  
#1 ·
Hey Guys,

I'm running a tumblr blog on upgrading various parts of my 99' Camry touring, but I thought I would double up here as well to allow everyone at TN to follow along. I'll be updating progress as we move through the project. For now, here is the plan:

We are intending to carry out the following work:

  • Install a Nexus 7 as the head unit / sat nav / entertainment unit for the car
  • Install a new sound system
  • Add steering controls for the entertainment unit
  • Install a reverse camera with a new (OEM bracket) rearview mirror which contains the reverse camera screen, and bluetooth for mobile handsfree
  • Add LED floor lights that are connected to the interior dome light for OEM style behaviour
  • Replace boot / trunk light with cold cathodes for lighting upgrade
  • Change colour of speed / engine gauges and needles
  • Change colour of climate control lights
  • Replace banged up rear bumper bar
  • Modify rear passenger fold-down arm rest to be a touch more useful

Pending work:

  • Paint brake callipers
  • Refurbish clear coat on alloy wheels / paint wheels
  • Install Angel Eye headlights
  • Install remote starter
  • Paint the engine
  • Re-cover door panels
  • Custom colour the steering wheel
  • Remove antenna and mold out of panel.

Hope you guys can follow along!
 
#4 · (Edited)
So, need parts. Here's what we'll need to pickup:

Head Unit / Sat Nav / Entertainment Unit


total = $331

Sound System


total = $650

Steering Controls

  • JoyCon Ex - $40 - converts steering controls to USB keyboard
  • Steering Controls - $40 - $50

total = $90

Reverse Camera / Mirror Combo


total = $109

Lighting

  • LEDs for gauges + dash lights (colours TBA)
  • LED strips for floor lighting - $15 for five meters

Gauges and Needles

  • Transparency Laser Paper
  • Regular 20-lb white paper
  • 3M Super 77 Spray Adhesive
  • Fresh eXacto Blades
  • Latex gloves - You'll ruin your printouts without them.
  • Gauge needle tool or two flat blade screwdrivers wrapped in electrical tape

Rear Bumper

  • Second Hand Bumper - $150 max
 
#6 ·
Can't wait to see the Nexus 7 install... I used to be a member on JeepForum being a Grand Cherokee owner, and a lot of guys had gotten into fitting tablets as headunits. I've always wanted to go full-blown hard wired, but never divulged into it, and wound up just mounting a Motorola Xoom I had back then, which I mounted in front of the existing radio, hid the wiring which connected the rear of radio, and just removed the faceplate, so the tablet was flush against it, and it worked well and I could remove it as needed. I have a '95 camry now and was already thinking about maybe getting into this so I will absolutely be following along and quite frankly maybe even copy catting if you don't mind! Haha.

But sounds like some pretty awesome work coming up, can't wait to see the progress! Good luck!

Derek
 
#8 ·
More than happy for you to copy cat man. In actual fact I'm copy catting someone else over on the android xda developer forums. They had a very good setup, diagrams etc. that they installed in an SUV

What features are there on the "touring" model? I thought it was just:
CE
LE
LE V6
XLE
XLE V6
Hey squiggy, the camry touring was an Australian only release. You can view this article here to describe the differences to the other camrys; it's a pretty nice ride.

NRMA Camry Touring Review

Stick around guys, I've been working on getting the reverse camera / mirror combo installed and should have a write-up posted at the end of this weekend. Catch you then.
 
#11 ·
Boo yah it's update time!

Hey guys! So, finally got the reverse camera / rear view mirror combo installed this weekend past. Here are the pics of the process, and a bit of extra info for y'all!

This here is the camera I chose to use. Make sure you get a camera that has a CCD sensor, not CMOS. Why you ask? I won't go into the tech details, but essentially CCD sensors are better quality, and can receive much more light, even when it's dark. If you get a real CCD sensor it won't require an nightvision IR or anything like that. Ebay is your best bet for getting a camera at a decent price (this one cost me $18 AUD). This particular model is a Sony CCD camera manufactured for a BMW X5- the quality has been superb!

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Pro-tip (from other people's mistakes): use some clear silicon to fill any gaps or joints in your camera. Given the cheapish nature of ebay reverse cams, they may say they are waterproof, but go the extra mile and protect your investment (your hard work that is). If you get a small tube of bathroom wet area silicon, you fill, sand, and paint over it relatively quickly. You can see my quick job in the picture above; I also went on to fill the gaps around the top of the camera unit.

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Get a can of touch up paint specific to your car colour, and you can paint the camera. If you want to be super proper, you can do a primer coat, but many cans of touch up say you don't need to. I did 3 coats of paint on this one, allowing 20 minutes for drying in between.

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This is the rearview mirror kit in its totality, this kit is kick-ass! Normally it retails for around $200 USD, but I managed to get it direct from the manufacturer in China for $85 + postage!
features:
- bluetooth handsfree
- 4.3 inch screen (behind the mirror) that activates when signal is received from reverse cam
- handsfree allows you to use siri / android voice dialling
- has a secondary video input channel which means you could plug a dvd / gps unit into it if you really wanted to

But what really makes this particular kit so awesome? OEM rearview mirror bracket mount!!!! It comes with a stock bracket specific to your vehicle so that you can switch it out with your original mirror, rather than using a universal clip-on mount (which totally bites).

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So to get this all installed, a little auto electronics work is required. You'll need to to splice the mirror's power into a wire that powers on ignition, and find a grounding point to complete the circuit.

Your under dash area is the best place to look. I removed the driver's door trim (note I'm in a RHD vehicle) and the plastic trim from under the steering wheel.

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Now, unless you are a pro at wiring diagrams, (and even then) get yourself one of these bad boys; it's a circuit tester specific for vehicles. It has a 4 foot cable with a bulldog clip attached to it for attaching to ground points, and then you touch somewhere with power and the handle will light up. You could use a voltmeter, but this way is pretty foolproof and you don't need to spend time learning how to use a voltmeter.

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As I mentioned, the key here was to find a wire that powered only after ignition (that way we don't drain the battery down). So, pick a wire and see if the handle lights up without the ignition being on. If it does, find another wire. Here you can see I found my wire, spliced into it, and sealed it up (I've since changed the wrapping from electrical tape to heat shrink tubing- make sure you seal your splices properly!).

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I then used a preexisting ground point under the dash to connect my ground wire.

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Finally, I connected the handsfree mic, positioned it (just above your rearview mirror is the best place to get full sound coverage of your car), and then cleaned up the cables behind the headliner and plastic trim.
Pro-tip- make sure you tape up (or heat shrink) any connection points in your cables so they don't shake loose when your driving!

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mirror install complete!
On to the camera install!

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Okay, this part requires a bit of care as you will be drilling a hole through your trunk! caution yeah?
What you will need is a multi-step drill bit (irwin make some good ones) so that you can gradually increase your hole size without making it too big straight up.

First thing first, mark where you are going to drill! Because we are drilling in to a difficult location, use a nail punch to dent the point in your metal, then use a smaller drill bit to drill through. This way we have created a good catch point for the larger multi-step drill bit to create a hole without slipping all over our beautiful paint work.

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success! I had to file this a little bit to smooth it out, but I breathed a sigh of relief when the camera screwed in firmly and had no excess play.

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Once you've got the camera in place, you need to wire it up. What you'll do is splice the power wires (power and ground) into your reverse light wires. This way, the camera will only receive power (and send a signal) when you switch into reverse. Note that I did actually run a video cable through the car from the boot to the mirror, however I was excited and forgot to take photos. Once again, use heat shrink to seal off your splices.

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Camera install complete!

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Shot of the mirror for you all

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Thanks for stopping by guys, more to come! I'm going to take some better shots of the camera in action (day and night). I also installed cold cathodes in the trunk as a replacement light- they look hot! I'll post a shot of them as well.
 
#17 ·
Heya, so wages in Australia are drastically different to the States. We have much higher minimum wages here, accordingly products from overseas can cost up to 3 times as much here - many US companies leverage extra profit off Australia to balance the cheap costs they sell products for in the States.

I installed the cargo net myself, was really quite easy. Got it for about $15 off amazon.
 
#18 ·
I'd have to look up the exact number, but I think the Aussy $, was worth about 15-20% less than the American $, at the time. So the car, if available, would have been priced $4500-6000, less. For reference, a Canadian Camry, optioned-up with a V-6, would have been at least $35-36K Canadian dollars, with the average yealy income sitting around $35K, in 2000.

Bigger, nicer, more loaded cars, have been, and continue to be, much cheaper in the US, than in the rest of the world, including your next door neibour.:rolleyes:

My somewhat loaded, though not fully 93' LE-V-6 model, was a $30K+ car, new at the time in Canada. ($32,851, with dealer prep)