Removal of the roll top - to fit a dashcam

I have been planning to fit a dashcam for some time, ever since the day last year when, on our way to Blackpool Illuminations (the ONLY reason to go there) a car pulled right across the path of the Arnage and nearly wiped us out, or to put it more accurately, we nearly wiped them out. My son also had a dashcam in his first car which proved useful.

The issue with fitting a dashcam to an Arnage is unlike the Suzuki my son had, you can't easily get the wires past the gaps in the trim (there are no gaps). However, it's easy enough to remove the roll top and get the wires under there and then you can slip the wire up and behind the A pillar trim and then along the headlining next to the windscreen. You will need a trim tool for this job. Trim tools are cheap for a full set and being plastic, mainly, they are non-damaging. The trim tool allows the A pillar trim and head lining trim to be pulled away slightly and allow the dashcam wire to be slipped inside. You just need some patience. As you will see from the photos, there is nothing here that anyone can't do with a little time and effort.

The copy of the IETIS system that I have (Bentley Workshop Manual in computer form) gives the instructions to remove the roll top and it's very straightforward, as I shall explain.

The dashcam will fit wherever you want it. There are many available and some are very expensive. I went for a cheap but well proven model which has no screen. I do not feel I need a screen as once you have it recording, it looks after itself and in the event of needing the footage you simply kill the ignition and pop the card until you get to a computer. The Dashcam I selected cost me about £16 from eBay and is the same as one I have used previously with good quality recording and easy to use - literally connect and forget. You can get dashcams with screens and I have one of these too, but I feel the screen is intrusive and I feel that the fewer distractions plastered on the windscreen, the better, so I have not used this camera yet. This is what the cam I purchased looks like in situ. It sits above the rear view mirror and is hardly noticeable.

By the way, I was going to do this as a video but realised that I have not got any stands, am not that good with video and basically lack any editing skills that would make it useful! Pictures it is.

Roll top removal

The roll top is straightforward to remove but start by knowing that there may be wire attached - if you have the flip up satnav as you will have wires connecting the unit to power and the control unit in the boot and a remote sensor for the satnav remote. Be aware that these may mean that you can't just yank the whole thing away, it depends on how much slack you have in your wires.

First things first, remove clutter from the front of the car. It's always easier to work in conditions where if you drop something you're not having to search old cartons and wrappers for it (most of us won't have this issue).

Once done you will need a cross head screwdriver, some insulation tape and possibly a flat head screwdriver (you'll see). To start:

• Remove the organ stops by unscrewing them

• Now remove the fasteners that sit behind the stops (silver) by pressing with your thumb and turning a 1/4 turn or so, anti-clockwise. Some of them are stubborn. If so, place a small piece of insulation tape over the fastener and then do the same action, the tape should grip. Be aware that sometimes they turn but are still quite stiff and need a little jigging to get loose. Once they are loose, pull them out. You will see that there are two small nipples that hook into the socket behind the dash. These are what keeps your dash on the car, folks! The picture below shows red insulation tape to help pressing and turning.

Press and turn

Loose

Removed

Now, at this point it is worth pointing out the little plastic square on the underside of the roll top (top left of the picture above). This is the satnav receiver for the remote controller. Be aware of this as it has a wire attached and will impede your removal of the roll top when you come to it.

• Once all the organ stops and fasteners have been removed, the wood can now be pulled away. Simply put your fingers behind the wood at the wide and pull from the TOP gently so that it leans forward. You will then need to lift the wood as there are tabs on the bottom that fit behind the lower part of the dash. More pictures.

Gentle pull...

...and away.

On the driver's side, much the same...

Once leaning forward it will pull up and away

• Now you have a naked and sad looking dash. Put the wood somewhere safe where it will not be sat on, kicked or otherwise destroyed. It's now time to remove the screws. You should only need a cross head driver. However, if yours is like mine, then someone has replaced one screw with a flat head, hence my earlier reference to needing two screwdrivers. You now need to remove the six screws holding the roll top secure. They are easily identified as each one holds a tab that secures the roll top. See pictures...

There are six such screws, four on the main part and two on the far passenger side. Note that the middle piece of wood stays put.

Once the screws have gone the roll top will pull back and up. Note the black bracket in the above image. This hooks in and so when refitting you have to make sure these are aligned (not hard). There's another one on the other end.

The dash lifts up and away but note the sat nav wires, be careful not to pull them tight too quickly.

The wire shown here is the remote receiver wire. Once free you can either disconnect the wire, or do like I did and rest it carefully in the passenger footwell. NOTE There are tabs at the back of the roll top which locate it flush when it's put back. Be aware of these as it is easy to leave them on top and the roll top is not fitted properly. Once back, check in through the windscreen to see if it looks right.

And that, folks, is the removal of the roll top. Once done you can run the dashcam wire under the dash easily and connect it up. Connection is covered next.

Put it back in reverse order. I have now done this four times, my fourth attempt to remove only took just short of five minutes and about the same to put it back. However, everything I had to do with wires took FOREVER!

Dashcam fitting

I am not covering this in depth as sticking a camera up and running a wire is pretty easy stuff. Wiring is the time consuming bit depending on what wires you can locate.

I completely forgot to take pictures of this. But I think you can get by!

The dashcam fits in the windscreen and the wire then needs to be run to the edge of the windscreen and down to go under/behind the dash. On some cars this is a very easy, on others it can require careful fiddling, especially if you have airbags in the A pillars. A trim removal tool is a boon for this type of thing as they provide the right tool to just lever the trim and slide the wire behind so that it is invisible. Do this and then run the wire down and under where the roll top should be.

Most dashcams, in my understanding, forgive me if I am wrong as I am not a dashcam expert, have four wires or more accurately three wires and a cable. My cheap dashcam from eBay is a HD cam and the cable provided is an AV cable to allow it to be connected to a screen, if you have one of these in your vehicle. I did think of looking to see if I could link this to the original satnav screen but decided to not bother (at least at this stage).

The wires provided are 12V (yellow), Acc (red) and Ground (Black). You need to locate wires that will enable you to splice in these camera wires without causing a problem. At this stage it's worth saying make sure your battery is disconnected. In truth I didn't bother, I never do and I have never had a problem. It's up to you though and what you do is at your own risk.

On my 2000 Red Label the easiest place to get power etc., is from the radio. I therefore fed the wires down from above the radio aperture - there is nothing there and do the wires just drop straight through. With the radio out you can see them appear.

Again on my car, the Acc (accessories) wire from the radio had a spare bullet connector attached so all I had to do was crimp on a bullet connector and plug it in. The 12V wire was cut and connector block put in to allow a spur of power for the camera. Please check the type of connector block you are using. I only use heavy duty when adding devices as I had a friend once who wired spot lamps onto his Fiesta, a few days later he wandered out to the college car park to find his car surrounding by firefighters making a mess - the connector block was not up to the load and was slowly melting then causing a short. Anyway, connector block for the 12v was the order of the day and the ground similarly was connected.

If you are unsure about any of these connections get someone to nip along and do it for you. Like anything else it's easy when you know how and even I made a mistake (see below). However, having an electrical engineer for a father meant that I have at least the basic knowledge to mess with these things.... I think.

Be sure you know what wires you are splicing into. The radio is best as everything is easy to find and if you have an Alpine unit the wires and colour coding is all available from their website. Don't do like I did an decide that it would be a great idea to take the Acc from the sat nav power - that opens the screen flap. As anyone will tell you, it only runs 12v when the switch is pressed and then REVERSES polarity to bring it back down. Not a wise move and I should know better. No harm done. Well, when I say no harm done, the screen no longer pops up although there is power there something to look at or get John Bowling to look at next time. A situation of my own making.

Once you have connected these things it is important to test. I put an SD card in the cam and powered everything up with no issues. Job done. Note that the Acc (accessories) wire is used for any device that switch on or off with the ignition (like your radio) my camera has a battery built in that enables it to record for a minute after ignition down. You may get a camera that does not have this facility but if you read the instructions it's all pretty easy to understand.

So that's a quick roll top off, roll top on and putting a dashcam in at the same time. My next job is to do my son's Alfa Romeo a vehicle that in 12 months has cost more than my Bentley to run. So wish me luck on that. After that it's a Suzuki Vitara with a screen, so that will be interesting to do and see if the video screen can be got working.

Finally, please remember, I have done this to give people pointers. It is not chapter and verse and no in anyway a comprehensive "how to". Use your noggin and check things for yourself as I am doing this for information only not as a bible to follow religiously.