You can get a pre '05 reverse light housing from a MINI dealer for $16

You have to run a power wire from the new reverse light positive connector up to the tail light wiring behind the removable panel in the boot compartment.

Basically, have about 4 inches of slack wire extending from the knockout hole so in the future, you'll have some slack to play with when you pop the light out. When you run the power wire up, you might want to remove the battery to have a place to run the wire up through the car. It makes it easier.

Once you have the wire in the interior, run it under the carpet of the boot, and then up under the plastic trim where the tail light wiring is located.
Use a quick splice to splice into the taillight wire behind the removable panel in the boot compartment. It's the blue/yellow striped wire. Now that the power wire is done, the negative is the easiest part.

Here's what I did. I ran a black wire from the negative side of the new reverse light and used a quick splice and spliced into the already existing foglight connector ground wire (brown wire). I'll never use that connector, but it's actually still usable. I just tapped into the ground. Of course if you don't like this, just find a place under the chassis and drill a screw into the metal and connect the ground to that. I'll try to take some pictures of my setup tomorrow and post them here. Hope this helps and not too confusing.

 

Nope - after all the wiring I've done to my car that makes total sense. I just haven't gotten around to looking inside at the wiring harness yet. Thanks!!

 

sure, just give me your paypal

here are some more pictures that are somewhat better. I didn't have my digital camera on me, so i had to use my camera phone, oh well, you get the jist.

 

^ You're wasting no time moding your new car -- and it's going well . . . good looking ride.

 

Nice shots with a camera phone. May I ask, did you remove the silver rings on the tail lights to paint them, or did you mask them off? After seeing your car, I must say the all black looks good.

 

Thanks, that's the only thing I like about my KRZR, the decent camera.
As for the silver rings, I dont think they come off. It looks like they were all one piece, but i didn't really press the issue. i just masked off the lenses and painted the rings black as well. I decided fairly quickly that I dont have any silver on the car, so I didn't see a point in letting it stay.

I plan on getting an aero grille soon. and I'm still up in the air about what to do with the headlights and if i will leave the chrome scoop on.