I purchased a 50.00 wide angle ccd camera off of ebay and it should be here within a few days. If you've seen the rear of an Avalanche before, you'll notice the black plastic handle is at the top of the tailgate. I plan on installing it there (which is good, because it is also angled slightly down).

The camera is the type that comes with 1x rca and 1x that requires you have the end cut off of a 12v DC wall plug-in converter. Well.. I have one of those but what I am wondering is - do I use the small black cord to ground it to the tailgate and what do I run the small red power cable to? What is the best area to give this guy juice? Do I have to purchase a long small gauge wire to run all the way to the headunit and splice in to ATT there on the Z1?

First of all, the tailgate will make a horrible ground since it is not physically connected to the vehicle. If you are only using the camera for backing up, you could tap into your trailer plug, if you have the round plug under your bumper. Light green will be your reverse wire, thick black being ground. Otherwise, you will have to run your power for the camera all the way up to the cab of your Avalanche. Remember to make sure your polarity is correct at the camera, unless you need a $50.00 paperweight that smells like burnt electronics....

i too have an avalanche and I put my cam in the space right above the stinger of my trailering package. works great. ran the cable through the frame of the truck to keep it safe because i frequently off road and also it protects it from the exhaust heat. You will have a problem trying to ground your to your tailgate because I am not sure you are aware that the tailgates of avalanches are not a real metal, they are made out of what they call a pro-tech composite designed to withstand desnting and forms of abuse.