No extra material, you get plenty with the Martrim kit. Anyway, if you don't have a sunroof then you need that bit to fill in the hole that you don't have. If you bow the sunshade it pops out, just don't lose the runners it slides in.
That's bloody cheap. Place I used to use would charge £80 a panel, but he's closed down now.....
Out of interest, what have they quoted you for the paint job?
Coming along nicely and I'm still amazed at how rusty everything looks. Not surprised everything is putting up a bit of a fight. That bottom ball joint had a rubber boot on it once but I suppose not having one means it can't fail the MoT for it being split.
I've edited your post as only the first picture was showing. When you'd pasted the Imgur links into the little box, you hadn't cleared the https:// that is in the box already so it was trying to link to https://https://etc. The https:// that is already in the box is normally highlighted so just clicking on it and pasting the new link should clear it.
As for ABS sensors, I've usually used genuine Wabco ones from a breaker. They very rarely fail unless physically damaged so will work. Easy enough to put a multimeter on them and check the resistance (about 1.2kOhms if I remember right).
Not today but Thursday evening and Friday morning. Changed the steering box on the ex-plod so another bit that is no longer original. About 3 years ago I bought a Eurospares lower steering shaft due to a bit of play at straight ahead. Then adjusted the steering box and found that I didn't actually need it so it sat on the shelf waiting for when I did. As a lockdown something to do I fitted it but had a hell of a job getting the original one off and resorted to using a tapered ball joint splitter between the steering box and the bottom UJ. Rather than the steering being more precise than before, and it's always been more precise than the Ascot and others I've driven, it seemed worse. Carefully checking and found a tiny amount of play in the lower UJ so ordered a replacement OE lower steering shaft. Fitted that a couple of weeks ago and it still wasn't right. Checked it again and found play in the steering box itself. Couldn't adjust it out and I suspect I'd damaged it in some way when getting the old UJ off, so it was replacement steering box time.
A phone call to Dave at East Coast 4x4 and he was in the process of stripping a 104k GEMS that had come in for breaking so I went there and picked that up. Decided to start the job Thursday evening when it was a bit cooler which also meant I should be able to finish it Friday morning before it got too hot as the weather man was forecasting 35 degrees. RAVE says to remove the inner wheelarch liner and washer reservoir but I remember Chris saying somewhere that he had done it with just removing the liner. If he can do it, so can I. Well, nearly. RAVE also doesn't mention the fact that, on a GEMS anyway, there's a steel coolant pipe that runs right over the top preventing access to the banjo bolts with a socket. So that had to be unbolted so I could move it out of the way but in my case the bolts for that were under a bracket fitted there by plod to mount the split charge relay and additional fuses for the extras they fitted. So more bits had to come off. By Thursday evening everything was disconnected and all that needed doing was to undo the 4 bolts that hold the box on and drop it out.
Nice and early (well, early for me), Friday morning saw the 4 bolts removed and the steering box was no longer attached but would it come out? Would it hell! The washer reservoir needed to move forward by about half an inch and the bracket for the brake hose and ABS sensor cable were stopping it too. Bracket was easy enough to unbolt but the reservoir put up a bit of a fight. It is held in place by two bolts and sits in a channel to support the weight. Undoing the inner bolt would be enough to allow it to move so that came out and with a bit of persuasion I was able to push it forward in the channel and get the steering box out. New one went in, bolted it up and torqued to the required grunt (don't really want a floppy steering box), centralised the box and steering column and reconnected the steering shaft. Poured fluid down both holes in the steering box (so it shouldn't need bleeding) before connecting the pipes with new copper washers and torqued the banjo bolts. Reconnected the drag link, bolted everything else that had been unbolted and took it out to try it. The steering is beautiful, precise and light, but although the steering column and steering box are centralised, the steering wheel is now on the piss, so the drag link needs to be adjusted. Slacken off the clamps, wire brush and Plus Gas on the threads and out with a big pair of Stilsons. Would it move? Would it hell. However, also noticed that the boot had split on the opposite end so will need changing so I just ordered a new drag link assembly and will put up with an on the piss steering wheel for a few days. Boot hadn't been split when I'd started on it so can only assume it had been put under strain and split while the drag link had been dangling while everything else was being done.
Anyway, shiny new bits will impress the MoT tester when the MoT comes up at the end of the month. Got a 4,000 mile round trip to do the first week of September and another 2,000 miler a couple of weeks later. All I need do now is put another 1,100 miles on it before the end of the month so I can take it in for MoT with an odo showing a number starting with a 4......
Yes you can enter the EKA no matter how early. Difference is that on a later car you need to do 4 turns to lock first, then enter the first number with turns to unlock. On an early one you start with the turns to unlock using the first number of the EKA. Where online did you find bollox about only being able to do it on 99 onwards? There wouldn't be a lot of point having an EKA if you can't enter it. You need a car with a BeCM with V36 or later firmware (from around mid 97) to be able to enter it with a Nanocom or other diagnostics but on all other cars you enter it with the key in the door lock. I have to enter it manually on a regular basis on the Ascot (a 96) as it needs one of Marty's fob filters which means the battery goes flat after a couple of weeks.
Depends if you just want an alternative to the sat nav or to completely replace the whole sat nav and audio system. If you want to keep the existing stereo and just replace the sat nav the easiest option is to fit a small tablet in it's place.
Ooh, the best colour of them all and I agree with you completely, I also think they look awful. At least if someone got the ones that are incorporated with the front bull bar, they can be fitted without having to damage the bodywork (but I think the bull bar looks even worse).
I think all the various scenarios were thought about when the system was programmed. It was introduced on the Classic when it started to become more of a luxury car than an off roader and started being bought by people as an alternative to something like an S Class Mercedes. They then found that if they drove it like an S Class and had to apply the brakes while swerving it had a nasty habit of falling over. So the EAS was introduced with the lowering at speed to lower the centre of gravity to stop it from doing that. I remember once seeing a comparison between a Classic on coil springs and one on EAS (it may even have been a very early Top Gear) where the older one on coils rolled onto its side while the one of EAS went where the driver pointed it. There's other features that are obvious when you think about it. It won't lower when a door is open otherwise you could drop it down and crunch the bottom of the open door on a rock or high kerb for instance.
If I have need for crawl mode at Access height it is usually when going into an underground car park with restricted headroom. I have to stop at the entrance to get my ticket anyway so rather than hold it on the brake, I drop it into P, poke the rocker for Access, poke the Inhibit button and then drive in keeping my speed down.
They don't protect the lights from stone chips and in 10 years and almost 200,000 miles the only damage I've had to lights is a stone chip hole in a front fog. The lights are a lot stronger than the aftermarket plastic ones too.
Even the factory ones involved drilling holes and fitting Rivnuts, pretty much vandalism in my view. You could plug the holes and paint over whatever you use to plug them but it will still be visible so filling the holes and painting is the only option. What colour is your car? Flat colours are pretty easy to match but if it's metallic then it does need doing by a pro.
Code not fob. I have too, I've got a contact stored called EKA. Not sure how Mick reset his by disconnecting the battery, normally all that does is cause you to have to reset the windows.
ChrisNo10, RomanRob and Marty (and probably a few others) have replaced the original with an Android head unit. No doubt one of them will give you some tips and pictures.
We get ripped off for most things. £1.25 a litre for petrol being the main reason why so many of us run on LPG as it's half that.
It's also in RAVE if you have the full version.
The only prep I did was wipe a rag soaked in paint thinners over the surface just before spraying the paint on.
have you got that engine out yet?
I suppose it depends on what you can get wherever you are. I doubt George gets the same stuff in the Philippines as we get here or you will get there. If you use normal satin or matt black it will flake off as it doesn't usually have a plasticiser in it to make it flexible so isn't ideal on plastic. I use a can of stuff sold as black bumper paint which is a satin black but made to be sprayed onto plastic bumpers. I also took all the side rubbing strips off and used it on them too. This https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hycote-Bumper-Vinyl-Paint-Black/dp/B005NGZYJI/ is what I use but as I say, you may not be able to get it in your location
ATF should be bright red?
Just been out and clogged the traffic in the village. Driving at around 10 mph in standard height, push the Inhibit button, select Access. It drops to motorway height, motorway height light lit with Access height light flashing. Slow right down, into N, foot off the brake pedal (as all suspension movement is inhibited when the brake pedal is pressed) and it drops down to Access. Back into D and drive off slowly in crawl mode. As soon as the speed increases up to maybe 5 mph, as the Inhibit button is still in, it rises to Motorway height.
Or just kill the EAS completely then you'll be in Access height all the time......