But, if you are leaving the existing head unit in place and simply feeding the output from the new unit into the line in on the Grom, then all the existing controls on the head unit will still work as they always have. You are just using the output from the new unit as an external source. A nice simple addition while the DSP is still working. When it dies then you've got a lot more work to do but for the time being it seems a good option.

I think the kit gives 3.5m but if you ring Martrim and tell them you want black for a P38, they'll sell you the correct length. It's quite generous too, you'll have plenty enough left over for the pillars. Only problem with doing the B post trims is getting a neat finish around the sliding bit where the seat belt top mount comes through.

Main piece of advice is to make sure you have one, if not two, assistants when you come to do it. The Martrim glue is possibly the stickiest of sticky stuff on the planet.

Document I did for someone else who was also changing theirs.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=12A6QY4pwXjBKG9cxDhEaWURy_vc475M4

Orangebean swapped his complete interior at the first summer camp, took about 4 hours to do. Gives a good opportunity to give the carpets a good vac while the seats are out and retrieve all the small change that's been dropped down the side of the seats over the years. If you are swapping seats like for like, then just unplug the cables under each front seat. Easiest way of doing it is to undo the 4 bolts holding each front seat, then tip it back so you can get in there. As Gordon says, you'll need a set of Torx bits (like https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/draper-12-7-piece-square-drive-48mm-long-tx-/) and a Number 2 Pozidrive screwdriver for the door cards. Trim removal tools (https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/5-piece-car-trim-removal-kit/) help with getting the door cards off without breaking the clips although you will find that most of them stay in the door and have to be refitted to the cards before you put them back.

If by centre console panels you mean the side covers, there's two screws (or there should be, many cars don't have them any longer), one at the front by the heater outlet vent and one low down at the back. You need to gently lever the back outwards away from the window switchpack, then the whole thing slides downwards. I've got pictures of how to do it somewhere, I'll see if I can add them.

It's used with a single point LPG system. They aren't particularly happy with the output from the factory 5-0V sensors on a GEMS as it stops at idle. It doesn't matter to the petrol system as it goes open loop at idle anyway but the LPG system sees it as a weak mixture and cranks the fuelling up to the max. Using a 0-1V sensor to drive the LPG system means that the mixture stays where it should be all the time (as they still give an output at idle) and it also means you have two totally independent fuelling systems. Even if the car won't run on petrol at all due to a failed MAF, gummed injectors or a dead fuel pump, for instance, it will still run perfectly OK on LPG.

Probably, if you intend leaving the existing head unit in there and use the line level output. Most people pull that out and fit a cubby in it's place. Although most people don't have a working DSP system any more which is why they are looking for and alternative.

I'd disconnect the battery too but other than that you should be OK. My third sensor is in the drivers downpipe after the original one and mounted roughly horizontal. Don't use cheapy Chinese universal sensors though unless you like changing them every 9 months or so. I've found an NTK for a Focus is cheap, easy to get hold of and the one on there has been there for over 2 years now.

I paid about the same for Boge OEM. Oddly, although both list the fronts, neither Island or LRDirect list the rears. If your old ones had no damping at all, then anything would be an improvement but the Terrafirma are supposed to live up to their name and be, errm, firmer.

Mukiwa wrote:

Every cell site is connected to GCHQ and they can access all SMS's and meta data over the phone networks.

Except for WhatsApp as it is end to end encrypted and doesn't appear anywhere on the network in a form that can be unencrypted. Which is why the security services tried to ban it......

What can't be done is listen in to your mobile phone conversations. The way GSM works is that it uses Time Division Multiplex. Each carrier is split into 10 time slots, 8 carrying speech as data and the other 2 carrying timing information. So if you were to break it down you would hear a snippet of conversation 1, a snippet of conversation 2, then 3, then 4, etc, until you get back to number 1 again. That's why music on hold sounds so bad on a mobile, because the codec is engineered for human speech as it has to fill in the gaps between slots and can't easily cope with music. CDMA and UMTS get even more complex.

The DSP system uses a single DSP amp on the boot while the non-DSP unit has individual door amps in each door. On the existing head unit there should be a DSP option (in the tone controls bit from memory), if you don't have that then you've got amps in the doors. If you have door amps there will be 5 outputs from the head unit, L&R, front and rear as well as the output for the sub. That will need attenuators or an aftermarket unit will overdrive the amps (unless you use line out level but I think that will be too low). The DSP system only has two outputs, L&R, and the fade and sub feed is all dealt with in the DSP amp. The existing head unit will have permanent and ignition switched live feeds on one of the DIN plugs that normally go into the back of the unit.

Every time I've had a cold call from a UK number from 'Raymond' (or a similar English name) but who obviously doesn't have English as a first language calling on a low bandwidth VOIP line from somewhere very distant, I've blocked the number so I don't get any more calls. I'm looking forward to unblocking them all on the 28th so I can tell them they are breaking the law and to remove my details from their database immediately.

Best have a word with Simon, he fitted it after all......

No not me although my boss currently has one. A D3, running around with the air suspension at the lowest setting (so barely above the bump stops), a transfer box in high that thinks it's in low causing more lights on the dash than Blackpool. It's also got an extra aerial on it but the plate ends in ZTT. Anyway, Ofcom would never spend money on something as frivolous as a number plate, they are too busy wasting it on far less useful things.......

They don't get a bonus but they use advisories to show that they have actually looked at the car. Let's face it, it's expected that anything over about 10 years old won't be perfect.

Seen yesterday on an L405.......

They are absolutely brilliant for towing and as for long journeys, the longest I've done in one hit was 1,350 miles from Calais to my partners parent's house in Latvia. Two drivers, only stopping to refuel the car and ourselves. That wasn't with a trailer though but I regularly do Calais to Nice with a loaded car transporter on the back. Doing the Belgium/Luxembourg border area this weekend but that's only a couple of hundred miles from getting off the ferry but towing an Ifor Williams BV126G box trailer (5m long, 2m wide and 2.5m high) to Nice in a couple of weeks time which is the closest I get to a caravan. Considering mine's now up to 355,000 miles, the old girl isn't doing too bad.

+1 on the idle control valve. That's what controls the idle speed so if it is a bit sticky it doesn't open fast enough to get the revs up. Simple enough to pull it out and give it a good clean with carb cleaner.

I've since checked the testers manual as from 20th and the emissions checks for spark ignition haven't changed. There's still the same flowchart that says if the fuel is LPG then they should do the basic test. Some vehicles are exempt though, hybrids and hydrogen vehicles being amongst them.

Gordon installed a Captcha a while ago to stop the automated spam but it seems that the latest ones aren't sent by bots but actual people. Whenever I delete one I send Gordon a PM with the username, title and time so he can dig into the details and see if he can identify the source and prevent any future occurrences. As you say, we've got a lot of registered users that have never posted anything but some are legit but simply lurkers while others haven't been able to log back in since the Captcha was installed.

Interestingly, I took a P38 in for MoT this morning. Belongs to a mate and is a 4.6 GEMS fitted with a Prins LPG system. My usual tester was fully booked with dodgy diesels hoping to get a pass before the 20th so I decided to give a fairly new place at the other end of my village a try. Had heard lots of good things about them and I was pretty sure there wasn't a lot wrong with the car anyway. Told the tester it was running on LPG and he replied that in that case, it doesn't need an emissions test doing. Not at all. Knew what he was doing, knew about the ABS light only going out once it was rollingand knew that he had to test the brake with the deccelerometer too. Passed with nothing more than advisories for slightly worn rear discs. I'll be going back there for sure.

Not sure if the emissions was his interpretation of the rules or that is another of the changes but it's good news either way.