thought id drop fellow ford modders a note regarding my cluster changes on a ba with an elm and lukeysons help. turns out that a home pc can be used, (dont need a laptop). to extend the elms usb cable i used these

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... :IT&ih=002

and connected a length of normal blue ethernet cable in between. very handy as i dont have a lap top but do have a 15m ethernet cable.