Thanks, I knew you had to modify the lower grill but didn't think that you also had to remove the ram air inlet being the grill. If I do this mod, I would remove my air box completely along with all the other tubs being the grill.

 

Great detail! Thank you!

On my v12v, I think the oil cooler is in the back of the car so I have tons of room in the bumper opening. I'm going to take a closer look at my car; it might be even easier. Thanks again!

-Dan

 

No problem Dan, and I posted the close ups you requested in the license plate thread.

Need some feedback / opinions on which looks better (no wrong answer here).

Bright or Black spline lugs?

 

Definitely bright

 

Bright.
Ron

 

Allen head, Torx bits and Phillips screwdrivers to remove them:





Bought some 3M vinyl wrap online:


This stuff was very easy to work with:


It also looks very good (exceeded my expectations):


Next after the straight pieces I graduated to one with more curves:

...relief cuts made to avoid wrinkles:


Turned out to be a nice inside project:




Time to reinstall on car:


Take a couple minutes to clean insides of visible screw heads:


Previously polished badge plates reattached:


Lather, rinse & repeat for other side:




Moving to the rear, I realized inside was visible so after mounting, I traced opening onto white backing sheet, cut out with scissors and applied. If I did it again probably easier to do inside on the loose part:


Looks good with black carpet and can always be changed, replaced or even easily removed in future:


Reassembled trunk bump stops:


Also align the trunk latch:


Then you can install and adjust your bump stops a half turn at a time to get the gaps and spoiler height to match:








Easy, peasy, just need some patience and you're good to go

 

wow!! Ryan
ever think of applying for a job at astons design dept,
you are putting their (chief designer) to shame..
sometimes i wonder!! they get the big bucks for their big ideas
but forget about the little things,like the front licence plate and the
ugly mount they provide.and another niggle is the rear trunk doesnt open up
automatic when you pop it.you have to lift it manually,(really on a 2k$$$$ car)
even the newer ford suvs have that..

 

It's funny you brought that up because auto designer was exactly what I was interested in (not engineer as I didn't like the amount of math involved).
I went to school for Business - Marketing but my work experience is all as Service Managers in the CATV, HVAC and now Major Appliance industry's. My brother on the other hand worked at GM and now Bridgestone. I figured if car's are your job, it would no longer be your hobby...for example I like working on my car's be I wouldn't want to be a mechanic.

Technology moves fast these days and can make used cars seem very outdated. I remind myself that tech in my car is a decade old. Overall, it does have a lot of timeless qualities, like exterior design, quality handmade interior, N/A motor, manual transaxle, RWD etc. I think the Vantage will age well for the driving enthusiast and offers a lot that is getting hard to find in a new car.

One thing I missed was music streaming, so my short term solution was less than $50 and plugs right in the power outlet and can be taken with you. Makes clear hands free calls, comes with a remote for your passenger or they can just operate everything from the smartphone. I feel nostalgic for CD's but for a long road trip, music streaming is a nice to have once you've tried it. Here is the product I bought at Crappy Tire (worth every penny):

 

My brother bought me these:

Kind of a project plan I followed on the BRZ (plus supercharger)


This was for my Fiero project - time will tell if this one will also apply to the Aston...


Maybe this will be the one I wear most driving the Vantage...


I'm sure the family knows that Aston swag will be on my birthday and Christmas lists

 

Here's the non OEM tech stuff that came in the car that will likely be removed from the windshield, screen on dash, i-drive type rotary **** button on console and trunk relays near fuse box.
The system doesn't work very well and is unsightly IMHO:

 

The good - everything well packed and no damage.
The bad - he missed me yesterday and didn't return until after 5 pm today.
The ugly - UPS brokerage fees are extreme at $405 (as it's based on the invoice price).

Anyways, I knew that was going to happen which is why I usually pickup in USA myself unless it's shipped via USPS. In this case I wanted it faster to meet my goal of getting the car on the road for this long weekend in Canada (Victoria Day aka May 2-4 weekend):


Got right to it this evening starting with the clear tail light kit. I grabbed my black trim pieces...nice to see two way tape already prepped:


I grabbed my old red tail lights to get hardware as needed:


The new silver studs (2) are supplied different from my old design (gray on left). I did however transfer the black adapters from my old to new pair:


For alignment, I chose to work from the ends to the middle. Start by matching depth with rear fender, then raise or lower to maintain an even gap at the top along with a consistent depth. Next ensure you you have safe clearance to decklid closing and even gap. Of course when you're happy, you have to copy the steps to have a mirror image on the other side. Don't worry about the flexible bumper cover curve as a guide as it doesn't exactly match the curve of the lens and the lens isn't flexible...


I was losing light and forgot to photograph the 3rd brake light but it's just 2 nuts with washers and one electrical plug. Then you can reattach escape handle to cable and retaining pin. The grab strap is secured with a TORX 30. Last I just pushed all the plastic trim buttons to secure the carpet trim to the hatch:


With a "KWIK-E-MART" a few doors down the street, I had a few dozen neighbours give the thumbs up and approve of the transformation. I can't stress enough how much better it looks on a black car. Especially one with grey calipers not red and no red stitching in the interior. Therefore the red tail lights didn't match anything. I highly recommend this mod if you are faced with replacing even one tail light, as now I have spare parts

Before:


After:


Feel free to check out a video of the lights on with hazards flashing:

All my vids are public on my channel Fiero2m8

Cheerio
Ryan

 

Time to replace the handbrake pads. I had no experience with this type of mechanical caliper setup before but that never stops me

Hmm, yet another opportunity to clean


Remove 2 Torx bolts to split caliper and remove outboard pad, then unbolt rear half 2 hex bolts:


With the caliper removed from the rotor, you can start the process of retracting the piston:


Remove this pin and the spring so that the ratching lever can be rewound until the piston fully retracts:


Clean the caliper and it's components and coat moving parts with anti-seize.
Also reinstall pin with allen key:




Reinstall spring with a screwdriver:


Then you can reinstall both halves of the caliper (other side shown here):




Then you might have this problem like I did so you'll need to adjust the length of the cables:


Loosen the jam nuts and turn adjusters on both sides (all are 22 mm). Turning adjuster clockwise (towards wheel) shortens the sleeve the cable runs through effectively making the ends of the cable "lengthen":




Reassembled with new pads, push pins and spring retainer it should look like this:

 

For the struts, top tip on the hood struts (connect fender end first then hood).
I changed my hatch struts in case it was supposed to lift on it's own, but no noticeable change so I have spares that still work now. For the door struts, snap on the farther door end first and then open door until length matches to click socket onto stud. You can do this by yourself by feel (open the door with other hand on stud and let strut slide through your hand until length is correct).
You won't be able to compress strut by hand so alternatively, have an assistant open the door slowly for you...










Cheers, Ryan

 

yeh Ryan ! ups brokerage sucks shipping in to canada, i always ask a seller before i buy
if it can be shipped USPS thru (canada post). 9 times out of 10 it comes thru with no
tax or duty, downside,it takes a little longer

 

In case anyone is searching the thread in the future, the handbrake adjuster moving towards outside of car did not solve the Handbrake On idiot light.

It also caused enough slack in the cable so that the handbrake ran out of travel prior to being able to hold the car. Therefore I redid the adjusters moving them towards centre of car to tighten the cable. I used the 22 mm open end wrench to measure number of threads exposed behind the jam nut to ensure they were even on both sides. Now the cable starts moving as soon as you pull the handle with very little play. More importantly, it holds the car from rolling.

Next, since the brake light hadn't gone off, time to check what's going on at the handle. Turns out the metal that makes contact with the brake light switch was slightly bent and was dropping beside the button switch. Easy fix to bend the metal back with a pair of needle nose pliers.

Fixed and working like new (thankfully as the warning chimes would have drove me crazy)