Yeah you guys are right that there will very likely be too many April showers down there to bring the Aston.

The cars and coffee and spring fling drive is hosted by the BMW club,. It's more likely at this point to go as a spectator, if it's not raining...

 

First I tested to ensure all the 9 LED strip lights were working.
Next I used the AM part number on the smoked lens to make sure the red lights go in the rear markers and the amber in the front pair.

In order to get the lights in the sealed units, I drilled one 3/8" access hole per unit at one end. For the rears, The lights were fed in the hole and the male plug routed out the factory socket connector. For the fronts, the lights were fed in via the factory hole and the hole I made was for access for a pick tool. The pick is a 90 degree tool that served three purposes:
1) To arrange the strip LED's at the correct position
2) To ensure the power and ground wires were positioned alongside the strip lights
3) To pull and apply downward pressure on the light strips to adhere them to the backing plates with the supplied 3M tape

After the lights were in position and the plugs were accessible out the factory hole, I covered the access holes with electrical tape. You could also use a black silicone or adhesive. I went with the tape for now in case I need to re-position anything during the installation into the fenders and rear bumper.

Here are the pictures - I did the red rears first and second, then the amber fronts third and fourth.

Let me know if you have any questions:








First one done, the second takes half the time






Time for the fronts - a little more difficult feeding the lights the stock hole but I just took my time and it went fine. They are very flexible and the 3M tape doesn't stick until pressure is applied:












3 done and 1 to go:














I'm happy with the results, your results may vary
Top tip is to be very careful drilling to ensure you don't touch the lense when going through.
Also if you are wondering, I first tried to separate the units with heat but the plastic backing plate was getting soft before the glue let go - therefore above was the infamous "Plan B"

 

Plan B looks good... how do they look lit up? Did you use amber and red LEDs or white to let the lens provide the color?

 

Yes you need to use coloured LEDs with the smoked lens.
I quickly touched the plugs to a 9 volt battery to give you an idea of the look.
On my smartphone the ambers look more like a yellow/green, but you get the idea:

 

upload images free



imag

 

jealous, wish I had the funds right now for something like that! well that and some cats, and a tune, and a titanium exhaust, and some wilwood brakes, and a dbs shift **** and... lol $$$$

 

 

Wow going all out their Ryan, that will definitely get the best out of your V8

 

Hopefully you saved some money to feed the cute dog...looks concerned! Lol

Very nice...

 

LOL, tell me about it.
In my mind I justified these because I need to replace my starter (which involves removing the right side exhaust manifold)

 

Yeah, looking forward to it.
Next I'm going to get the headers ceramic coated.

I visited a couple tuners to select a chassis dyno for RWHP testing.
However my issue is the Vantage won't crank over, so I might have to forgo the baseline testing and just measure after the mods are complete.

 

perfect excuse! love it

 

Thanks!

Luckily, I purposely bought the second cheapest Vantage I could find last year so that I would have some money available for "Performance Improvements".

Yes our dog "Aston" brightens every other day for me when I get home from work
My wife buys the dog food and I'm pretty sure it's one of the most expensive kinds available

 

You gonna replace those headers yourself? I did mine over the winter. It's ummm.......Very time consuming and painful. Got small hands?

 

My plan is to do the swap using my mechanic Scott's hoist and greater breadth of tools, plus his help. His hands are bigger than mine so he'll likely supervise during the bundle of snakes install.

Any further tips or suggestions from your experience would be appreciated....