If mine was still black, I would do the exact same thing selections you did with maybe a yellow light in the side repeater! Your "beat up" vantage is really shaping up nicely, can't wait to hear it once the headers and everything is all installed

 

PM me as well pls

 

Im going to do the light smoke front markers and side repeaters . With the car being red Im going to leave the rears alone .
Now If I could just get Rich to answer my question on when they will have stock on front markers it will all be good .

 

I love what you are doing with your Vantage, how you keep a black car that clean without a garage is mind boggling. I could not keep my clean in the garage when I owned it.
Ron

 

BTW - Page 1 Table of Contents is updated everyone

 

PM sent

 

Yes I was having trouble matching the yellow and amber.
With two different colours it looked odd, so I just went with white instead for the side repeaters.

I agree! Now it shocks AMOC members on how many miles I have on my "beater" when it's looking so good parked next a bunch of very low mileage examples

 

Full disclosure - I couldn't keep it clean as they just started construction on my street (new water-mains, sewers, wider sidewalks and converting to a newly paved one way street). Six months of construction hell so we decided to list the house for sale early this summer instead of this fall. When I was shopping for a nearby storage unit last week to de-clutter and stage the home, I was sure to get one big enough to temp store the Aston





Less than a 1/2 mile away and super secure facility, so I'm happy with my temporary solution.

P.S. Mandatory garage for our next home and none with less than a 2 car garage is even being considered

 

Visiting family in Buckhorn, Ontario.
Cottage country 3 hours from Niagara in the Kawartha Lakes region.
Also stopped in Bobcaygeon for Fish 'n Chips and a little shopping.



Took a few more shots while it was relatively clean:









I even enjoyed trying some local craft beers:

 

Makes sense to me to leave the rear red on your paint.
Rich is active on the forum again so I'm sure he'll post when stock is available...

 

A good friend of mine lives in Buckhorn, my Aston has been there a few times

 

Driving home from the trip on the freeway, I did get an emissions warning and temporary CEL. I had known the front O2 sensor need changing before the upcoming emission test, but this was a new issue.
My hint was looking at the temperature guage and it was reading cool, not at it's normal 9 o'clock position.

When I got home scanning the ECM confirmed it - Low coolant temp DTC.

Luckily, I had been proactive and bought a new thermostat last year knowing it was a case of "when" not "if" it would need to be changed.

I watched Redpants video on the job and honestly it made it seem more difficult than it really is. I did appreciate knowing the size of the fasteners etc and other good tips in the video. Once opening the hood, it's a simple case of disconnect and move stuff that's in your way so you can remove the T-Stat cover. I did see why some people trim the stud for additional ease but it's not necessary as only the non-threaded part makes contact with the head. Job took less than 45 minutes and it fixed the issue























If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them below...

 

Since I don't have a lift, I went to my local muffler shop that I have a good relationship with after many years of project cars.

I felt bad that the exhaust was warm so we had to wait a while for it to cool down. Price was right at $50 since I was supplying the sensors.

This was a good opportunity to take some better pictures of the underside of the Vantage...

















FYI the green plugs are for the front pair and the blue plugs are the rear pair of O2 sensors.
After clearing the codes and driving it for a couple days, it's ready to go for the emissions test (so I can get my plate renewal sticker)

 

Hey Ryan, I'm sure you noticed while replacing the t-stat that the reason you were getting low temps is the rubber lip on the flange had come off and was jamming the t-stat open. This was an issue with this design t-stat that used small nibs to hold the rubber on the flange lip. It was subsequently removed from Ford use and replaced. (Ford had a huge issue with a line of truck engines using this t-stat due to the disintegration of the rubber flange.) As you see from your own pics the rubber can come off completely and get jammed in coolant passages causing further issues. It also breaks up into pieces meaning you have even less chance of getting smaller pieces out intact and they can cause significant damage if they jam block coolant passages.

Does the t-stat you installed have the same rubber seal or is it a single piece molded flange? There are at least two threads on here that detail the new improved Ford T-stat designed to prevent this potential.


Thread One

Thread Two - scroll down on this one to see the mangled broken rubber seal - looks like part of it may already be somewhere in the engine.

 

Yes I caught mine so fast that it was still in one piece and all accounted for.
Assuming others have had a good experience with the Ford RT1163 T-Stat, I wouldn't hesitate to try one next time with an Aston housing o-ring seal.
Of course I'm a fan of improved design parts for known issues.
Not sure how long the Redpants Jag T-STAT will last but some members might chime in on how long or far they've lasted to date...