DZ22's V8 Vantage Journal
 

Hi all,

Just joined the Aston community and thrilled to be here.

A few weeks ago, I purchased a Jet Black 6 speed manual V8 Vantage and so far, am loving it. For those that care, I intend to use this thread as a journal for all things I do to my car, whether paint correction, modifications, etc.

Right off the bat, I came across a great deal on some brand new ADV1 wheels, and figured I'd get right to some modding and lower on H&R springs. The ADV1's are on Nitto Invo 255/30/20, and 305/25/20 rear. The rear ride height is still slightly too tall, but before messing with the adjustable perches which I believe we have, I'll let the springs settle.

A quick snap for now. I still have not installed the center caps, as I'm currently polishing those myself to a high shine to match the rest of the chrome on the car. They came in a powdercoated red, but those are not suitable for my taste.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...923ddcbf64.jpg

I'm pretty big into paint correction and as you can imagine, a black car has a decent amount of swirl marks / isolated scratches. My previous car, my Jaguar F type, was metallic black and was much easier to deal with given that it hid paint imperfections much more than a solid "jet" black.

Once the car is fully paint corrected, I will be applying Crystal Serum Light followed by EXO V4.

My previous car - Jaguar F-Type. I adored this thing.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...986179c76c.jpg

A couple of next items up to address:

1) Front wheel spacers as there is still a bit of room left offset wise. Thinking 11mm spacers -- if anyone has them and wants to sell, hit me up.
2) Alignment -- any good shos in NJ outside of NYC?
3) Muffler Delete -- most likely going to have a shop weld a straight pipe to see how that sounds.

The car currently has 13k miles on it -- so if there is anything I should address with age, please let me know.

Looking forward to meeting some fellow enthusiasts down the road.

Wheel center caps I'm working on. Came in red, debated brushed, but ultimately, going to strip the red powder coat, and polish all to a high shine.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...bc712b070a.jpg


Also, does anyone know if I can use the Redpants TPMS delete kit? I have a 2013 and opted to forgo TPMS, and have the warning light blinking.

Congratulations! That’s a gorgeous car.

I have straight pipes on my V8V... sound is glorious...

Thanks. Loving it so far.

Would you happen to have any sound clips / pictures of your set up? Thanks in advance.

Beautiful! Black is a great color for the Vantage. Sadly my PO used the car wash, alot. Mine looks great from 20 feet, decent at 10 feet, but horrible at 5'. Paid for paint correction, however there are still scratched here and there. Going away from black with a wrap in 2 weeks.

Great acquisition!

Looking forward to your updates.

As my handle indicates, I too am a huge fan of the F-Type!

no sounds clips... recording doesn't do it justice
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...901e31f499.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...056a915410.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...45db8024a1.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...18ae51fe99.jpg
exhaust looks stock

It's a fantastic color indeed. It's a very hard car to correct perfectly. The hood alone took me about 6 hours, and that's really all I've had the time to do so far.

Thanks. The F-Type is one of the most beautiful Jag's of all time for sure.

Cool. Thanks, I'll look into this.


So, as indicated on other threads, our cars have adjustable rear spring perches. Adjusting them is actually incredibly easy by sliding the o-ring / clip into the lower groove. By doing so, got the rear ride height to what I find to be acceptable now. It was just too tall before. So happy with this now.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...f3424f96a5.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...64e10a80c4.jpg

Congrats, the black is gorgeous on that car!

If you decide not to straight pipe you may want to look at a controller for the exhaust baffles. I only had my Vantage for a day before the motor let go but I have the Auto Memory Exhaust Remote Control from CC Charger and it made a pretty noticeable difference. Having the baffles wide open all the time gives it a much more aggressive sound at startup/idle and lower revs... I hated having to take it up past 4k to get that sweet sweet exhaust note.

After a decent amount of exhaust research, I decided to finally pull the trigger on a rear muffler section so I picked up a Quicksilver SuperSport and installed it last night. I somewhat like that Quicksilver only focuses on British cars, and I can attest to the very high build quality of the unit. I believe the weight savings are roughly 20 lbs.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...2c56d2de31.jpg

I also started the car and revved a bit with the muffler removed to hear what the GT4 pipes would sound like. In my opinion, it detracts from the Aston Martin "experience". I found that while the tone and volume were acceptable, there was a fair bit of drone and too much resonance within the cabin and that sort of experience just doesn't work for a car like this.

With the Quicksilver SuperSport installed, there is a complete lack of drone which I'm thrilled about. While the exhaust volume has increased considerably, it's still very fitting to Aston Martin's character in my opinion. Down the road, I might experiment with some resonator delete pipes as well.

I will record some startup and driveby videos down the road for anyone looking to purchase this exhaust in the future, but there are already plenty of decent reference points on youtube.

And lastly, a picture of a nice cruise up into the Northern California hills with a friend. We met up randomly with another S2000 driver also cruising around.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...a18ab77ff6.jpg