Tackling a full suite of maintenance and upgrades for the Vantage I bought my dad as soon as my QuickJack gets here. Big thanks to the group and Redpants (Who delivered a bunch of parts quickly) for the videos. I plan to do:

Velocity AP Springs
H&R Spacers (11/23)
Oil Service
Bleed Brakes
Bleed Clutch
Gear Oil Flush
Coolant Flush
Swapping Thermostat
New R4-S Pads

The car looks brand new and only has the 6K miles but didn't have any records so I am just being cautious. Thanks again for all the help on the board, I am sure I will be asking a ton of dumb questions in no time.

 

Manual transmission?

About the only other thing I'd consider are cabin air filters. Make sure you use the proper coolant.

 

Your Dads lucky to have a son like you. Please post some pictures of the car and projects if able.

 

So Rich is Prompt on Orders?
I was considering the Special BC Suspension he Gets, But No reply's to my E Mails.....


.

 

Take some pictures doing the service!

 

I will and thanks everyone.

Yes, my Redpants order went smooth, but I was basically just buying small stuff like filters and o rings.

 

Guys, I am perplexed at the coolant discussions on here. Seems like is the current coolant that is readily available since the Motul is sold out nearly everywhere. Also, can someone tell me how to go about vacuum bleeding the coolant to remove more than the gallon or so that drains from the plug? From what other posters say, the drain plug only removes about 30% of the coolant in the system.

 

My 2 pence. Purchased one of those vacuum pump brake bleed gadgets. It is amazing! I will miss yelling at the better half - NO, Don't release the pedal yet!

 

​​​​​​
That is the closest formulation to stock. Others will work but I try to use the same base chemicals.

I would go by the factory procedure. Which is to drain the radiator.

 

If you are concerned about only getting the fluid in the radiator, one option is to drain the radiator, add back a gallon of distilled water and then run the motor to operating temp. Allow it to cool and drain. If you add back straight coolant you will be close to 50:50.

Doesn't get it all, but does get closer. A good reason to drain and fill every couple of years, even if the coolant looks good.

 

It will be over 50% coolant (56% assuming it's only draining 1/3 of the system) when it's done if you go that route. If it's a real concern, I'd flush with 50/50 mix three times.

 

I will do that if need be, I am really hoping that some dude is going to come on here with a MacGyver type home made tool that pushes or sucks the coolant out.

 

Unfortunately, a coolant system can't work that way. They have multiple passages so you can't vacuum or pressure bleed them like a brake system. If you wanted to pull off a bunch of hoses you might get most of the coolant out (not all though) but it's just not necessary. Again, the best way to do a flush to is to multiple changes.

 

Update:

QuickJack shows up and I put it together. Hydraulic hoses usually get thread seal taped, but Quick Jack was nice enough to send a fluid to seal the connections instead. Put everything together and do my maiden lift and...........I managed to create the messiest ATF fluid fountain. 100% my fault as I didn't bother to read any directions on how to use the liquid sealing stuff. No big deal, just clean it all up, take it apart and reconnected using the normal tape, all good.

Lift the car with the special jack point blocks that Matt sells and we are off to the races. Quick Jack is a must for anyone messing with jack stands in my opinion. Remove the wheels, swap the pads for R4-Ss and install the spacers. I went with 11 up front and 23s in the back. Here is where I start being dumb.

I placed the rear spacers and since I had SP wheels I figured that they would fit over the original studs. I installed the driver side, torqued the retaining bolts down to 80 lbs and installed the wheel but it didn't fit, it was hitting the top of the studs. Crap, do I research, do I inspect, do I measure, hell no, I have an Angle Grinder. I cut off about 5MM from the original studs and then re attached the wheel............it still didn't fit, it felt like it was still hitting the old studs. Perplexed and thinking that I just cut off the only way for me to drive this car when I took the other rear spacer and "bench fitted" it and guess what, it didn't exactly fit without some persuasion. I went back to the wheel installed the lug nuts and manipulated them a bit and Voila, it fit perfectly.

So imagine me looking at the nibs of the old studs on the ground and the angle grinder and thinking to myself "I wonder if the wheel would have fit without cutting the studs. Spoiler alert, it does and I am a moron. I removed the wheels again and was on to bleeding the brakes and clutch.

Break out my spanking new Motive pressure bleeder, pump it up to 10PSI to make sure that the system holds (which it does) then I suck out the top of the reservoir, fill the Motive, pump it up and go bleed the inside nipple of the passenger rear caliper. Bubbles, bubbles and more bubbles, like elevendy million trillion bubbles. So many that I can't imagine that they are actually in the system so I figure that they are coming through the bleed nipple threads. Dab of grease around the threads and bubbles are all gone ( left out the hour where I googled "Tiny bubbles from bleeding brakes"). Wheels on, car lowered, lugs torqued to 80 and test drive reveals no issues.

Next weekend its Coolant, thermostat, gear oil, engine oil, door stays and the Lowering springs. I will post the other stupid stuff I do and post a video after.

 

Day two.....three months later. Oil change went as smooth as one could imagine as did the gear oil. Decided to do the thermostat and flush the coolant along with the door stays.

Removal of the one piece fender liners was the hardest thing about the door stays, once you remove the 42,000 screws and finagle the liner off, swapping the door stays is actually easier than I would have thought.

Coolant flush was a breeze too although I did only manage to flush about a gallon of coolant from the system which is all that you get without doing some additional work. I then tackled the thermostat which was also easy except for the stud/nut combo that was 1/8 too long which took a bit of work to remove.

I filled the system with a 50/50 mix of and drove off into the sunset. Not satisfied with refreshing 25% of the coolant so I will need to rethink that process.

This is one of the easiest maintenance cars I have ever worked on. I still need to do the springs, but I am enjoying a car that can go over speed bumps without a worry, my old 1973 Frankenstein Porsche RSR sits about 3mm off the ground.