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You can do the timing cover relatively easily in the car, emphasis on relatively. Certainly easier than pulling the engine. You'll have to pull the intakes and cam covers, pull off or separate the thermostat housing and drop the oil pan enough to apply some RTV. If you are planning on pulling the engine anyway you might as well just wait, but if not, you might as well do it now while the front is apart.
Thanks Bob! Big decision time coming. I have the parts to do the job, but I'm not convinced the leak is so bad that I risk pulling things apart. My good friend (who is a A&P Mechanic, turned exotic car tech, turned insurance industry) is coming over tonight to help me think through this.
We've determined that the leak is relatively minor. Decision has been made to clean the engine block and put things back together. that will commence Friday. More to come!
Started the process of putting things back together today after cleaning the engine.....I'm waiting on an order from Scuderia, otherwise I'm pretty sure I could've had it all back together today...
Thanks Bob! Big decision time coming. I have the parts to do the job, but I'm not convinced the leak is so bad that I risk pulling things apart. My good friend (who is a A&P Mechanic, turned exotic car tech, turned insurance industry) is coming over tonight to help me think through this.
Forget the RTV approach - the approach for my 4.3 Vantage was to get the newer gasket from the 4.7. I'd assume there's a newer V12 equivalent that would work in your case.
It's been a crazy 2024. Last update was back in March and I was debating what to do with my 'leak' and some other things while 'in there'. Due to a family situation, it's been almost impossible to work on the car due to constant travel. In an effort to make progress I ordered everything needed to maximize my first real opportunity to work on the car back in June....or so I thought.
I learned that Aston changed hose connectors at some point during 2007 to a 'Dorman style" connector (See pic). The challenge with this is that they DO NOT make them in the earlier style for some hoses and for 1 of the hoses, they wanted almost $500 for a roughly short hose not to mention the supplier markup. NOT HAPPENING! Luckily I have had time to scour the internet for parts and ended up buying 3 sets of hoses from a guy in Britain for a fraction of the supplier cost. This took about 7 weeks to get sorted out and the June trip was a complete bust in terms of getting the car back.
Next trip home was end of July and with limited time, I was hell bent on getting the radiator, fans, condenser back into place along with a complete fluid change (oil, refill radiator and gearbox). I worked late into each night I had available and finally got everything back together except for the A/C recharge. Luckily, I'm close with a local shop and they treat me well so we got the car there and back over the past couple days to get the AC recharged and it blows ice cold air again apparently. I'll find out in a week or so when I get to drive it again. I can tell you that things went back together much more smoothly than taking it all apart. Everything is packaged tightly under the hood of this car which makes for some nice cuts/bumps/bruises, but it's all doable.
One frustrating issue that I came across was the headlight jet wash covers. It appears that at some point these were 'glued' into place after breaking off. I've known this car since 2009 and the washers have always worked properly but both covers broke off and now I get the opportunity to ether glue them back or replace them. A word of warning....these are VERY expensive and getting to be hard to find, so if you have to replace yours I suggest you bite the bullet and do it before they become NLA. I'll post pics when I get these replaced.
I'm planning on taking the car on a long trip in about 10 days and I couldn't be more excited, especially since it's been on the lift for the better part of a year.
Last edited by jimshadow; Aug 12, 2024 at 05:03 PM.
Those covers would be very easy to 3D print in ABS or similar. Additionally, they would be very cheap to print. You would have to scan the part first, or measure it carefully, and then create a model. It might be an interesting project to attempt. The hard part is getting the dimensions and curves right
You'd have to find the OEM new part or one off a car that is not broken. It looks like the back half of the plastic pieces break off once they become brittle. Oh, and NOBODY sells the covers only for the DB9!!!
UPDATE: Everything was put back together and the bottom side panels replaced. Double checked my fluid levels, air pressures and put some tools and extra fluids in the trunk for the trip the next day. Took it on a quick spin around the block to ensure that I had no issues.
The following morning, I drove from NE Indiana to Milton, Ontario Canada. The car was PERFECT! This is such a great car on the open road! Total miles round trip was just under 800miles and the car did not miss a beat!
Unfortunately, I'm traveling quite a bit during the month of Sept, so I won't be able to drive it as much as normal, but I can't wait to get behind the wheel again!
Now it's time to start planning for the next project which will be a brake upgrade and new coil overs.
Jim Ready to go! Border crossing....managed the 90 degree heat just fine! Looking good in the hotel parking lot next to a friend.
It's been a while since I posted in this thread. The DB9 has been running like a champ since coming out of hibernation a couple weeks ago.
I had 2 guys in the garage (1 car guy, one not) and the 'car guy' wanted to hear the DB9 at start up, which is rather aggressive (THANK YOU Velocity AP!!).
While listening to the car and talking about V12's, the 'non-car guy' says....What's that light in the engine for? See the video for what he noticed......
Apparently I have a spark leak from the coil packs that I installed a while back. Any ideas before I take off the intake plenum and get back down to the coil packs and likely replace them all again?
(Admittedly, I used Chinese ones off of Ebay vs. OEM ones from AM).
That looks like your valve-cover is 'trying to earth itself'. I guess your wiring loom to your coils is rubbing against it and causing this behaviour. The car seems to be running fine though so I'd try perhaps to 'pry-up' the loom away from the valve cover to see if it dissapears. If it does take the plenum off and repair the wiring loom where necessary.
