Car's not here, but the mods have begun

[KarlFranz]

Q can't just sit idle until late September, so the upgrade program has begun.

Here's a sneak peek at some of the things in store:

Edited by KarlFranz on Thursday 21st August 13:32

[W1111AM]

KF, exciting!!
Seat Switches: nice!!

Kick plate badge: that's protective yellow covering right or are you going all out for the yellow to match your stitching?

Fibre-glass wing mirror covers: handmade, this is a seriously big effort, I am very impressive Sir! What is your experience background? You must have done this before. It's not for the faint hearted GRP style activities...?

Do you remember my GT4 tailgate badge? I haven't forgotten you wanted one, sorry just haven't finished my new dash fascias. It will be done for end of September and will know then if I need to do another casting run, or have an existing one spare for you.

[hashluck]

So the seat switches are from a different car. Interessting to see how that goes since they are so much nicer

[yeti]

hashluck said:

So the seat switches are from a different car. Interessting to see how that goes since they are so much nicer

What are they, Jag?

[mikey k]

Mad as ever!
What are you planning with the Vanquish steering wheel controls?

[Gibberish]

KarlFranz said:

Q can't just sit idle until late September, so the upgrade program has begun.

Here's a sneak peek at some of the things in store:

How do yours differ in operation to this Virage switch below?

[krisdelta]

Karl - you're a legend! Looking forward to seeing them in-situ.

[whoami]

If someone could find a way of easily (and cost effectively) replacing the rubbish plastic switches in the Vantage, there would be no shortage of buyers.

[Laser Sag]

Gibberish said:

KarlFranz said:

Q can't just sit idle until late September, so the upgrade program has begun.

Here's a sneak peek at some of the things in store:

How do yours differ in operation to this Virage switch below?

Would hazard a guess at lumbar support by the look of it.

Be interesting to see it all progress, can't think I would ever be taking a brand new AM and carrying out alterations to it.

[KarlFranz]

W1111AM said:

Kick plate badge: that's protective yellow covering right or are you going all out for the yellow to match your stitching?

Unlike the N430, the graphics pack on the GT is optional. Unfortunately, it's an all-or-nothing affair. I wasn't to keen on having yellow on the A-pillar/Cant Rail so I decided that I'm going to do just the parts I want in yellow by myself instead. The yellow stitching and accent stripe on the seats will tie-in with the exterior yellow accents, the kick plate badges and the brake calipers.

W1111AM said:

Fibre-glass wing mirror covers: handmade, this is a seriously big effort, I am very impressive Sir! What is your experience background? You must have done this before. It's not for the faint hearted GRP style activities...?

The only other time I've attempted doing carbon fiber work was when I did some parts for my 07 V8V. I did the mirror covers for that car as well but I couldn't use them on the GT4 because the mirrors are larger.

Here's a picture of what the ones I made for the V8V wound up looking like:

[KarlFranz]

hashluck said:

So the seat switches are from a different car. Interessting to see how that goes since they are so much nicer

yeti said:

What are they, Jag?

whoami said:

If someone could find a way of easily (and cost effectively) replacing the rubbish plastic switches in the Vantage, there would be no shortage of buyers.

Laser Sag said:

Would hazard a guess at lumbar support by the look of it.

The seat controls are from the Vanquish II/Rapide. The difference between them and the ones on the Virage/DB9.2 is that they include the lumbar adjustment. Due to the seat re-design, lunbar control is no longer located on the inboard lower seat bolster itself.

The way the seat controls work is completely different from the older platic model (which is now only found on the Vantage line). In a nutshell: the new ones multiplex all the seat functions onto 3 wires whereas the older one had a dedicated pair of wires for each individual seat motor. This is the reason that some who tried to get Aston to change their seat controls when ordering a new car were denied their request. It's not a simple swap of parts. In fact, in order to do the change I will be designing a new circuit board for the new switches so that they interface to the car the way the older switches do.

[KarlFranz]

Laser Sag said:

Be interesting to see it all progress, can't think I would ever be taking a brand new AM and carrying out alterations to it.

I always feel the need to create and be unique. As long as you have the skills to do a good job and can afford it, there's nothing wrong with making these mods. Every alteration I have made to Astons was done with a goal of being fully reversible to original specification. I accomplish this by either buying spare parts or fabricating my own.

So far, my modificaton work has paid off: I sold my 07 V8V last month for $25,000(US) more than what the AM dealer offered me in trade for the new 2015 GT I ordered. In fact, I wound up selling the 07MY for almost the same amount I bought it for alsmost 4 years earlier.

Edited by KarlFranz on Thursday 21st August 14:23

[mikey k]

So what re you planning got the Vanquish steering wheel controls

[KarlFranz]

mikey k said:

So what re you planning got the Vanquish steering wheel controls

I'm thinking of installing those instead of the standard switches because I like the look better. I even contemplated using the "Sport" button on the right as a mute button for my radar detector. I'm not sure yet. The circuit is slightly different in the Vanquish controls. They both use a type of resistor ladder that varies the resistance across two terminals depending on which switch is pressed. However, the resistor values are different and they are surface-mounted onto the circuit board, so I may have to do a bit of surgery on the new controls to make them work like the older ones.

[mikey k]

KarlFranz said:

mikey k said:

So what re you planning got the Vanquish steering wheel controls

I'm thinking of installing those instead of the standard switches because I like the look better. I even contemplated using the "Sport" button on the right as a mute button for my radar detector. I'm not sure yet. The circuit is slightly different in the Vanquish controls. They both use a type of resistor ladder that varies the resistance across two terminals depending on which switch is pressed. However, the resistor values are different and they are surface-mounted onto the circuit board, so I may have to do a bit of surgery on the new controls to make them work like the older ones.

Nice touch
I was impressed with them when I drove the Vanquish Volante the other week.

[Laser Sag]

KarlFranz said:

Laser Sag said:

Be interesting to see it all progress, can't think I would ever be taking a brand new AM and carrying out alterations to it.

I always feel the need to create and be unique. As long as you have the skills to do a good job and can afford it, there's nothing wrong with making these mods. Every alteration I have made to Astons was done with a goal of being fully reversible to original specification. I accomplish this by either buying spare parts or fabricating my own.

So far, my modificaton work has paid off: I sold my 07 V8V last month for $25,000(US) more than what the AM dealer offered me in trade for the new 2015 GT I ordered. In fact, I wound up selling the 07MY for almost the same amount I bought it for alsmost 4 years earlier.

Edited by KarlFranz on Thursday 21st August 14:23

I wasn't suggesting that there was anything wrong with doing the mods Karl Franz just that I wouldn't have the confidence to do it.

All credit to you for creating a machine that is individual to you.From the bits I have seen that you have carried out previously you definitely have the skills to do a good job.

[steveatesh]

All respect to you Karl, I'm worrying about taking my door mirror off to tackle the dreaded black paint rot, and here you are fabricating carbon fibre and making your own circuit boards

Hope it looks as good as your last one,

[divetheworld]

KarlFranz said:

I'm thinking of installing those instead of the standard switches because I like the look better. I even contemplated using the "Sport" button on the right as a mute button for my radar detector. I'm not sure yet. The circuit is slightly different in the Vanquish controls. They both use a type of resistor ladder that varies the resistance across two terminals depending on which switch is pressed. However, the resistor values are different and they are surface-mounted onto the circuit board, so I may have to do a bit of surgery on the new controls to make them work like the older ones.

The steering wheel controls are multiplexed before the clock spring. Being that the common factor is that the inputs are simply two state devices, you at worst should be able to cut the tracks on the vanq board and hard wire to an OEM board after removing the surface mount microswitches.
The hard part will be adding a function that wasn't there before like using the Sport button. Back in the 90's I built a new steering wheel that included full controls for an Alpine unit. The job was easy once I realised that there was no way to use the clock spring. I used RF control. you have the clues in front of you.
How often will you replace the battery on your remote for the exhaust valves? Years? Wire the remote switch to the "S" button and hide the remote in the steering wheel.
Just a thought.

[Biggriff]

divetheworld said:

The steering wheel controls are multiplexed before the clock spring. Being that the common factor is that the inputs are simply two state devices, you at worst should be able to cut the tracks on the vanq board and hard wire to an OEM board after removing the surface mount microswitches.
The hard part will be adding a function that wasn't there before like using the Sport button. Back in the 90's I built a new steering wheel that included full controls for an Alpine unit. The job was easy once I realised that there was no way to use the clock spring. I used RF control. you have the clues in front of you.
How often will you replace the battery on your remote for the exhaust valves? Years? Wire the remote switch to the "S" button and hide the remote in the steering wheel.
Just a thought.

I understood all of that .... Right up to the point where you started typing.

[Phil74891]

I thought I was being clever by asking them to leave the model name off the boot when I specced my V8VS.