The next sensible step, a 2006 Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Discussion
As the title may suggest, it seemed like the sensible thing to do.
My last car:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Had really cemeted my love for 2 seats, RWD, horrendous practicality and all that is British.
At the time, i hadn't long completed a busy year. 255 days away at sea had given me the oppourtunity to go without a car for a long while and properly mull through where i wanted to go next. Do i go new? plenty of hire cars through work later and my appetite for a new soul-less s
t box hadnt grown. Albeit the new Ford Puma was the pick of the bunch, I'm not sure im ready to resign myself to that kind of lifestyle just yet.
Sat on my friends sofa, We were discussing options when the inevitable "lets see how much these cars ill never be able to afford cost now" search happened. To my surprise, and perhaps because of ULEZ anticipation, It appeared that the V8V was actually somewhat affordable and now had creeped into my price range. Being reluctant to use finance options, the idea of owning such a car and being able to enjoy it at a reasonable price nailed it for me.
Rather promptly, I called the seller and by the end of the phone call had put a deposit down.
Skip ahead 4 weeks and a flight from Gaslow to Stanstead, I arrived to pick up one of the cars id always craved:
After taking a while to figure out how to open the door, the previous owner and I took it for a test drive around the sleepy Surrey countryside. The car was unlike anything id ever driven before and albeit somewhat fooloish to have paid for the car without seeing it i was glad i had moved quickly. To my surprise, The road tax on the car cost more than my fully comp insurance.... the joys of being in your early 30's.
Having almost curbed the recently refurbished wheels, I connected my phone to the bluetooth, shook his hand and drove home to the midlands.
The first thing i was taken back by was how good this car is at policing middle lane hoggers. I was very aware i didnt want to get caught speeding on my first day of ownership but setting 70 and approaching cars using the middle of the road as their steady state lane promptly ensured they continued their 65 mph endeavour in the left hand lane.
The second thing i noticed was how well the car drives and feels. Considering its age, it had no rattling or feeling of wear. An absolute testiment to the build quality of the car.
Being mid week the roads were empty and i was on cloud 9.
Arriving home, i found myself rather hungry after a day of travelling the length of the country and half again, so i did what any self respecting AM owner would do and got some dinner:
Turns out they have the card machines there on a stick for good reason.
The next day i woke up and still couldnt quite believe i had the car so snapped some more pictures:
After a couple of weeks at home and enjoying the car, it was time to make the drive from home to base in Devon so i made the trip and with a Car maintenance facilty on base, it was time to start looking at what needed doing/ what i wanted to do to the car. But not before a trip to Dartmoor:
The next day, i came to the car to find a flat! in 17 years of driving it was my first. Gutted. I was stuck on a Navy base with a flat tyre and a can of Emergency inflate. I called a local garage and they were very helpful. Having had a good look around it seemed that the cheapest i was going to get a new tire was £300, but the garage came back saying they would have the tire and be able to fit it that day for £300 total. Not the happiest exerience however they did very much lighten the burden.
Unlike my previous cars, i didnt want this to be a rolling project or spend any considerable amount of time off the road. I've enjoyed working on cars for years but the idea of being in a permenant state of reapir no longer really appeals to me. I was under the impression this thing might be expensive enough.
The first things i wanted to address were cosmetic. A previous owner had removed the Vantage bage and had at some point taken it to europe so these were the first to sorted:
The next thing i decided to do was give it a thorough clean. I still had the supplies from ym old car so gave it a proper wash, ceramic coat and interior detail. It wasnt as bad as some that i have seen before but its always satisfying:
Mechanically, the car only had a small number of items to address.
It sailed through its MOT, noting that the inner tie rod end had some play so this will need looking at, at some point soon.
The emergency pull handle in the boot, which allows your victims to try and make a run for it, had snapped off. It wasnt the handle that had snapped, but the cable that of course is integral to the boot latch. So i ordered a new boot latch hoping that such a simple job wouldnt grow arms and legs.
The latch arrived in beautiful AM packaging and upon opening, i was greetesd with this:
Yes, this was the correct latch and my inital disgruntal was met with joy when searching for the part through other places than AM it turns out to be about 5x more expensive.
To the boot!
The back carpet is held on by push connectors. Of course being very old these didnt come out with a fight but releasing the 4 closest to the latch allowed the carpet to fold out the way and access to the latch. The retaining bolts came out easy enough however the electrical connector was stiff. I was curious as to why the cable had snapped in the first place. it looked rusty so perhaps some water had gotten into it? Low and behold the water had also gotten into the electrical connector:
But wait! isnt there meant to be another male connector where that patch of rust is? Yes. There is.:
The reason it had be stiff to remove was because the pin had seized itself into the female end. Using the finest thin split pin i could find, i released the connector from the housing and removed the offender:
The old latch came out without a fight and the damage was evident:
That out the way, it was time to address the squeak coming from the brade pedal. Having spoke to Nicholas Mee, who i should mention at this point have been extremely helpful trying to navigate the online parts catalouge, They pointed out i should try the least cost option first without spending £400+ on a new brake pedal. Where the pedal meets the servo, there is a small machined pin. It was very cheap so thought id go for it.
This part of the work took about 5 minutes. The old one held in by a retaining clip, pops out and the new one, heavily greased goes back in:
Albeit a nice new part to admire and the banishment of some rust, the new pin does practically fk all to reduce the squeak. So without coating the top pin and spring in WD40, ill just have to live with it for now.
Some time spent browsing Youtube inevitably leads you to a Yankee-doodle called Redpants. Admist the waffling he is actually a useful source of information regarding service items and things to look at with the car. One of such things, and something i couldnt ever find a reciept for in the mountain of paperwork i got with the car is the Throttle Body Gasket. A trivial Item, you might say but something at just over £10 i thought it crack on with.
The part came quickly and i was expecting to see a rather dirty butterfly, but to my surprise, it was relatively clean. Some Clutch cleaner later and the new gasket and old body were reinstalled:
Another tip i learnt from a bit of reading is that if you plan to replace the cabin filters, you should use ones that are listed for an RX8. The price difference was huge and so that was next on the list. It only took about 15 minuts to do and the subsequent difference is huge. The Air con is a lot cooler and powerful. The old filters werent the worst ive ever seen, but for less than £10, worth a regular change:
And that, as it stands is the total of the maintenance i have done to the car. I have quite a large list of things im looking at doing:
The Left front indicator has suffered with the typical fault of either water ingress or loose connections, so i need to plan to have it off the road and get that sent away for reconditioning.
Service. I have put nearly 6k on the car now so im looking at getting all the bits together. Autodoc seems like the best place to get most of the stuff from however i will be doing some shopping. Opening the coolant header tank to see the aftermath of a bad kebab tells me that'll need flushing too. While i'm there i may as well renew the thermostat as i cant see when this may have been done last.
Cosmetics. There are a few stone chips and a few other areas id like to address. This isnt a huge priority but i have noticed a few spots of bubbling on the front wings owing to the fibreglass. I'll keep an eye on it, and if it gets any worse then ill sort that soon.
Stay tuned!
My last car:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Had really cemeted my love for 2 seats, RWD, horrendous practicality and all that is British.
At the time, i hadn't long completed a busy year. 255 days away at sea had given me the oppourtunity to go without a car for a long while and properly mull through where i wanted to go next. Do i go new? plenty of hire cars through work later and my appetite for a new soul-less s
t box hadnt grown. Albeit the new Ford Puma was the pick of the bunch, I'm not sure im ready to resign myself to that kind of lifestyle just yet. Sat on my friends sofa, We were discussing options when the inevitable "lets see how much these cars ill never be able to afford cost now" search happened. To my surprise, and perhaps because of ULEZ anticipation, It appeared that the V8V was actually somewhat affordable and now had creeped into my price range. Being reluctant to use finance options, the idea of owning such a car and being able to enjoy it at a reasonable price nailed it for me.
Rather promptly, I called the seller and by the end of the phone call had put a deposit down.
Skip ahead 4 weeks and a flight from Gaslow to Stanstead, I arrived to pick up one of the cars id always craved:
After taking a while to figure out how to open the door, the previous owner and I took it for a test drive around the sleepy Surrey countryside. The car was unlike anything id ever driven before and albeit somewhat fooloish to have paid for the car without seeing it i was glad i had moved quickly. To my surprise, The road tax on the car cost more than my fully comp insurance.... the joys of being in your early 30's.
Having almost curbed the recently refurbished wheels, I connected my phone to the bluetooth, shook his hand and drove home to the midlands.
The first thing i was taken back by was how good this car is at policing middle lane hoggers. I was very aware i didnt want to get caught speeding on my first day of ownership but setting 70 and approaching cars using the middle of the road as their steady state lane promptly ensured they continued their 65 mph endeavour in the left hand lane.
The second thing i noticed was how well the car drives and feels. Considering its age, it had no rattling or feeling of wear. An absolute testiment to the build quality of the car.
Being mid week the roads were empty and i was on cloud 9.
Arriving home, i found myself rather hungry after a day of travelling the length of the country and half again, so i did what any self respecting AM owner would do and got some dinner:
Turns out they have the card machines there on a stick for good reason.
The next day i woke up and still couldnt quite believe i had the car so snapped some more pictures:
After a couple of weeks at home and enjoying the car, it was time to make the drive from home to base in Devon so i made the trip and with a Car maintenance facilty on base, it was time to start looking at what needed doing/ what i wanted to do to the car. But not before a trip to Dartmoor:
The next day, i came to the car to find a flat! in 17 years of driving it was my first. Gutted. I was stuck on a Navy base with a flat tyre and a can of Emergency inflate. I called a local garage and they were very helpful. Having had a good look around it seemed that the cheapest i was going to get a new tire was £300, but the garage came back saying they would have the tire and be able to fit it that day for £300 total. Not the happiest exerience however they did very much lighten the burden.
Unlike my previous cars, i didnt want this to be a rolling project or spend any considerable amount of time off the road. I've enjoyed working on cars for years but the idea of being in a permenant state of reapir no longer really appeals to me. I was under the impression this thing might be expensive enough.
The first things i wanted to address were cosmetic. A previous owner had removed the Vantage bage and had at some point taken it to europe so these were the first to sorted:
The next thing i decided to do was give it a thorough clean. I still had the supplies from ym old car so gave it a proper wash, ceramic coat and interior detail. It wasnt as bad as some that i have seen before but its always satisfying:
Mechanically, the car only had a small number of items to address.
It sailed through its MOT, noting that the inner tie rod end had some play so this will need looking at, at some point soon.
The emergency pull handle in the boot, which allows your victims to try and make a run for it, had snapped off. It wasnt the handle that had snapped, but the cable that of course is integral to the boot latch. So i ordered a new boot latch hoping that such a simple job wouldnt grow arms and legs.
The latch arrived in beautiful AM packaging and upon opening, i was greetesd with this:
Yes, this was the correct latch and my inital disgruntal was met with joy when searching for the part through other places than AM it turns out to be about 5x more expensive.
To the boot!
The back carpet is held on by push connectors. Of course being very old these didnt come out with a fight but releasing the 4 closest to the latch allowed the carpet to fold out the way and access to the latch. The retaining bolts came out easy enough however the electrical connector was stiff. I was curious as to why the cable had snapped in the first place. it looked rusty so perhaps some water had gotten into it? Low and behold the water had also gotten into the electrical connector:
But wait! isnt there meant to be another male connector where that patch of rust is? Yes. There is.:
The reason it had be stiff to remove was because the pin had seized itself into the female end. Using the finest thin split pin i could find, i released the connector from the housing and removed the offender:
The old latch came out without a fight and the damage was evident:
That out the way, it was time to address the squeak coming from the brade pedal. Having spoke to Nicholas Mee, who i should mention at this point have been extremely helpful trying to navigate the online parts catalouge, They pointed out i should try the least cost option first without spending £400+ on a new brake pedal. Where the pedal meets the servo, there is a small machined pin. It was very cheap so thought id go for it.
This part of the work took about 5 minutes. The old one held in by a retaining clip, pops out and the new one, heavily greased goes back in:
Albeit a nice new part to admire and the banishment of some rust, the new pin does practically f
k all to reduce the squeak. So without coating the top pin and spring in WD40, ill just have to live with it for now.Some time spent browsing Youtube inevitably leads you to a Yankee-doodle called Redpants. Admist the waffling he is actually a useful source of information regarding service items and things to look at with the car. One of such things, and something i couldnt ever find a reciept for in the mountain of paperwork i got with the car is the Throttle Body Gasket. A trivial Item, you might say but something at just over £10 i thought it crack on with.
The part came quickly and i was expecting to see a rather dirty butterfly, but to my surprise, it was relatively clean. Some Clutch cleaner later and the new gasket and old body were reinstalled:
Another tip i learnt from a bit of reading is that if you plan to replace the cabin filters, you should use ones that are listed for an RX8. The price difference was huge and so that was next on the list. It only took about 15 minuts to do and the subsequent difference is huge. The Air con is a lot cooler and powerful. The old filters werent the worst ive ever seen, but for less than £10, worth a regular change:
And that, as it stands is the total of the maintenance i have done to the car. I have quite a large list of things im looking at doing:
The Left front indicator has suffered with the typical fault of either water ingress or loose connections, so i need to plan to have it off the road and get that sent away for reconditioning.
Service. I have put nearly 6k on the car now so im looking at getting all the bits together. Autodoc seems like the best place to get most of the stuff from however i will be doing some shopping. Opening the coolant header tank to see the aftermath of a bad kebab tells me that'll need flushing too. While i'm there i may as well renew the thermostat as i cant see when this may have been done last.
Cosmetics. There are a few stone chips and a few other areas id like to address. This isnt a huge priority but i have noticed a few spots of bubbling on the front wings owing to the fibreglass. I'll keep an eye on it, and if it gets any worse then ill sort that soon.
Stay tuned!
Edited by -01SQ- on Monday 1st April 14:47
Castrol for a knave said:
Lovely looking car and I really like that colour.
I am always more interested, and the site is all the better for, a reader's ride style diary. Far more interesting to follow someone who's got their dream car and busy fettling, improving and enjoying it.
Part of the fun is finding the exact same part, with a generic sticker on it, than paying the 5x Aston or in my case, Porsche tax on it. Always seems like a small victory
I couldn't agree more. I try and be as realistic as possible and for me, the enjoyment comes from sharing the journey, fixing bits and getting that exhaust to open up! I am always more interested, and the site is all the better for, a reader's ride style diary. Far more interesting to follow someone who's got their dream car and busy fettling, improving and enjoying it.
Part of the fun is finding the exact same part, with a generic sticker on it, than paying the 5x Aston or in my case, Porsche tax on it. Always seems like a small victory
tegwin said:
I have been debating doing something similar recently...
How do you find she copes with the pot holed roads we currently have?
If you can, do it. It's one of the best decisions ive ever made. How do you find she copes with the pot holed roads we currently have?
To be honest, i'll endeavour to avoid them at all costs. Having said that, you can't drive anywhere without encountering one or two. I find the best way to combat them is to drive with Waze. Eagle eyed enthusiasts have labeled the major ones to avoid so if i see one coming up ill just slow down. For the ones you cant avoid, you just have to make sure youve got that second mortgage application ready and a spare pair of Y-fronts in the drivers door pocket.
Andy665 said:
Lovely car
For some reason we did not bond with the 4.7 that we had and recently sold, always felt too wide for the Shropshire / North Wales roads we enjoy (the A110 is much better) and always felt uneasy about a potential unexpected big bill - strangely I never suffered the same fear with the Tuscan
Horses for courses - hope you enjoy it as much as we hoped we would
Thats a shame, was it an auto or a manual?For some reason we did not bond with the 4.7 that we had and recently sold, always felt too wide for the Shropshire / North Wales roads we enjoy (the A110 is much better) and always felt uneasy about a potential unexpected big bill - strangely I never suffered the same fear with the Tuscan
Horses for courses - hope you enjoy it as much as we hoped we would
I know that feeling.. Any venture away from the home port of Telford felt hairy. Around the town it was fantastic but the small lanes up and around North Shropshire leave you praying the farmers are spraying
Castrol for a knave said:
Was yours that silver / blue 4.7 recently on AT in the Telford area? I had it saved and was working on the Guvnor about it. I even used the "it's only up the road" line on her, but she pointed out minor things like sorting the driveway and decorating the office.
OP - will keep an eye for yours - if you see a knobhead in a 928 waving, wave back
Will do, I'm in Plymouth at the moment but will be back up in April some time. OP - will keep an eye for yours - if you see a knobhead in a 928 waving, wave back
As you might be aware, there has recently been a need for me to use hire cars for work. This has been a great oppourtunity to test drive some of the good the bad and the ugly and this time was just as bad as most of the others.
I needed to travel from Plymouth to about 20 miles north of Glasgow. And back. In 2 and a half days
Waze suggested it was going to take me 9 hours starting at 8am on sunday morning. That was always going to be closer to 9:30 with a few stops for some over priced protein bars and coffee.
With that in mind, I went to the collection point and was greeted with a less than exciting prospect for the 1000+ miles round trip.
I present to you the 73' Plate BMW 118i in Deano Grey:
I've had one or two BMWs in the past as hire cars and i've never been hugely impressed with them. I'd have taken more pictures of the thing but i was aware youd probably be as unimpressed as i was to look at it.
It does everything a new car should... It moves forward when you press the pedal, stops when you press the other and is fairly quiet. The android auto connects quickly and the sound system is alright. And thats about it.
I'm not familiar with whatever sport/ fake fast line they make these things in... I assume because the stiching was fancy colours and it looked somewhat sporty that it was some itteration of added extras bundled into a overpriced package.
First impressions were that the car seemed well built. You'd hope as mass produced cars go it would be. It didnt rattle and it felt new but that was probably due to it only having 3k on the clock. Not sure if it was because of the BMW something line wkery, but as a 3XL t-shirt wearing man with a nominal medium waist, the seats were at best snug. The thought of spending 9 hours in this thing was daunting so it quickly became apparent that there would have to be several stops just to reconfgure my skeleton.
Leaving Plymouth, the A38 presented itself as a fair proving ground for the Death-by-boring hatch, so with sport mode selected, i went for the slip road.
If it wasnt for a weird digital meter that told me i was using 100% power id have thought the auto box was stuck. The car was extremely underwhelming and did of course eventually make it to 70 mph but with the haste of a mining community to vote Tory.
About 3 hours into the drive, the seat was becoming pretty uncomfortable. Even with the bolster supports at maximum extension, this was going to be a test of determination to make it up north. Around the same time i noticed that the tank was also 1/4 full. The trip computer claimed 40mpg which led me to believe this thing was either lying to me or the tank was tiny. I pulled in and filled up the car and carried on.
The rest of the trip consisted of several stops to prevent scoliosis and to yet again fill the tank. The trip back on Tuesday was thankfully broken up by an overnight stay at home but Wednesday saw the continuation of the trip and a grand total of 4 filling stops, or £220 worth of petrol to make the trip.
I think its best i sum up the trip with a list of points:
The Good:
It goes forward
It stops
It has Android Auto
I didnt get wet
I didnt die
The Bad:
Wafty
Slow
Tiny Fuel Tank
Cheap feeling interior
Very uncomfortable seats
Terrible, terrible colour
In Summary, i really dont understand why anyone would pay a premium to own one of these things, let alone pay more for it to have some extra plastic and thread put on it to try and jazz it up. Perhaps that is the paradox that is this stbox?
Anyway, as i was saying.... the trip ended and for the time being i wont need to get any more hire cars. With the week coming to an end, time for some AM work
The stop home had allowed me to rummage around and pick up some supplies i had left over from my days with the lotus:
I had no immediate need for any of these things but theyre not doing much in the loft. Always good to have a few fuses and Cap heads around when you need them. Plus, they cover a little more of HM finest cabin carpet so i wasnt going to complain with less of that to look at.
Id been noticing on occasion that the ambient air temp indicated in the car would read all over the place. Some times it would read high 30s and others would read nerly nothing. This wasnt at all what id expect when coming to the car for the first time after a while so i happily managed to source one online for £10 and went about replacing it. Theres no point in posting any photos of the job because it was extremely simple with the sensor located at the front of the engine bay. It uncliped and was swapped in less than 10 minutes:
One of the biggest gripes i had with the car is that the number plates had been changed. The thing had been de-badged and i quickly rectified this but some people like that look, i hate it. I prefer the thing to look standard for the most part. AM pay qualified designers a lot of money to make this thing look good so unless it glaringly needs changing, or in the case of my lotus, was put together with old Astra parts, I want to keep it looking as its supposed to.
Off with the old:
As you can see, it looks like someone decided they wanted to attack the rear with a drill at some point. Having failed to secure the plates with a power tool they then decided to apply an unforseen amount of tape to secure it. A good hour of my life was wasted on removing the tape and making the surface clean and clear ready for the new plate. I will say, much like our across the pond cousins, i much prefer the car without a fron plate and see no reason why we couldnt do this in the UK, considering most cameras look at the rear of the car:
Anyway, a fresh batch of tape, new original dealer plates, a tape masure and a whiteboard marker to ensure proper alignment the job was done:
Having washed the car prior to doing the plates, i was reminded of something that has been bugging me for some time.
When it rains, or the car gets washed, the run off water was collecting and pooling along the bottom boot seal. I could see that there were a couple of drain holes that the water should drain down into the boot scupper from but they appeared to be blocked. I grabbed my finest air gun and went in from the top to little avail. The next place to try was the bottom, so i lined up and gave both a blast from the bottom.
What i'd failed to do is of course put anything ontop of the holes, ie a good rag, to catch the crap that was then jetted from the drain:
Which as you can see, threw crap all over the clean car. On the plus side, the drains now work so i dont fill the cabin with water when i open the boot!
Until next time.
I needed to travel from Plymouth to about 20 miles north of Glasgow. And back. In 2 and a half days
Waze suggested it was going to take me 9 hours starting at 8am on sunday morning. That was always going to be closer to 9:30 with a few stops for some over priced protein bars and coffee.
With that in mind, I went to the collection point and was greeted with a less than exciting prospect for the 1000+ miles round trip.
I present to you the 73' Plate BMW 118i in Deano Grey:
I've had one or two BMWs in the past as hire cars and i've never been hugely impressed with them. I'd have taken more pictures of the thing but i was aware youd probably be as unimpressed as i was to look at it.
It does everything a new car should... It moves forward when you press the pedal, stops when you press the other and is fairly quiet. The android auto connects quickly and the sound system is alright. And thats about it.
I'm not familiar with whatever sport/ fake fast line they make these things in... I assume because the stiching was fancy colours and it looked somewhat sporty that it was some itteration of added extras bundled into a overpriced package.
First impressions were that the car seemed well built. You'd hope as mass produced cars go it would be. It didnt rattle and it felt new but that was probably due to it only having 3k on the clock. Not sure if it was because of the BMW something line w
kery, but as a 3XL t-shirt wearing man with a nominal medium waist, the seats were at best snug. The thought of spending 9 hours in this thing was daunting so it quickly became apparent that there would have to be several stops just to reconfgure my skeleton.Leaving Plymouth, the A38 presented itself as a fair proving ground for the Death-by-boring hatch, so with sport mode selected, i went for the slip road.
If it wasnt for a weird digital meter that told me i was using 100% power id have thought the auto box was stuck. The car was extremely underwhelming and did of course eventually make it to 70 mph but with the haste of a mining community to vote Tory.
About 3 hours into the drive, the seat was becoming pretty uncomfortable. Even with the bolster supports at maximum extension, this was going to be a test of determination to make it up north. Around the same time i noticed that the tank was also 1/4 full. The trip computer claimed 40mpg which led me to believe this thing was either lying to me or the tank was tiny. I pulled in and filled up the car and carried on.
The rest of the trip consisted of several stops to prevent scoliosis and to yet again fill the tank. The trip back on Tuesday was thankfully broken up by an overnight stay at home but Wednesday saw the continuation of the trip and a grand total of 4 filling stops, or £220 worth of petrol to make the trip.
I think its best i sum up the trip with a list of points:
The Good:
It goes forward
It stops
It has Android Auto
I didnt get wet
I didnt die
The Bad:
Wafty
Slow
Tiny Fuel Tank
Cheap feeling interior
Very uncomfortable seats
Terrible, terrible colour
In Summary, i really dont understand why anyone would pay a premium to own one of these things, let alone pay more for it to have some extra plastic and thread put on it to try and jazz it up. Perhaps that is the paradox that is this s
tbox? Anyway, as i was saying.... the trip ended and for the time being i wont need to get any more hire cars. With the week coming to an end, time for some AM work
The stop home had allowed me to rummage around and pick up some supplies i had left over from my days with the lotus:
I had no immediate need for any of these things but theyre not doing much in the loft. Always good to have a few fuses and Cap heads around when you need them. Plus, they cover a little more of HM finest cabin carpet so i wasnt going to complain with less of that to look at.
Id been noticing on occasion that the ambient air temp indicated in the car would read all over the place. Some times it would read high 30s and others would read nerly nothing. This wasnt at all what id expect when coming to the car for the first time after a while so i happily managed to source one online for £10 and went about replacing it. Theres no point in posting any photos of the job because it was extremely simple with the sensor located at the front of the engine bay. It uncliped and was swapped in less than 10 minutes:
One of the biggest gripes i had with the car is that the number plates had been changed. The thing had been de-badged and i quickly rectified this but some people like that look, i hate it. I prefer the thing to look standard for the most part. AM pay qualified designers a lot of money to make this thing look good so unless it glaringly needs changing, or in the case of my lotus, was put together with old Astra parts, I want to keep it looking as its supposed to.
Off with the old:
As you can see, it looks like someone decided they wanted to attack the rear with a drill at some point. Having failed to secure the plates with a power tool they then decided to apply an unforseen amount of tape to secure it. A good hour of my life was wasted on removing the tape and making the surface clean and clear ready for the new plate. I will say, much like our across the pond cousins, i much prefer the car without a fron plate and see no reason why we couldnt do this in the UK, considering most cameras look at the rear of the car:
Anyway, a fresh batch of tape, new original dealer plates, a tape masure and a whiteboard marker to ensure proper alignment the job was done:
Having washed the car prior to doing the plates, i was reminded of something that has been bugging me for some time.
When it rains, or the car gets washed, the run off water was collecting and pooling along the bottom boot seal. I could see that there were a couple of drain holes that the water should drain down into the boot scupper from but they appeared to be blocked. I grabbed my finest air gun and went in from the top to little avail. The next place to try was the bottom, so i lined up and gave both a blast from the bottom.
What i'd failed to do is of course put anything ontop of the holes, ie a good rag, to catch the crap that was then jetted from the drain:
Which as you can see, threw crap all over the clean car. On the plus side, the drains now work so i dont fill the cabin with water when i open the boot!
Until next time.
This week i are been mostly driving north!
I had a bit of time to take the car back home and enjoy some time up and around the midlands.
I bought a drone too, so standby for plenty of scenic wker shots of wherever i can park the car.
A couple of bits:
The regular service message has reared its head so im going to order the stuff i need to do the oil change.
I called Nicholas Mee who suggested i dont bother replacing the coolant unless it really needs doing. I've ordered and received the thermostat so i might prep myself for a change and see how i get on if i cant just top it up after replacing it and the concentration comes up fine.
The Spark plugs, which i was going to change having been done 12k ago are only a 70k item, so im going to hold off on that for now.
I will change the paper air filter because that just seems sensible.
The Sat Nav mechanism has broken. It seems like this is a common failure so i'm going to order the replacement gears for it and see how to go about fixing that.
On the subject of, im going to see how hard and or costly it is to source a head unit that is Android auto compatible. The old SatNav is so poor in todays market if i can find the correct one at the right price, im going to put it in.
I've noticed the drivers door seal is damp with condensation when i open it in the cold mornings. I've seen replacement door seals but im going to monitor it to see if it gets any worse.
The brakes, albeit dont fade too quickly do feel a little spongey. The replacement hoses are fairly cheap and its probably well overdue a brake fluid flush. I've looked at several sources online to see if they make steel ones but no one seems to do them. I may have to custom buld them and do the swap when i bleed the fluid.
More of a thoughts post than an update but if i don't write it down ill forget!
Ow, and a brief stop on the way back today made me feel like the poor relation for the first time in long while stumbling across these beasts in the car park:
I had a bit of time to take the car back home and enjoy some time up and around the midlands.
I bought a drone too, so standby for plenty of scenic w
ker shots of wherever i can park the car.A couple of bits:
The regular service message has reared its head so im going to order the stuff i need to do the oil change.
I called Nicholas Mee who suggested i dont bother replacing the coolant unless it really needs doing. I've ordered and received the thermostat so i might prep myself for a change and see how i get on if i cant just top it up after replacing it and the concentration comes up fine.
The Spark plugs, which i was going to change having been done 12k ago are only a 70k item, so im going to hold off on that for now.
I will change the paper air filter because that just seems sensible.
The Sat Nav mechanism has broken. It seems like this is a common failure so i'm going to order the replacement gears for it and see how to go about fixing that.
On the subject of, im going to see how hard and or costly it is to source a head unit that is Android auto compatible. The old SatNav is so poor in todays market if i can find the correct one at the right price, im going to put it in.
I've noticed the drivers door seal is damp with condensation when i open it in the cold mornings. I've seen replacement door seals but im going to monitor it to see if it gets any worse.
The brakes, albeit dont fade too quickly do feel a little spongey. The replacement hoses are fairly cheap and its probably well overdue a brake fluid flush. I've looked at several sources online to see if they make steel ones but no one seems to do them. I may have to custom buld them and do the swap when i bleed the fluid.
More of a thoughts post than an update but if i don't write it down ill forget!
Ow, and a brief stop on the way back today made me feel like the poor relation for the first time in long while stumbling across these beasts in the car park:
Bit of the old Bank Holiday sesh!
Albeit i'm working tomorrow
There have been a few jobs recently that i've been meaning to crack on with but time without the car hasnt been an option so i went for the least invasive little bits i could think of sorting.
Although i am fully aware that a car of such age will wear a few imperfections, this one had been bugging me for a while. I present the poorly designed, aston specific and probably biggest waste of £7 i could come up with... The Intake hose to throttle body connection clip:
As you can see, the top of the clip had broken off and although it still seemed to secure the hose correctly, i felt it was no bother to change.
And refit:
The second job was going to be a bit more hands on.
Some time ago, the Satnav mechanism failed. It would make the standard motor whirrr but it wouldnt open. I'd had it open a few times before so i knew it wasnt seized but had either come loose or had broken. It seems as though this is quite a common failure point because a simple search revelaed several repair kits for another wallet busting £7. The package arrived and it was time to get to work.
With redpants on my lap i got to work with the trim removal tool. His video was very useful because it pointed to where the release clips were for the waterfall panel. Not something i wanted to break given how expensive these things can be. A slight plastic pry and the panel released. I unclipped the start button and it was away:
The satnav unit was held on by 4 screws. Using my finest Halfords red bit box, i of course firstly dropped the bit into the trim. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to find the bd before i realised it had fallen on the passenger footwell through the side trim. Time to use a proper Screw driver:
But alas! whats this? someones been here before i suspect:
I think when the bluetooth module was fitted, the expert fitter must have been a bit keen and broke the retaining hole. This surely wasnt the reason it was failing to open as i haven't had this panel off since owning the car so time to disect the unit.
It came apart pretty quickly and after about 7-8 small screws the reason the unit was opening was obvious:
Looks like the gear had completely given up.
New parts installed:
The reinstallation went very smoothly. I did everything in reverse, fired the car up and like that i had a working satnav once more.
Given that the summer seems to have arrived down here, i of course gave the car a good clean:
Although in a cruel twist of fate recently, i went to indulge in one of Saltashs' finest chicken kebabs. The curbs are extremely low and i ended up with probably the most expensive kebab of my life:
Thankfully it was only the one wheel. This will of course be added to the list of things i need to sort with the car however for now, that is all!
Albeit i'm working tomorrow
There have been a few jobs recently that i've been meaning to crack on with but time without the car hasnt been an option so i went for the least invasive little bits i could think of sorting.
Although i am fully aware that a car of such age will wear a few imperfections, this one had been bugging me for a while. I present the poorly designed, aston specific and probably biggest waste of £7 i could come up with... The Intake hose to throttle body connection clip:
As you can see, the top of the clip had broken off and although it still seemed to secure the hose correctly, i felt it was no bother to change.
And refit:
The second job was going to be a bit more hands on.
Some time ago, the Satnav mechanism failed. It would make the standard motor whirrr but it wouldnt open. I'd had it open a few times before so i knew it wasnt seized but had either come loose or had broken. It seems as though this is quite a common failure point because a simple search revelaed several repair kits for another wallet busting £7. The package arrived and it was time to get to work.
With redpants on my lap i got to work with the trim removal tool. His video was very useful because it pointed to where the release clips were for the waterfall panel. Not something i wanted to break given how expensive these things can be. A slight plastic pry and the panel released. I unclipped the start button and it was away:
The satnav unit was held on by 4 screws. Using my finest Halfords red bit box, i of course firstly dropped the bit into the trim. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to find the b
d before i realised it had fallen on the passenger footwell through the side trim. Time to use a proper Screw driver:But alas! whats this? someones been here before i suspect:
I think when the bluetooth module was fitted, the expert fitter must have been a bit keen and broke the retaining hole. This surely wasnt the reason it was failing to open as i haven't had this panel off since owning the car so time to disect the unit.
It came apart pretty quickly and after about 7-8 small screws the reason the unit was opening was obvious:
Looks like the gear had completely given up.
New parts installed:
The reinstallation went very smoothly. I did everything in reverse, fired the car up and like that i had a working satnav once more.
Given that the summer seems to have arrived down here, i of course gave the car a good clean:
Although in a cruel twist of fate recently, i went to indulge in one of Saltashs' finest chicken kebabs. The curbs are extremely low and i ended up with probably the most expensive kebab of my life:
Thankfully it was only the one wheel. This will of course be added to the list of things i need to sort with the car however for now, that is all!
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