Drowned V8 Vantage
Discussion
leman600 said:
Looking at the PCB pictures it was flooded with salt water or at least highly mineralised water and left for a year or more. It would be highly advisable to check the other electronic units rather than just power them up. (I think some of the PCBs will have inbuilt batteries also.) Fuses may help protect them but individual components within the board may still be damaged. (the Fuses may not be quick enough)
Distilled water prior to any chemicals is a good option.
It's a big task you have taken on. Good luck to you and interesting to see how it goes.
The above is the first thing that crossed my mindDistilled water prior to any chemicals is a good option.
It's a big task you have taken on. Good luck to you and interesting to see how it goes.
There is little chance of getting away with the ECU's
Wouldn't go near it but each to their own
Admire your zest for punishment and wish you good luck with the electrics but am 99% sure you'll be needing replacement ECU's
Enjoy
Good news, neither or or the project are dead!
Have finished off my diploma so onto the fun things in life for a few months.
As an excellent start to this, I have finally removed the intake manifold, after scratching my head (and hands) for a few weeks. After unbolting the manifold from the block, I thought I would be good to go, but alas no. There is a plate bolted to the back of the engine that routes cables and pipes behind it, it was this that prevented the removal. By treating the engine as a bed I was able to get my hand around the back, and proceeded to act like a boy working a bra for the first time... feeling around without comprehension until it finally clicked! There are two 8mm bolts holding said plate on, so with a bit of cussing, a spanner (and spare ratchet after the spanner was dropped into the abyss) they finally released my prize:
I was rather surprised that there is nothing on the top or bottom plates, does anyone have any info as to their purpose?
Now, I have access to the proper guts of her and will be flushing and cleaning the engine, in prep for putting everything back.
As it goes, it all looks fairly clean, not too much crud so fingers crossed it all comes good.
Final picture, of the rather remarkable collection of dropped items that I have now reclaimed; surprised I haven't found anyone else's 10mm!
For now, that's the end of the update, and the plan going forward is:
Replace spark plugs (at this point why not) -> Flush engine pipes -> Get new gaskets -> Bolt her back up -> Replace coolant and oil
Thanks all who read, and bye for now!
Have finished off my diploma so onto the fun things in life for a few months.
As an excellent start to this, I have finally removed the intake manifold, after scratching my head (and hands) for a few weeks. After unbolting the manifold from the block, I thought I would be good to go, but alas no. There is a plate bolted to the back of the engine that routes cables and pipes behind it, it was this that prevented the removal. By treating the engine as a bed I was able to get my hand around the back, and proceeded to act like a boy working a bra for the first time... feeling around without comprehension until it finally clicked! There are two 8mm bolts holding said plate on, so with a bit of cussing, a spanner (and spare ratchet after the spanner was dropped into the abyss) they finally released my prize:
I was rather surprised that there is nothing on the top or bottom plates, does anyone have any info as to their purpose?
Now, I have access to the proper guts of her and will be flushing and cleaning the engine, in prep for putting everything back.
As it goes, it all looks fairly clean, not too much crud so fingers crossed it all comes good.
Final picture, of the rather remarkable collection of dropped items that I have now reclaimed; surprised I haven't found anyone else's 10mm!
For now, that's the end of the update, and the plan going forward is:
Replace spark plugs (at this point why not) -> Flush engine pipes -> Get new gaskets -> Bolt her back up -> Replace coolant and oil
Thanks all who read, and bye for now!
Edited by Dbeat16 on Wednesday 16th November 01:35
Graze01 said:
Declan
congrats on the Diploma
good to hear its progressing - would love to see the photos if you get to upload them
Graeme
Cheers Graeme! I have uploaded them now for viewing pleasure.congrats on the Diploma
good to hear its progressing - would love to see the photos if you get to upload them
Graeme
As far as I know it hasn't run since it was recovered, it was simply put on a tow truck, immediately assessed as a write off then sent to an auction yard. This coming from AM themselves so would tend to believe them.
Drowning engines has become a spectator sport now.
Hundreds of engines have been ruined, by drivers who don't appear to understand the risk of driving through water.
Quite sad hearing the awful sound, when drivers try to restart engines after the connecting rods have bent.
Rather unkind to laugh, but when a driver continues to move the steering wheel of a floating car, it is funny.
After climbing out of the
Note the man on the walkway, observing the sorry scene. It could all be an extract from a Mr Bean film. -
wow, how some just drive into such water, they think they can do anything in their save car/truck.
I feel the pain of those engine's, did not thought though it would happen that fast, not that I would drive through such, I would watch and see the foolish go first :-)
but, looks like fun to be a watcher over there.
I feel the pain of those engine's, did not thought though it would happen that fast, not that I would drive through such, I would watch and see the foolish go first :-)
but, looks like fun to be a watcher over there.
Dbeat16 said:
Good news, neither or or the project are dead!
Have finished off my diploma so onto the fun things in life for a few months.
As an excellent start to this, I have finally removed the intake manifold, after scratching my head (and hands) for a few weeks. After unbolting the manifold from the block, I thought I would be good to go, but alas no. There is a plate bolted to the back of the engine that routes cables and pipes behind it, it was this that prevented the removal. By treating the engine as a bed I was able to get my hand around the back, and proceeded to act like a boy working a bra for the first time... feeling around without comprehension until it finally clicked! There are two 8mm bolts holding said plate on, so with a bit of cussing, a spanner (and spare ratchet after the spanner was dropped into the abyss) they finally released my prize:
I was rather surprised that there is nothing on the top or bottom plates, does anyone have any info as to their purpose?
Now, I have access to the proper guts of her and will be flushing and cleaning the engine, in prep for putting everything back.
As it goes, it all looks fairly clean, not too much crud so fingers crossed it all comes good.
Final picture, of the rather remarkable collection of dropped items that I have now reclaimed; surprised I haven't found anyone else's 10mm!
For now, that's the end of the update, and the plan going forward is:
Replace spark plugs (at this point why not) -> Flush engine pipes -> Get new gaskets -> Bolt her back up -> Replace coolant and oil
Thanks all who read, and bye for now!
Best of luck!Have finished off my diploma so onto the fun things in life for a few months.
As an excellent start to this, I have finally removed the intake manifold, after scratching my head (and hands) for a few weeks. After unbolting the manifold from the block, I thought I would be good to go, but alas no. There is a plate bolted to the back of the engine that routes cables and pipes behind it, it was this that prevented the removal. By treating the engine as a bed I was able to get my hand around the back, and proceeded to act like a boy working a bra for the first time... feeling around without comprehension until it finally clicked! There are two 8mm bolts holding said plate on, so with a bit of cussing, a spanner (and spare ratchet after the spanner was dropped into the abyss) they finally released my prize:
I was rather surprised that there is nothing on the top or bottom plates, does anyone have any info as to their purpose?
Now, I have access to the proper guts of her and will be flushing and cleaning the engine, in prep for putting everything back.
As it goes, it all looks fairly clean, not too much crud so fingers crossed it all comes good.
Final picture, of the rather remarkable collection of dropped items that I have now reclaimed; surprised I haven't found anyone else's 10mm!
For now, that's the end of the update, and the plan going forward is:
Replace spark plugs (at this point why not) -> Flush engine pipes -> Get new gaskets -> Bolt her back up -> Replace coolant and oil
Thanks all who read, and bye for now!
Edited by Dbeat16 on Wednesday 16th November 01:35
I suggest to plug some towels into the (invitingly) open inlet ports...
While you remove the spark plugs, take the opportunity to into each cylinder with a boroscope - just to make sur there is neither water nor rust inside.
A tip on the seats - if the position of the seat is to your favor, it will be possible to disconnect the seats from the subframe (4 imbus/allen bolts per
seat). Then its possible to lift out the seat itself after disconnecting the electrics.
GTRene said:
wow, how some just drive into such water, they think they can do anything in their save car/truck.
I feel the pain of those engine's, did not thought though it would happen that fast, not that I would drive through such, I would watch and see the foolish go first :-)
but, looks like fun to be a watcher over there.
I feel the pain of those engine's, did not thought though it would happen that fast, not that I would drive through such, I would watch and see the foolish go first :-)
but, looks like fun to be a watcher over there.
You may have noticed the yellow post marker. When it indicates nearly 3 feet (about 1 metre), surely that is enough of a clue and that is after driving past at least one Road Closed sign.
I think the fast arrival of disaster, is that water enters the air intake, through the air filter, is sucked into the cylinders, then the first piston to go up hits the water, cannot compress so usually bends the connecting rod.
As you saw, even big lorries encounter trouble, so presumably their air intakes happen to be fairly low.
Imagine the shame of being the driver and having to look a complete idiot in front of the waiting audience.
Hi All
Back again, mental few months. Broke up with the gf, removed an engine, retooled my garage into a workshop / storage area, and have a significantly different Aston than before.
On reading the comments, I did as Spider suggested and threw a camera down the cylinders to test my luck, aaaaand drum roll please:
Yeah, rust.
After evaluating my choices, I decided there was only one real avenue, and bit the bullet. That weekend I organised a hoist and with a few mates, pulled the heart from the girl. This went very smoothly, for all that they are these cars come apart pretty well. Only real sticking point was removing the gear linkages from the top of the box, obviously the torque tube is in the way but with an assortment of mirrors, lights, patience and small hands, the job was done. We pulled the front subframe down with the engine and tube attached, removed the engine and put it safely on a pallet, then bolted the frame back under the car, revealing the new rally spec height the car would ride at.
With an unrestricted engine, I pulled everything off in preparation to deliver to an engine shop. Luckily, the engine has a very flat bottom so sat great while i worked on it, no engine stand required. Everything comes off easily, only sticking points were really the header bolts (rusted) and the the singular sensor located on the bottom of the engine, luckily a mate rocked up to help roll the engine over to access it. All this done, the long engine block as I believe it is called was delivered to an engine shop around the corner.
Around this time, while waiting for an update on the engine, I gave the seats another crack, and with success! I could JUST reach the little screws holding the underseat motor covers on and once pulled off, revealed the rotor. Spinning this for around 20 minutes PER DIRECTION, by hand, got me the revealed rail bolts and after a fair bit of fiddling with the wiring (Why they decided to have 3 different connection types in one area is beyond me), the seats were pulled from the car. Following them was the carpet and padding, which revealed a very dusty, yet thankfully dry and not mouldy, stripped interior.
Rails were pulled from the seats and are awaiting a trip up north to be reconditioned and have their motors replaced, while the seats themselves languish in my bedroom as a talking piece and trip hazard. They were brought to an upholstery shop for appraisal, where I was told that after a little work on the foam and stitching they could be brought fully back to the beautiful seats they once were. While this is a good thing for sure I am leaning towards a bucket seat as befits a track car, and while saying THAT, there are more pressing matters that need money thrown at them.
SO, the engine. After a teardown, the following was deduced: 2 pistons are seized in their sleeves, meaning both will need to be replaced, while the other 6 linings have only very minimal rust showing and a simple shave of 0.02" would be enough to save them. Obviously as part of a teardown all gaskets will need to be replaced, new bolts brought in, bearings to be thrown away (never reuse), etc. Which brings me to my current state as of tonight, with an excel sheet full of PN's and prices, enough schematics and identifying procedures to drown in and a choice to make.
I can source all the parts for this exclusive, powerful engine, for ~4600 AUD including delivery, minus the pistons, then another 8k for labour to fit everything to spec. It would seem that asking for oversize pistons creates a general riot as everyone discovers that while there are in fact 3 different grades of piston for this car, none of them seemed to know what the differences were and old, dusty tomes needed to be consulted. As it turns out, they are simply grades of exactly how precise a fitment the engine needs, and can be found on the LHS of the bloc, on the bottom. 8? I believe number in a row will show either 1, 2 or 3 which denotes the grade. The other items to look out for are the Main and Conrod Bearing sets, as these have colour options that change depending on the engine year, maiden name of the worker who signed off on the car and which direction the sun was relative to the engine when it was made. In all seriousness, it was only through the help of AM Works that all of this was worked out so huge thanks to them, if they ever read this.
Finally, the pistons. Grade 2 is needed for my engine and of course they are the most expensive option of the 3, coming to around 6500 AUD which includes the extra 6 liners that will be needed in addition to the 2 already priced into labour cost above. Therefore, my new goal in life (apart from staying on top of uni through all this) is to find some custom pistons available in Brisbane for cheaper than this, which I do not believe is an impossibility.
I will try and get the photos I have taken over this time up but my computer no longer likes photobucket it seems. Regardless, I will also be trying to update this more as I go. Any questions on parts while they are out of the car, let me know, as well as any about the engine PN's I have amassed. Until next time!
Back again, mental few months. Broke up with the gf, removed an engine, retooled my garage into a workshop / storage area, and have a significantly different Aston than before.
On reading the comments, I did as Spider suggested and threw a camera down the cylinders to test my luck, aaaaand drum roll please:
Yeah, rust.
After evaluating my choices, I decided there was only one real avenue, and bit the bullet. That weekend I organised a hoist and with a few mates, pulled the heart from the girl. This went very smoothly, for all that they are these cars come apart pretty well. Only real sticking point was removing the gear linkages from the top of the box, obviously the torque tube is in the way but with an assortment of mirrors, lights, patience and small hands, the job was done. We pulled the front subframe down with the engine and tube attached, removed the engine and put it safely on a pallet, then bolted the frame back under the car, revealing the new rally spec height the car would ride at.
With an unrestricted engine, I pulled everything off in preparation to deliver to an engine shop. Luckily, the engine has a very flat bottom so sat great while i worked on it, no engine stand required. Everything comes off easily, only sticking points were really the header bolts (rusted) and the the singular sensor located on the bottom of the engine, luckily a mate rocked up to help roll the engine over to access it. All this done, the long engine block as I believe it is called was delivered to an engine shop around the corner.
Around this time, while waiting for an update on the engine, I gave the seats another crack, and with success! I could JUST reach the little screws holding the underseat motor covers on and once pulled off, revealed the rotor. Spinning this for around 20 minutes PER DIRECTION, by hand, got me the revealed rail bolts and after a fair bit of fiddling with the wiring (Why they decided to have 3 different connection types in one area is beyond me), the seats were pulled from the car. Following them was the carpet and padding, which revealed a very dusty, yet thankfully dry and not mouldy, stripped interior.
Rails were pulled from the seats and are awaiting a trip up north to be reconditioned and have their motors replaced, while the seats themselves languish in my bedroom as a talking piece and trip hazard. They were brought to an upholstery shop for appraisal, where I was told that after a little work on the foam and stitching they could be brought fully back to the beautiful seats they once were. While this is a good thing for sure I am leaning towards a bucket seat as befits a track car, and while saying THAT, there are more pressing matters that need money thrown at them.
SO, the engine. After a teardown, the following was deduced: 2 pistons are seized in their sleeves, meaning both will need to be replaced, while the other 6 linings have only very minimal rust showing and a simple shave of 0.02" would be enough to save them. Obviously as part of a teardown all gaskets will need to be replaced, new bolts brought in, bearings to be thrown away (never reuse), etc. Which brings me to my current state as of tonight, with an excel sheet full of PN's and prices, enough schematics and identifying procedures to drown in and a choice to make.
I can source all the parts for this exclusive, powerful engine, for ~4600 AUD including delivery, minus the pistons, then another 8k for labour to fit everything to spec. It would seem that asking for oversize pistons creates a general riot as everyone discovers that while there are in fact 3 different grades of piston for this car, none of them seemed to know what the differences were and old, dusty tomes needed to be consulted. As it turns out, they are simply grades of exactly how precise a fitment the engine needs, and can be found on the LHS of the bloc, on the bottom. 8? I believe number in a row will show either 1, 2 or 3 which denotes the grade. The other items to look out for are the Main and Conrod Bearing sets, as these have colour options that change depending on the engine year, maiden name of the worker who signed off on the car and which direction the sun was relative to the engine when it was made. In all seriousness, it was only through the help of AM Works that all of this was worked out so huge thanks to them, if they ever read this.
Finally, the pistons. Grade 2 is needed for my engine and of course they are the most expensive option of the 3, coming to around 6500 AUD which includes the extra 6 liners that will be needed in addition to the 2 already priced into labour cost above. Therefore, my new goal in life (apart from staying on top of uni through all this) is to find some custom pistons available in Brisbane for cheaper than this, which I do not believe is an impossibility.
I will try and get the photos I have taken over this time up but my computer no longer likes photobucket it seems. Regardless, I will also be trying to update this more as I go. Any questions on parts while they are out of the car, let me know, as well as any about the engine PN's I have amassed. Until next time!
Stupid question. Won't shaving (honing?) 20 thou out of the bores completely invalidate any original piston fit and mandate unique oversized pistons being required? I find it difficult to believe that the original 3 grades of pistons (required, I believe, to achieve optimal clearance to the bores and an established practice back to the days of BMC 'A' and 'B' series engines) would accommodate a 020" increase in diameter.
I appreciate that you're injecting humour into your posts and probably understand the various colour options for the main bearings better than you imply, but in case not there was a thread a good few months ago created by someone rebuilding an Aston V8 that included the AML chart showing the various combinations of bearing housing bores and crank journal diameters which allowed the selection of the correct colour bearings (and these didn't need to be used as matched colour pairs, if memory serves correct) to give the required clearance. If I recall correctly achieving the measurement resolution necessary required the use of CMM-type levels of accuracy.
I appreciate that you're injecting humour into your posts and probably understand the various colour options for the main bearings better than you imply, but in case not there was a thread a good few months ago created by someone rebuilding an Aston V8 that included the AML chart showing the various combinations of bearing housing bores and crank journal diameters which allowed the selection of the correct colour bearings (and these didn't need to be used as matched colour pairs, if memory serves correct) to give the required clearance. If I recall correctly achieving the measurement resolution necessary required the use of CMM-type levels of accuracy.
Edited by LTP on Tuesday 28th March 10:13
LTP said:
Stupid question. Won't shaving (honing?) 20 thou out of the bores completely invalidate any original piston fit and mandate unique oversized pistons being required? I find it difficult to believe that the original 3 grades of pistons (required, I believe, to achieve optimal clearance to the bores and an established practice back to the days of BMC 'A' and 'B' series engines) would accommodate a 020" increase in diameter.
I appreciate that you're injecting humour into your posts and probably understand the various colour options for the main bearings better than you imply, but in case not there was a thread a good few months ago created by someone rebuilding an Aston V8 that included the AML chart showing the various combinations of bearing housing bores and crank journal diameters which allowed the selection of the correct colour bearings (and these didn't need to be used as matched colour pairs, if memory serves correct) to give the required clearance. If I recall correctly achieving the measurement resolution necessary required the use of CMM-type levels of accuracy.
Hey LTP, you're correct in that assessment, the choice WAS between either 8 new sleeves and 8 new, OEM pistons OR 2 new sleeves and 8 new, oversize pistons. The choice was made for me though as the shop called and let me know that we can reuse 6 pistons, so the list is now 2 new piston assemblies, 6 sets of piston rings, spacers and oil control. I will be ordering everything tomorrow all things going well.I appreciate that you're injecting humour into your posts and probably understand the various colour options for the main bearings better than you imply, but in case not there was a thread a good few months ago created by someone rebuilding an Aston V8 that included the AML chart showing the various combinations of bearing housing bores and crank journal diameters which allowed the selection of the correct colour bearings (and these didn't need to be used as matched colour pairs, if memory serves correct) to give the required clearance. If I recall correctly achieving the measurement resolution necessary required the use of CMM-type levels of accuracy.
Edited by LTP on Tuesday 28th March 10:13
Thank you for the thread advice, I will try and find it. I am 99 percent sure on the colours after input from the shop and AM themselves but a little more confirmation is always nice!
Cheers,
Declan
Dbeat16 said:
Hey LTP, you're correct in that assessment, the choice WAS between either 8 new sleeves and 8 new, OEM pistons OR 2 new sleeves and 8 new, oversize pistons. The choice was made for me though as the shop called and let me know that we can reuse 6 pistons, so the list is now 2 new piston assemblies, 6 sets of piston rings, spacers and oil control. I will be ordering everything tomorrow all things going well.
Thank you for the thread advice, I will try and find it. I am 99 percent sure on the colours after input from the shop and AM themselves but a little more confirmation is always nice!
Cheers,
Declan
Declan, you're welcome.Thank you for the thread advice, I will try and find it. I am 99 percent sure on the colours after input from the shop and AM themselves but a little more confirmation is always nice!
Cheers,
Declan
As I contributed a bit of spreadsheet maths to the thread in question, I was able to find it fairly quickly
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Hope it helps
Well, parts are ordered and on their way, looking forward to opening that box! Should be a few lovely items in there.
In the meantime, my tail lights had dried out so applied some gore tape over the holes I had drilled and reinstalled. Luckily I had kept all the little rubber gaskets but did have to go searching underneath the carpet for the large washers previously dropped, found them all and after a little tweaking of the adjustment screws the lights are back in. Certainly makes a difference to the look of the car!
As I was rooting around the carpet I figured I may as well pull it all up and get access to the fuel tank, very easy to do with a star headed screwdriver. there was a little round cutout of foam held down with double sided tape and once removed, gives access to the fuel pump and tank. I'll be getting into that soon and siphoning all the old fuel, will get the pump tested while it's out as well, may as well right?
Next steps will be removing the audio systems and cables, as well as the seat electronics while the engine is being finished, as this will only be a track car there is not much use and I figure the weight savings are worth the effort. Plus, the straight piped v8 should be music enough!
I will try and update these posts with pictures when I can, currently the computer is not playing ball.
Until next time!
In the meantime, my tail lights had dried out so applied some gore tape over the holes I had drilled and reinstalled. Luckily I had kept all the little rubber gaskets but did have to go searching underneath the carpet for the large washers previously dropped, found them all and after a little tweaking of the adjustment screws the lights are back in. Certainly makes a difference to the look of the car!
As I was rooting around the carpet I figured I may as well pull it all up and get access to the fuel tank, very easy to do with a star headed screwdriver. there was a little round cutout of foam held down with double sided tape and once removed, gives access to the fuel pump and tank. I'll be getting into that soon and siphoning all the old fuel, will get the pump tested while it's out as well, may as well right?
Next steps will be removing the audio systems and cables, as well as the seat electronics while the engine is being finished, as this will only be a track car there is not much use and I figure the weight savings are worth the effort. Plus, the straight piped v8 should be music enough!
I will try and update these posts with pictures when I can, currently the computer is not playing ball.
Until next time!
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