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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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. 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
OP - will keep an eye for yours - if you see a knobhead in a 928 waving, wave back
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
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