I clearly wasn’t as clear as I thought I was, and my memory was iffy so I want back and looked up what I did.

I pulled the Flowmaster (sorry double checked, it was a Flowmaster not a Magnaflow) muffler, sounded too much like a Camaro (in fact folks kept saying that to be annoying). So it has the rear Mina gallery mufflers, then 2 Vibrant Ultra Quiet Resonators (which is where I think I want wrong, clue is the “ultra-quiet” part), the x-pipe is actually a Magnaflow Universal TRU-X Pipe kit (no muffler). I should have used the regular Magnaflow X-Pipe because the joints make lots of noise when they cool once the engine is off. When I have a day to go to the muffler shop I’m going to swap that out (I have the other part).

Tried to upload a sound file but the system wouldn't take WAV, WMA, or MP3 forms so I got stuck. I can email the file if you send me an email address.

 

Ronnie,
I've been on the hunt for some AM bonnet and back badges, i dropped one of the ones i pulled off the salvaged AM and it shattered. any ideas besides the $200 - $300 they want on ebay and shipping from the UK? i have seen a few of these kits with the badges on them and i doubt they spent $300 just on two badges to finish them off. If you happen to find something let me know.

Thanks

 

Hey, Nomad. I check eBay often and have seen the emblems average $100 each for awhile. I think we're stuck with using the real deals. I'm stuck using original Vantage tail lights though there's an Ashmart out there (red convertible with tan top and black painted wheels) on the carkitmaker site that has fabricated LED tail lights. Interesting looking, kinda One-77 ish...

 

Ronnie, again you are a ray of sunshine. just found a set on ebay for $80 off a V8V. i checked out the carkitmaker site and saw the led tail lights. love the night look, but they look kinda awkward in the daylight, i'm going to stick to the clear euro lights i got off the AM in the garage, just a little patch work to get them fixed. thought i had the headlights squared away as well but the fiberglass guy i sent them to said they were damaged beyond repair. So i came up with my own idea... I just talked with jackie at CKI and will be ordering either one or two (my son wants one and has the money but still has not decided) ash mart kits on monday. i have quite a bit of custom fabrication experience with carbon fiber, and have tons of scrap foam in my shop. i have always liked the look of the vantage headlights with the inside LED's running up the inside curve of the light. i have decided that once the body kits get here i am going to carve foam plugs to fit the headlight housing of the kit... with room for the 7 lights going up the inside, See this link ( Aston Martin V8 Vantage: Britain First Supercar: Aston Martin V8 Vantage HeadLight img6 ) then make a fiberglass mold, then make an actual headlight assembly from bi-axial carbon fiber to resemble the vantage style light with a lexan clear cover. i have enough scrap material laying around to make about 20 pairs of the headlights once i get the mold made and should be able to make them for about $200 a pair (lesser hardware like the actual lights and leds which should only be a few hundred) as the CKI does not have the kit in stock jackie said it would be about 2 weeks to make the kit plus freight quote says a week to deliver so it might take about 2 months before i have an actual working set ready to show. but if you are interested i might be able to make you a set at a huge discounted rate seeing as all the help you have given me so far in getting started and questions i am sure you will be able to answer for me in the future. i am also going to make a custom carbon fiber AM replica dash to retro fit into the jag body seeing as i have an AM dash to work from and plenty of scrap laying around if you are interested. after measuring, all i really need to do is cut 2 1/8" out of the center section of the am dash and it will fit into the jag body so it should not be that hard to install once i make the mold and make a carbon fiber piece. i am going to find a way to make a solid mount so it will attach to the original jag brackets and the jag gauges will just slide in, or i found a nice set of euro LED gauges that plug directly to the jag harness that would make it look more sporty as well.

 

Vanquish S with Mansory Package and One-77 grille. Owned by Sly at some point... Nice car but don't know if I really like it or not.

 

Nomad, you are the man! Of course I'd be interested in the headlights and dash.... My dream dash would be doing away with the jaguar guages and '90's looking stuff and going Euro. And/or using a tablet with an android app called Torque.. Torque connects to OBD2 via bluetooth.. I've already got the little obd2 dongle and tested it - works like a champ and I can monitor all kinds of things, even set up gage clusters...

 

Nomad & Ronnie you guys sound like you could make a good go at a business with the cool ideas you are bouncing off one another. There was a headlight assembly from a AM Rapide in ebay about 2 month ago, same one used on the Virage and the newly released Vanquish. Pretty bad a$$. Nomad, you think you could replicate that?

 

Ronnie, Just got the AM dash fully removed and the 2 1/8" removed from the center section. did a quick mock retrofit in the jag and it was perfect. just need to pull the center console from the AM as it is going to be needed to match up with the dash. I have all the leather and trim pulled off the AM dash and a thin coat of body filler drying on it now. should be good to start glassing tomorrow, probably a few days to make the mold pieces, due to the natural curves the dash is going to be a 7 piece kit, it will make it easier to install and will make it look a lot more sleek and original and will look awesome in carbon fiber or can easily be wrapped in leather, i was thinking about making a panel on the passenger side that can be cut out where a 10.1 inch touch screen can fit in. thinking about putting a custom tablet from china in the dash, $249 and i can have live real time diagnostics that i can run while parked, movies for the passenger, navigation, a secondary music source, web access and camera control for 5 GoPro cameras which will record to a 500gig SSD drive. I pulled the AM guages, they would be easy to clone, i scanned them with my 3d scanner, and it looks like about $300 in t-6 aluminum to replicate them on the 5 axis cnc, they would have a brushed aluminum gauge face and the jaguar guts. i should be able to have pics of the dash pieces in about a week, i'm just going to use a regular bi-axial carbon fiber for mine as i am going to wrap it in leather. but there are several patterned carbon fibers i can use if you dont want to leather wrap yours, and the panel for the tablet will be optional as it will be a cutout.

 

So, I'm starting to research the tail lights. And, I've roughly fitted up the passenger side light. Something about the white DBS Ashmart rear doesn't look right, like the tail lights are slanted or slightly off.. Maybe it's the pics.. Checked out Nomad's Vantage setup and other Ashmarts with the Sebring lights too. Here's some pics..


I swear the passenger light is off... Or, is it just me?



Obviously the original Vantage lights look perfect... Mounted high and just under the dove tail.


Of course, if I had it my way, it'd look like this Vantage GT3:



The original and Sebring lights are huge looking in comparison but fill out the kits cutouts well in most pics I've seen.... Maybe they're more appropriate?

 

I played with the tail lights some. moved them up closer to the dovetail and made the lights straighter across overall. look better?

 

Ronnie,
Have you seen the attached link.
Looks like the easiest way to make your Vanquish tail lamps. Make the lens then put the Sebring lamp behind the lens.

Ron

 

I can tell my headlight lenses were formed that way. I played around with a piece of plexiglas a few weeks ago with a heat gun.. Oven baking def a better idea as the heat it took from the gun jacked up the surface. And clamping it between two surfaces, what a novel idea. The small piece I was worki g with wanted to straighten back out..

 

Nomad, I would love a dash but you don't have to use expensive carbon as I'd be covering it up in leather.. If you want to make a test dash out of Fiberglas, I'd take that after you're done with it... Up to you. Shoot me an estimate on what ya want for it..

 

Ronnie,

I can do fiberglass, not quite sure on the cost yet as i would have to calculate the yardage and order it, i was going carbon fiber because i have over 100 yards of it laying around not being used for anything.

Kitcar maker did a truly crappy job on that car, not only is one tail light on that car slanted way more than the other, but you can still see through the glass job where the fog lights were on the front valance and you can see a crappy sanding job on the doors where they tried to reduce the bumps that flare out for the rear body. also if you look close you can see that the front valance is crooked, which means the entire body is either mounted crooked or they did a smash bang bondo job where the front clip meats the door and rocker panels. i know a guy from chicago who flew down to by that car and said it was a death trap, the wheels rubbed, the whole body rattled like it was going to fall off, it was all together junk and barley worth a photo.

In other news, the kit is set to arrive on this wednesday, and i just bought a perfect dbs with flood damage for $14k from IAAI that i went and picked up this morning. pulled the heads and pan off and looks like it was never started wet.... just electronics that went bad, and a bad odor that i am removing tomorrow. AMbits said they could send me a whole harness including all modules and sensors for about $3k, going to build the ash mart kit and give it to my son, and fix the real dbs for about the same price. if i would have known about IAAI before hand i probably wouldnt have ordered the Ash mart kit as it appears it is quite frequent that AM's go across the auction block that would only cost as much to repair as the ash mart kit. come to find out thats why CKI lowered the price from $8,995 to now $1995 for a new kit if you call them. $15k to finish a kit car now, and $17k-$20k to restore an original with 50 times less guess work and wasted time making a body kit fit.

I can have some photos for you soon ronnie of the dash and headlights and stuff. waiting on some lexan to be dropped off by ups.

 

DBS for 14k??! Damn, I need to get back on copart and iaai!! What a great deal! Neat that you know somebody who's seen and driven that car. I've posted about that car before.. When I got my kit last year, it was one of only a few I could find on the Internet... I'll check out the crookedness of te valence; didn't notice that before... I did have to put a 2" block on the rear passenger side to shift the rear over some... Maybe it was my mounting job.. And, as far as the carbon or Fiberglas decision, carbon is cool if you have that much already laying around..... Still can't believe u scored a DBS for that cheap!! badass!

 

Nomad,
I am interested in your AM dash project. Do you have any pictures to share?
Thanks,

Ron

 

I'm busy working away on getting some pictures for the forum, with the holiday season upon us i have been distracted by just about everything. In other news. i got the real aston running yesterday. bolted in the driver seat to take it around the block a few times, then delivered it for new upholstery and carpet. Grand Total..... only $18,700 from start to finish. my son also got his body kit mounted on the xkr and i gave him the title. i think he is going to create his own account to share pictures on this thread of the kit car. figure about 8 weeks left and it will be done. The body had a few issues, and to trace back in the thread, Ronnie, we figured out why you had issues with the rear tires, We had to mount the rear and align it first then trim the front two bumper brackets from the jag to bring the front clip in to meet at the door seal on the front. the body kit was slightly twisted from being pulled when it was still wet then drying on a non level surface. from 3 other builders i talked to they all said they had the same issue. a few more days drying in the mold and it wouldnt be a problem at all.

should have pics right after Christmas of the dash and light progress.

 

Any updates?

 

any updates?

 

Hey, all. Got married a couple of months ago and am back on sea duty (Navy) so the project hasn't gone anywhere in awhile... And, I'm moving soon too.. Figure I'll be back on the project late July. Stay tuned.. Anybody seen recent ashmart builds out there?