[JordanRaven]

So today was the day for underside rectification (well most of it as you can't access certain areas on a 4 poster, but they can be done through the wheel Wells...

Started by removing the crusty bar:



Then undertrays and heat shield:



Then back boxes, they needed to be sealed where they meet the centre piece anyway so may as well get them out of the way:



Here's where the slight leak was from and the underside after washing:



Front end



More blow and rust:



Cleaned the pipe up a little:



Then I wire brushed and used deox gel, here is the rust totally removed from one part of the sill:



Whilst under the car the sump was wet with oil, cleaned it off and then found out why:



The slightest of weeps from the sump "gasket", shame I found it so close to an oil change, but it is minute and will be done at next oil change around September. Nothing else needs to come off except the level sensor, it's effectively instant gasket as well so will be a relatively quick easy fix!

Front got the first coat of POR-15:



Then the rear sections:







The reinforcement feet bolts were not playing ball so they were not changed, they were cleaned up, painted and treated with cavity wax instead:



The original centre piece has a tiny blow:





Seems like a good excuse to replace the whole piece with something Spires perhaps...

Then onto second coat of POR-15:







The next post will finish it off due to the image restrictions on this site...

 

[JordanRaven]

Back boxes time to go on again, so fitting paste applied:




Clamped:



Shiny new bar back in place to finish the underside:






Cavity wax was s50:



Chucked the nozzle in various places, this was the best place:



Back boxes also got a quick wipe over:

 

[drewdrew]

Really interesting pics and scary at the same time to think what horrors mine is hiding. I did a temporary repair on the battery retaining bolt and it didn't look too bad. But you never know how bad until you get it on a lift and peel stuff off like you have done really well.

 

[OBC John]

Who's is the Aston?
Great job BTW!!

 

[JordanRaven]

Really interesting pics and scary at the same time to think what horrors mine is hiding. I did a temporary repair on the battery retaining bolt and it didn't look too bad. But you never know how bad until you get it on a lift and peel stuff off like you have done really well.

I imagine yours will look similar underneath, that bar was very much salvageable, I just don't want to spend the time it takes against the 125 it cost to buy one, meant I could do that on the ramp in one day... that's worth more than the 125 not having to crawl around...

 

[JordanRaven]

Who's is the Aston?
Great job BTW!!

It belonged to a guy in the village where the garage is, he died a while back and the widow finally had enough of looking at it so the garage are keeping it there and looking to sell on her behalf. They did the MOTs and some work on it in the past it has just shy of 50k on the clock.

I was tempted to buy it to be honest, but the door seals need replacing and they're nearly 700 each plus vat from what I've found and there's rust around the rear screen, if that screen breaks it's 1100 plus vat from what I've found too.

It's been properly sealed underneath and is in very good condition minus the 2 points above and the amount of time that it spent sitting. It has what looks to be an aftermarket gear knob too, looks like a Richbrook carbon fibre one, although the interior is carbon fibre so it may have been a genuine.option but doesn't look very Aston to me...

Oh to have that 5.9 V12 chatting away each day 😳😍

 

[idrobbo]

Cracking good job as ever Jordan

 

[wilf]

Por 15 is great stuff, I remember using it on the rear chassis crossmember on a Deafener, lasted really well.

 

[JordanRaven]

Por 15 is great stuff, I remember using it on the rear chassis crossmember on a Deafener, lasted really well.

I imagine this application will be outlasting my ownership of the car to be honest... V10 is next on the cards, haven't decided in what guise yet though... E61 M5 would be epic, but so would the preventative maintenance bill for bottom end rebuild and the vanos system (admittedly this less so much). Perhaps a move over to Audi, anyway I digress, that's a while away yet!

Just researching adequate sealants for the sump... plenty of non-genuine options that match the basic Ford requirement listed in the workshop manual, nice and cheap for a change too! Although I must say I do prefer a physical gasket for ease and cleanliness!

 

[PeteA]

Good work Jordan, makes my front bumper off yesterday look like not much!!..

 

[JordanRaven]

A couple of project items arrived today, firstly:



For when I decide I want to take the dump off and re seal it...

Also this:



Will install it on the replacement charger snout, so it will be subsequently installed when the rest of the work is done, which I am planning for the summer :driver:

I have the tool on order, the one they had for me is damaged but they're getting the replacement out, not in a rush so it doesn't really matter anyway!

 

[cutlea01]

What's the recommendation of how to heat the pulley, method, temperature and time? I wince each time I see videos of people heating interference fit pulleys with propane torches.

 

[dhallworth]

I keep thinking of doing a pulley on mine but have talked myself out of it so far.

 

[JordanRaven]

What's the recommendation of how to heat the pulley, method, temperature and time? I wince each time I see videos of people heating interference fit pulleys with propane torches.

The temperature is indicated by a colour change if the inner piece, as for recommended, a torch or you can place in the oven or a heater like an ultrasonic bath that has a heater function. I'll have to read the instructions fully to see if there is a particular recommendation from the supplier. I have the advantage of the snout being off of the car so it will be less fiddly than usual to grip the pulley and put it on the shaft...

 

[JordanRaven]

I keep thinking of doing a pulley on mine but have talked myself out of it so far.

Me too, until now 😁

 

[OzXFR]

Have you considered fitting a larger crank pulley instead?
The downside is you absolutely need a tune to take advantage of it and to prevent limp mode being invoked at over 4,000 RPM, so more expense. But then again a smaller upper pulley doesn't do much without a tune.
The upsides are several:
1. There is a You Tube video around somewhere claiming upper pulley = very bad and lower pulley = good.
2. It's fully reversible unlike the upper pulley.
3. Can DIY'ed if you are a little bit handy with the spanners.
4. At least as much of a performance hike as the upper pulley if not more.

 

[JordanRaven]

I did, but I've seen the upper pulleys be on quite a number of vehicles without issue (not to say there are no cases of bad outcomes but I've not come across one). I'm doing a lot of work to do with the supercharger and for me this upper pulley will be DIY, or if not I won't be paying for it to be installed due to my circumstances with a garage.

I'm going to be getting the tune, but I can do that at a later date and when I am comfortable/happy. There's also always a way to remove the upper pulley, even if it results in its destruction.

Pros and cons and whatnot but it is a simple, relatively cheap and viable option for me to go with upper pulley.
Wonder what the validity of doing both would be...

 

[OzXFR]

I did, but I've seen the upper pulleys be on quite a number of vehicles without issue (not to say there are no cases of bad outcomes but I've not come across one). I'm doing a lot of work to do with the supercharger and for me this upper pulley will be DIY, or if not I won't be paying for it to be installed due to my circumstances with a garage.

I'm going to be getting the tune, but I can do that at a later date and when I am comfortable/happy. There's also always a way to remove the upper pulley, even if it results in its destruction.

Pros and cons and whatnot but it is a simple, relatively cheap and viable option for me to go with upper pulley.
Wonder what the validity of doing both would be...

Lots of discussion on the Yank F-Type forum about doing both pulleys.
Again pros and cons and yes it can be done without blowing the engine up.
The downside is that doing so brings the SC up to and even a bit over it's maximum designed RPM and it puts a fair bit of strain on it. Also you hit "heat soak" problems sooner and extra SC cooling really is needed. The general consensus is it's not worth doing unless you really want to wring every last bit of power out of the AJ133SC.

 

[JordanRaven]

Yeah, that sounds like a lot of bother for a car that I use daily and is my only vehicle 😅

Thanks for the summary! I'm already happy with the power now to be honest, but I would like the x pipe and slight tune and performance gain for a more aggressive overall experience.

It may be my last hurrah car for a significant period of my life as I move onto sensible life choices

 

[OBC John]

A thought: If you're going to use the oven method to heat up the pulley (which I wouldn't have thought would be enough as it's going to be nowhere near the temperature of a torch flame), then you could also spray the pulley shaft with a pipe freeze. Expand the pulley, shrink the shaft.