Aston Martin 
V8 Vantage 
THE STORY

 

The Task Step by Step

 

1. Loosen NSF and both rear wheel nuts

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2.  Jack up car and support  Note: I used 600mm high stands

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3.  Remove rear wheels

 

4  Remove rear under panel

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5.  Remove cross beam that supports rear under panel

 

6.  Drain transaxle oil – Note: This is not essential but does

reduce the transaxle weight by about 3KG and it will also

need changing if  not done in the last 4 years

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.   Undo exhaust sensor connectors on both exhaust cats

 

8.   Undo front exhaust shield and brackets

 

 

 

 

 

9.   Undo both downpipe clamps and remove pipe bracket

Note:The 3 studs on each exhaust flange were corroded

on my vehicle, I cleaned the threads with wire wool and wire

brush, soaked in penetrating oil first and applied spanner

pressure very carefully, however 2 of the 6 sheared. Aston

do not sell the studs separately, but BMW part number

21 51 1203012 for a M8 knurled bolt is an ideal replacement

in all respects once the broken studs are cut flush, drilled out

to 8.5mm and the new ones pulled in on their knurled splines.

(cobalt drill bits did this no problem, starting at 2mm and

working up to 8.5mm).Gaskets Aston Pt No 4G43-5E281-AA

at £20 & nuts 4G43-02738-AA at about £1.50 ea are required

 

 

 

10. Undo exhaust clamp brackets above rear subframe

Note:These bespoke bolts were slow to remove on my vehicle

and were slightly corroded, all 4 were replaced with

Aston Part No 4G43-70816-AA at about £2 each

 

11. Support exhaust, wobble exhaust free pulling complete

system from brackets and manifold downpipes onto supports

 

 

 

12. Undo exhaust rear heat shields

 

13. Mark flanges for alignment on both drive shafts and

release each drive shaft, supporting clear with cable ties.

 

Note: these bolts should be replaced with

Aston Part No 4G43-CD60-AD at about £2.50 each

 

 

 

14. Lift complete exhaust clear of rear subframe and

manifolds and fiddle it free. Note: I found it easier to

remove the exhaust complete and then break the rear

section apart off the car, marking pipes to assist

alignment on refit. Manifold flange gaskets and nuts will

need replacing, Aston Part No 4G43-5E281-AA-PK at about

£20 for the pack of 2 gaskets and 4G43-02738-AA for the 6

nuts at around £3

 

15. Remove N/S/F road wheel, front panel plastic finishing

lip, mudflap, engine undertray and wheel arch liner

 

16. To assist with access to manifold studs remove silicone

emission pipes, cross brace, coolant tank and spark plug

cover - Note:  this is not essential, however it gives better

access to the 8 x manifold nuts and is needed to facilitate

cleaning off the studs (which will be corroded) and then

removal of the nuts. It's essential to remove the N/S manifold

to give clearance for removing the torque tube later on.

 

Clean off N/S exhaust manifold studs - Note: suggest

penetrating oil overnight to assist

 

 

16.  Undo (very carefully – these studs must not shear) 8 x

exhaust manifold nuts. Access is through the inner wing

access hole,from underneath (as per photo) and  from the

engine bay access differing for the 8 nuts.

 

Note: these nuts will need to be replaced with Aston Part

No 69775 at about £4 for 10.

 

17. Remove the N/S exhaust manifold and its gasket.

 

Note: the gasket will need to be replaced with Aston Part No

6G43-35-10007 at about £8

 

 

 

 

18. Disconnect the transaxle oil cooler flexible pipes and tie

away with cable ties

 

 

19. Remove central heat shield

 

 

 

 

 

 

20. Remove central support plate

 

 

21. Remove central exhaust support

 

 

 

 

 

 

22. Release transaxle earth straps

 

 

23. Loosen transaxle support mounting central nut

 

 

 

 

 

 

24. Support transaxle and torque tub. Note: I used a pair of

scissor jacks, in the absence of a transmission jack, this

facilitated fine adjustment for transaxle up / down movement

which is required for tasks such as gear cable releasing

 

25. Undo N/S and O/S transaxle support mounting bolts and

remove.  Note:  Replace the bolts with Aston Part

No 702210 – PK at about £6 for 10

 

 

 

 

26. Disconnect and plug slave cylinder hydraulic pipe

 

27. Remove transaxle breather pipe from retaining clip and

pull the plastic pipe off the brass spigot on the transaxle body

when sufficient access allows .

Note: I found the pipe difficult to remove and cut it at the

nearest point to the transaxle. There was in my case,

sufficient pipe remaining to allow reconnection at refitting.

 

 

28. Lower the transaxle in small increments to a point when

sufficient clearance just exists to facilitate gaining access for

removing the 2 gear select cables.

Note Do not lower the transaxle any further than to allow access

for releasing the gear select cables. If you lower the transaxle

further than that point the cable tightens against the bracket,

with potential for damage to expensive cables

 

29. Cut the cable tie on the reversing switch and disconnect

cable 

 

30. Very carefully disconnect gear select cable end joints from

the crank arms.

Note these are push fit ball joints and need to be carefully

removed by uniform pressure from the underside, such that no

damage to the the rubber shroud takes place. There is an

Aston tool for this but I found that a slim 7/16th AF  open ended

spanner fitted neatly under the ball joint levering it off the ball

without putting pressure on the inner rubber area.

 

31.Having checked the torque tube is still well supported undo

the torque tube to transaxle bolts and slide the units apart.

 

 

 

32. Drop the transaxle step by step, carefully supported and

move clear of the vehicle. Beware its very heavy !

 

Note: This is ideally a 2 man job, though I was able to do

it by myself with the help of a solid piece of timber with a

large bolt through it to locate it centrally on the trolley jack

 

 

 

33. Loosen torque tube to engine bolts do not undo yet.

Note: These upper 40mm long flange bolts are very

difficult to access and they will need a good selection of top

quality, differing shape 13mm sockets / ratchet spanners /

ring spanners etc to remove. I replaced all with Aston Part

No 703192 at around £4 for 10. This was done not because

of corrosion but simply to ensure that these difficult to

access bolts were all in the best condition possible

 

34. Undo torque tube outer (large) circlip only

 

 

35. Slide out central drive shaft.

Note this would initially not pull out however, inserting a

5mm head screwdriver into the groove on each side of the

shaft provided even leverage and it eased out perfectly

 

36. Support torque tube as required

 

37. Remove torque tube to engine bolts previously loosened

 

38. Remove flywheel inspection aperture cover

 

 

39. Lubricate the two alignment spigot holes on the torque

tube with penetrating oil

 

40. Remove torque tube by pulling away from clutch housing

and manouvering away from the engine by twisting.

Note this in my case would not initially break away from the

engine mating face, however a thin decorators putty knife

gently  tapped in on either side in the area of the alignment

spigots gave the encouragement needed

 

41. Slightly loosen, then undo the clutch cover retaining bolts

Note Aston do a special tool for holding the flywheel static, I

found that using a couple of pieces of 2.5mm twin and earth

electrical cable provided the perfect wedge between the

starter ring gear and the housing to hold the flywheel solid.

Replace bolts with Aston Part No 703186 at about £3 for 6

 

42. Lift clutch cover away to release clutch driven plate. The

clutch is now fully removed and can be replaced. The

flywheel should be checked for scoring, surface wear or

surface tempering and decisions around replacement made.

 

43. Re-assembly is broadly the reverse of the above

 

 

 

Footnotes:

 

• In Completeing this task my approach was one of taking my time, which I indeed did, accruing a massive 40 Hours - the trade take 8 !

• 4 hours plus were consumed in simply getting the vehicle up in the air with 700mm supports at the rear and 600mm at the front.

• I also removed some parts that were not totally essential to remove, this however improved acccess for me, so was in my view justified

• The most difficult part was getting the manifold to engine nuts undone, followed by undoing the clutch bell housing top bolts

• Given the vehicle was totally up in the air,I also took time to make many minor improvements and changes along the way

• All nuts, bolts, screws, clips, etc encountered were replaced, though I have only listed part no's for the essential ones in the text

• I have waited a year before writing this, so can indeed confirm that the clutch is light, bites smoothly near the top and performs superbly.

 

 

Non Standard Solutions:

 

1) The nuts securing the exhaust to the engine mounting studs were difficult to remove and

breaking a stud is just unthinkable to consider. Hence, in order to resolve this into the future

I recut the thread on the stud to remove the usual crud that forms on an exhaust stud. This

was done to each stud, simply by running a M8 x 1.25 die by hand pressure along the studs.

( £7.50 on ebay) With the stud threads then clean, I then secured the manifold by using M8

stainless steel connecting bolts Pt No 57562 from Toolstation at about £7 a pack. These nuts

are long enough to completely cover (and protect) the studs and as the studs are angled

downwards, there is also no risk of moisture retention from the open end. I re-checked the

torque after a couple of months - all was good.

 

2) A similar approach was used on the exhaust downpipe to cat joint, where in order to protect

the studs I used deep stainless steel dome nuts and again cleaned the threads with a 8mm die

on all bolts that had not been changed to the BMW ones mentioned in the text. This solution

looks a little unusual from under the car, but I hope that it will be appreciated when the

exhaust is required to be removed next time.

 

3) The breather tube to the transaxle was refixed with about 60mm of black heat shrink sleeving

on over the push on plastic tube, a tidy job and 100% secure