1969 Aston Martin DBS (APM) Major mechanical rebuild

Specification (briefly) for this project is as follows: This car is receiving a major mechanical rebuild in the CJ workshops. The work includes an engine and transmission rebuild as well as a major service and upgrade of the suspension, braking, cooling and ignition systems.

Unfortunately, the rebuilt rods also failed inspection. We are going to have to resize and hone them all to bring them back within spec (2.3950" to 2.3955").
 

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We have now align honed the block. All mains now within spec (measuring between 2.9157" and 2.9159") with less than one tenth of one thousandths of an inch (.0001") taper across any cap.

We have now received the block, connecting rods and crankshaft back from the machine shop in California. Unfortunately, the newly honed cylinders were inexplicably covered in deeply ingrained surface rust so we are obviously going to have to re-hone them. Also, three of the main caps were a few tenths too loose, and the front cap was .0005" too tight, with a .0006" taper across the cap. Needless to say, we are obviously going to have to redo the align hone, too. All a bit disappointing, to put it mildly, but nothing we can't put right in the CJ machine shop over the next few days.

Newly honed sleeves were covered in surface rust	Crank has been ground and cut for upgraded rear seal	Block and main caps could stand a good clean...
Unfortunately, the block will have to be align honed...again	Cleaning the main caps	After a good scrub, the block is put in the align honing machine
Caps being cut square	New aluminum expansion tank	Beautiful new aluminum radiator

One step forward, two steps back....

I bought this car, somewhat naively hoping that the seller was in earnest when he told me that all it needed was a transmission rebuild to make it a reliable driver. That it needed rather more than that is an understatement of gargantuan proportions. Still, with nobody to blame but myself for the shameful lack of due diligence exercised prior to purchase, I remain committed to following through with my plans for the old car. By hook or by crook, a reliable daily driver this car shall be...

The good news is that this is a totally, one hundred percent, rust free Aston Martin DBS. The bad news is that the car, as purchased, needed a complete mechanical rebuild. Having rebuilt the carbs and automatic transmission, installed a new stainless steel exhaust and sorted out the mess of wiring left by a previous (presumably pyromaniac) mechanic, I then decided to fix a few minor cosmetic issues that had been bugging me. As well as re-trimming the dash top, we also put some nice black hide on the shifter console, and spent an obscene amount of money on a new steering wheel. The old windscreen seal was leaking so we removed the screen in order to fit a new seal - and somehow managed to break the old screen in the process. A new screen was obtained (at great expense), and thankfully installed in one piece. And so the challenges kept coming...

Anyway, at about this point I became flushed with optimism and actually washed the car, foolishly thinking I might take it home that evening. Noticing that it was all it could do to pull itself up one of the ramps (a very modest gradient) outside the CJ workshop, I began to doubt whether it was really going to be up to the task of my planned afternoon commute. A glance under the bonnet revealed a huge amount of oil blowing past the piston rings, and a compression and leak-down test confirmed my worst fears - engine rebuild time.

Looking for positives in all of this, I do at least take some comfort from the fact that I should end up with one of the very best DBS Astons out there when my work is done. That I may have to sell an organ or two in order to fund the project is a mite unfortunate....

Next came a call to an Aston specialist in California. Together we hatched a plan that I would build the engine and do the machine work to the cylinder head, but that I would have them machine the block and the crank for me. They also agreed to supply me with every part I would need to put everything back together, including a set of custom forged pistons that would take the capacity up to 4.2 liters.

Obviously, my next job is to pull the engine. While I have the engine out, I have decided I might as well go ahead and restore the engine bay.... and have a nice aluminium radiator made.... and maybe some cool aluminium coolant tanks....and...

Anyone looking to buy a fairly high mileage, 46 year old kidney? 
 

Center console will be trimmed	Wiring was a nightmare in this car
Installing a new SS exhaust		World's most expensive exhaust hangers
	Interior starting to look quit nice	World's most expensive steering wheel
Washing the car .....ahead of pulling  the engine

Dashtop retrim completed - center console next!

Finishing off the dash retrim
Front edge of retrimmed dashtop now looks factory	Cutting out speaker hole
I don't think this is an original speaker grill so I am holding off on installing it	Center console also needs some help!	Switch panel will be restored

All sorts of stuff going on with the DBS this week! We have replaced the engine mounts, repaired the broken engine mount brackets, removed the front screen, removed the transmission for rebuild and removed the center console and dashtop for a retrim.

Engine mount bracket cracked		Simple weld repair was all that was needed
Time to remove the screen		Sam razors the dry, old seal off
Most of the chrome retainer clips were rotten  and will be replaced with new stainless ones		Dashtop really needs a retrim
Shoddily recovered in the past, the vinyl was lifting pretty badly	Front spoiler was removed for a little cosmetic help	Seats removed in order to remove the huge auto transmission cover
Peeling away cheap old (non-original)  vinyl	The foam used around the leading edge of the dash was far too thick
Chassis number on a piece of masking tape has survived through the years	Number also stamped in the dash	Cleaning away all the old glue
The factory 'shaved' leading edge foam would  make for a much sharper leading edge	We etch primed the stripped dash frame	We couldn't resist saving the old factory masking tape
New closed cell foam will be used on the curved parts of the dash	A message left for future restorers!

The suspect shape on our DBS bootlid ended up being incidental scarring caused by the heavy handed use of a grinder. We also found some seriously thick bondo at the back edge of the bootlid, where the car has obviously suffered some minor collision damage in the past - probably a low speed parking incident.

Aircraft stripper paint remover used to strip the paint from the bootlid	Suspect shape is bondo based.....
Car was originally Olive Green	Ultra thick bondo on the back edge of the bootlid	Yikes! This is REALLY thick!
	Stripped bootlid sealed with BASF etching primer	Back edge of bonnet has been bumped at some time in the past
If you look REALLY closely, you can see the  suspect shape was the result of marks  left by  the heavy handed use of a grinding wheel

The boot lid on our DBS Aston has always been a source of annoyance to me because of some extremely poor bodywork done in the dim and distant past. Somebody had previously wiped bondo over the two holes where the Aston Martin emblem should have been mounted, and some strange bondo shrinkage has led to the formation of various weird shapes and forms showing through the paint. With the worst of these (outlined in the last photograph below) looking uncannily like a certain male appendage, I decided it was time to restore a little dignity to this particular body panel.

Only a half hearted attempt was made to paint under the boot lid	At least the boot lid is original to the car...	Emblem holes filled up with bondo
Removing the bondo	Once we have repainted the boot lid, we  will install the correct emblem	The least said the better about this particular manifestation...

This is basically a good car that needs a major mechanical service and thorough fettling. Cosmetically, the car is quite presentable but is let down by its weak mechanical condition. A tentative test drive before work began revealed a host of mechanical woes, not least of which the almost complete absence of any brakes! Add to that the need for a transmission rebuild, complete suspension overhaul, carb rebuild, new exhaust, etc, and you can see that we have quite a bit of work to do before this car can become the frequent driver it was intended to be at the time it was purchased.

Rear brakes will be serviced first		Rear seat is removed to access the rear brake calipers
Car has newish hide interior	Access panel for rear brakes
Brakes were sticking and pads had been fried	Cleaned up, SS pistons, new seal  kit....	Rebuilt calipers reinstalled
Rear springs to be replaced next	Horrible, rusty aftermarket exhaust being cut away...	New SS exhaust system on order
Who would do this to an Aston Martin?	Engine not sitting square in engine bay - LH engine mount shot	Loose fasteners everywhere....
Front shocks and springs will be  replaced and upgraded	Swaybar mounts were broken and had to be replaced	This explains why no handbrake!
Both doors need adjustment help, especially the LH...	LH striker was loose - literally held in place with some jerry rigged wire	Once removed, we found the backing plate threads were stripped out
RH door adjusted - now fits, opens and closes perfectly	Repaired LH striker reinstalled	Front screen was leaking and will be treated to a new seal