Her Majesty's DBS Resto Update: Reassembly Under Way!
Gebruder Gumbold
San FranciscoPosts: 541MI6 Agent
Dear friends,
Progress on all fronts, with a few of the usual setbacks. The supply chain manufactured crisis is holding up materials and, subsequently processes, however these 2 arthritic and eager hands will soldier on...
We left her Majesty's DBS fresh from a polish, and ready for reassembly. That Olive just gleams!
Back in my workspace, and ready to get going. A written work plan is always helpful, but once the flow starts, and I am in the zone,it all goes together.
Hydraulics go in early. Here are the brake reservoirs with all of the miles of hydraulic lines. Behind those is one of the 2 Lucas heater fans. The DBS features 2 heater cores, for those cold English nights. Heating ducts- vacuum operated, and vacuum lines can also be seen. That is one busy corner of the engine compartment.
The engine compartment eagerly awaits the 4,7 litre twincam 6. On the right, near the louvers is the cast ally bracket with 6 spare original Champion N9Y sparking plugs. Everyone these days run NGK, but those are not original!
She is now officially a David Brown Aston Martin! I put on some OHMSS music when installing the cloisonne badge.
After ages of metalwork, and 2 times plating, the front bumper is finally affixed. The colour palate of the DBS is shaping up with the Olive paint, a bit of chrome, and those French specification headlamps. Recall that the original script of OHMSS called for Blofeld's lair to be the Maginot Line, so the DBS was ordered with French lighting nearly a year before shooting began. Those headlamps I had waited 8 years+ to find, and another 2 to restore- nearly a year held up in German Customs due to the covid panic.
Now for the rear bumper. It would have been lovely to have them both at the same time, however the restoration world does not always cooperate, and the front bumper on a DBS is more critical, as it goes on early, and a host of ducting and brake servoes go in after. Makes disassembly a joy if the front bumper is damaged.
Extensive re-shaping of the rear bumper is ongoing after Mark, my metal guru, and I made a template of the rear sweep of the back body panel. Most of the rear bumpers on the DBS cars that I have seen are too flat, and don't follow the gorgeous sweep that William Towns gave us, so we both decided to incorporate the sweep. You can see here how to accomplish that. Many hours and skill needed here!
The fixtures made for the jig to locate and hold the bumper in place while working on it. Please understand that many times it is not just the piece that gets worked on, but a whole host of fixtures, forms, and jigs must be made in order to even begin metalwork on a particular piece. A good example is the wooden buck for the front lower sharknose panel. That was a 2 year, 400 hour jig, and the panel itself was done in 2 months.
My new tubing notching tool. Tried it out on the heating system Y fitting that needed to be fabricated:
Worked a charm, this. My welder did a cracking job with the TIG.
Well, that's it for this update. Not too many glamorous shots, but this is the stage where the business end of the car comes to life. Suspension is next, and I bounce back to the heating and wiring, depending on the parts arrivals. The rear bumper comes back next week to be test fit again and again before it gets lathered up with lead, block sanded, re-fitted, then off to chrome, and 2 moths+ $2500.
I do appreciate all of the great responses, and hope to meet each of you someday when Her Majesty's DBS appears in public.
Cheers,
Tom
Comments
It's very exciting: I love the painstaking detail you're putting into things like the back bumper. I'll definitely look more closely at the rear bumper next time I see a DBS!
Thank you both!
The Olive colour took many moons of research and communication with a wonderful lady at the PPG Library, who corresponded with her counterpart in the UK to find that correct colour code, and formula. You see, PPG USA has a different set of formulas based on a particular colour code, which is why my first paint job looked too dark. Only the PPG England's codes are correct for the period AM Olive. Took nearly a year to finally receive the formula, as the Library was shut tight during the insane panic of 2020/21, and, I had to also find the crrect colour line that the formula is based upon. For instance, PPG has several lines: This formula is for the solvent based "Global" line- an older paint line within the PPG brand that no shops in California, and few in the UK use now- including Aston Martin! It was a nail biter to the finish, but my painter in Wisconsin, a sane state that does not have the California EPA gestapo ruining everything it touches, was able to purchase most of the paint, and the last bits came directly from England.
Looking at some DBS bumpers, here is what I mean by a flat rear bumper that doesn't follow the curve of the rear panel:
This one isn't too bad. Nice BRG LHD DBS That was sold a few years ago.
Very noticeable here. Also note how the boot lid fit doesn't match the valance panel under the rear windscreen, nor the fuel doors. 2008 photo of a nice S1 RHD car, with correct wooden steering wheel. Later cars, and some early retrofits, had the V8 style leather wrapped ones. If you watch the DBS episode of "For the Love of Cars," they break the wooden wheel whilst trying to load the dead DBS on to a trailer. The wooden wheels were a bit flimsy, but I re-engineered mine to have a thicker frame inside of the wood, so it's a sturdy and lovely correct wheel.
Here's a poor, wretched bumper on Fleabay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185267823526?hash=item2b22d2a3a6:g:71AAAOSwaFdh7cL-&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoJlYJ20OduIcH64eeSLhKL9%2BeloVoKbVM2RHWKDYcYE03Zyw%2BH4RNTCoTKA1B5nhkV1zXfQm8guNv4k2ggDqiAzqrmrah7Y1bygvzUr0aJPDaz%2BMiig1cnlV1Y6ZixeAt72MA%2Fwvrk89HINWa5GGlfAJzZgwovrJAP%2FHL8wrqjj06LL0P2PL5U1Wc7aAXqAaVCoZEe4LAz8GPWGtjhf2vgU%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR6zzjoTPYQ
Cheers, Tom
Many thanks for the update Tom, always great to see your progress and progress certainly looks like it's gathering a little bit of pace!☺️
The yellow headlights look uber cool and are spot on.
Once again, your attention to detail on things like the bumpers and plugs knows no bounds.
Wishing you all the best on the next phase🤞🍸️
Thanks awfully, Old Man!
It is very satisfying to receive praise from so many knowledgeable collectors and experts on all things Bond.
If I may bore you with a situation that happened last night, but was resolved today:
The lower wishbone, when bolted to the kingpin/steering arm assembly, crashed into the lower spring perch of the front damper:
Ouch! These 2 should not touch, as it freezes up the steering when the suspension is at full downward droop. Here's the engineering drawing of the cross section;
Offending area is in red.
Do you see the little rubber bump stop pad being crushed? Look above the 2 small zinc bolts- the arm is crushing it, and moving too far down, causing the problem. That pad is designed as a bump stop to limit lower travel.
This is the correct lowest point for that lower arm to travel. Note how the pad isn't crushed, and there's about 1/16" clearance.
I remembered from over 10 years ago that a DBS that I worked on had conical type bump stop pads. I looked in my old parts Books, and contacted a couple of my suppliers. One is in Redding, Ca- Kevin Kay Aston Parts. Very good parts man there- Westley- made me this diagram:
Note the conical shaped rebound rubber in the upper left. That is what I was thinking of. You see Aston, in their infinite wisdom, superseded the conical type pad to the one in Westley's hand- the flat top type. That is fine if cars are running the new Koni dampers, but I have original Armstrong ones (with Koni innards cunningly disguised in the original Armstrong housings.)
So, I installed my homemade spring compressor, and tensioned up the spring, bringing the arm up off the pad, until the steering arm was free. That is my baseline measurement. All I need do now is to plug in the new bump stop, and shim to taste. Just a 20 hour exercise to compress and expand the spring, remove and refit the bump stop and pad, and reassemble the kingpin and upper wishbones.
I made the gland nut and machined threaded collars to permit the Koni innards to drop right in to these original housings. I even went so far as to machine up some top nuts with 14mm threads, but Imperial 7/8" wrench flats, and the correct circle engraved in, and the hash marks:
Who would go that far? Who else....
Thank you for all of the kind comments.
Glad you got that sorted, Tom. Sounded like a right pain in the bum and unnecessary hours you could have used elsewhere.
Tom,
I love your DBS project. I wish I had one. Keep the pictures coming!
DG
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
My Dear Chap,
Even though there's no such thing as an inexpensive Aston (you pay either now or later!)
Here is a lower priced DBS to get you started:
She is an early car, which is near OHMSS spec, albeit LHD. Converted to Weber carburettors from an original US spec emissions engine.
A few bits missing, and it is going to be some work to put her right. However, there are several DBS cars from a collection currently on Fleabay. Under no circumstances would I recommend bidding on a car- especially an Aston- that you cannot see in the flesh. If you get seriously interested, please contact me and I will act as your guide through the turbulent waters of first time AM ownership.
Thanks for the encouragement with my project!
Tom
Tom, thanks for the link. However at present most of my spare money is going toward my new watch company. However, I’ll keep you in mind when I’m ready.
DG
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
The communists, under the false flag of climate change, are trying, and in some cases, succeeding in banning petrol powered cars. I am not saying to panic, but fuel, especially 100 octane, will be in short supply. You may want to back burner the watches and buy the car of your dreams before the communists take them away, or, at least try to pry them from our fingers.
Ronald Reagan was spot on when he said that the next guise of communism would be under environmentalism.
They've succeeded in disarming many of us, and even collectors who dream of a PPK or Golden Gun are denied that due to Bolshevik policies. Once we are disarmed, they can, and will do anything they like.
Food for thought. Please contact me, and I will guide you through Aston ownership.
Cheers, Tom