July and August 2022 Updates
I'm starting this off by telling myself to keep it short. I get enough emails from people to know that some of you care quite a bit about what's going on and how I'm doing, but I also know that most people don't. So, for those of you that want to know, I'll put together something to share what's been happening. In the meantime, I'll just say that the last two months have been brutal in every way and it nearly broke me. My move to Japan being far from smooth, my dad saying the words "they said I won't see the end of the year," a shipping company losing an extremely expensive car part that I'm on the hook for, and trying to manage these (and way, way more) while living in a new country... Seriously, all of it happening all at once was nearly the end of me. Good thing I have an incredibly supportive and understanding wife.
Anyway, that's the extremely short version. Moving on to what most people want to know, here are some updates with Redpants.
Redpants Updates
I've transferred over a few things from the old Redpants website, so if you've followed me long enough then these might be familiar - though I have made some updates and improvements while moving them to the new/current website.
First is the Air Box Removal DIY Guide. This shows how to remove the air boxes from a V8 Vantage, but is also applicable to other Gaydon-era cars. There may be some slight differences but otherwise it'll be a good guideline.
Next is my DIY Guide for replacing the radiator fans. Again, this was done on my 2007 V8 Vantage but will be similar for other cars of the same generation.
Last is the DIY Guide for installing my Oil Catch Can Kit (yes, I swear these are coming). I've finally gotten around to putting it up again because I'm expecting these to be in stock fairly soon! Once they’re actually on my shelf, I’ll open the listing for orders.
Aside from the DIY Guides, I've also updated and expanded an old Article about engine oil. While I was somehow able to keep it pretty short, it was a major revision from the original Article. It talks about engine oils and should be of interest to anyone that chooses which oil they use.
I've got a huge announcement for my Online Store: New brake pads for Aston Martins equipped with CCM brakes are now in stock!! Pagid's RSC1 compound is an evolution in design for carbon-based brake rotors (CCM rotors for us Aston Martin folks). I even have them customized with a very mild chamfering to help reduce brake squeal - a super-common complaint from Aston owners regardless of brake type. I have these in stock in the US and ready to ship worldwide! Click here for the fronts and click here for the rears.
A less-pleasant announcement is that my previous supply of spark plugs is no longer being made, so I'm going back to supplying Aston Martin's spark plugs. For customers that had pending orders for them, I'm covering the cost difference on my end. But the listing has been updated and there's been a price increase as a result of changing back to the Aston-branded ones.
Beyond that, I’ve gotten restocked on a ton of stuff that had run out in my Online Store. Regarding this… I can only apologize. Some things have been very difficult to get (or completely unavailable) but beyond that, many common things sold out because I fell behind while trying to manage all the crap I had going on. It was my fault that so many things weren’t restocked, and it resulted in quite a few backorders.
Keep Current
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Okay, that’s it for this update. I’ll push out Blog Posts as needed in addition to my monthly ones, so make sure you check back if you want to see those.