Aston Martin advice from Bamford Rose independent specialist

[BamfordMike]

Building from success of Bamford Rose GT4 Racing engines powering the V8 Vantage GT4 Rhesus Racing champsionship Euro GT4 entry, and the Nicholas Mee UK GT4 Sprint championship winning cars in 2010 / 2011. Bamford Rose excels itself in 2012....!

With the right ingredients......!!

A powerful and reliable GT4 racing engine the competition, no matter who they are can not equal...

Well built Bruce, not forgetting 'the burn'....!





With a well run and put together race car and supporting preparation from a team others seek to copy...

AKA Mathol Racing.....





.....Comes great success from a privateer team that even the factory or partner racing teams cannot even come close too.





Mathol Racing received this trophy for finishing third overall in the 2012 VLN Championship staged at the Nurburgring. This is a very special achievement because it is the first time a GT car has appeared in the top three for more than 10 years. This privateer GT4 Vantage entry, which not only won the SP10 class but beat the factory V12 entries at Nurburgring to boot, fought off stiff competition from hundreds of other VLN race team entries from around 20 different classes to win this trophy. The championship points are equalised in a complex formula of points to end at this wonderful end result for Mathol Racing and Bamford Rose.


But the good news, back patting and championship winning awards don't stop there.....

Oh no, not by a long way....!!!


Aston Martin Racing stages a championship called the 'Global Challenge'.

In this series all Aston Martin race teams across all GT formula around the globe compete against each other on paper, and in a similar complex way, championship points are equalised at the end of each formula's race and at the end of the season an overall winner - the most supreme of supreme Aston Martin race teams is crowned with the glory of 'Global Challenge' winner from Aston Martin Racing.

Well.... those Bamford Rose and Mathol Racing winning ingredients have done it again.....


2012 GLOBAL CHALLENGE RESULTS

MATHOL RACING POWERED BY BAMFORD ROSE IS ASTON MARTIN RACING 2012 GLOBAL CHALLENGE WINNER....!


The 2012 Global Challenge is now complete. In the teams' challenge Mathol Racing finished first followed by Veloso Motorsport in second and Stratton Motorsport in third.

Congratulations to all teams who have competed in 2012 with excellent results including:

10 wins in Portuguese GT with Veloso Motorsport
7 wins in GT4 Challenge with Pierre Mantello & Olivier Bouche of Stratton Motorsport
7 wins in Nurburgring VLN Series with Mathol Racing
5 wins in International GT Open with Villois Racing
5 wins in Belgian GT & International GT Open with GPR Racing
4 wins in Dutch Supercar with DDG Motorsport
3 wins in Japanese Super GT with Triple A
2 wins in Malaysian Super Series with Craft Eurasia Racing
2 wins in Brazilian GT Sprint with M2 Competicoes
2 wins in Brazilian GT Endurance with Matthias Racing 1st at Sachsenring ADAC GT Masters with Young Driver AMR 1st at Nurburgring British GT with Beechdean AMR 1st in class at Britcar 24 hour with MB Racing

This translates into the following points;

Team Challenge 2012:
Mathol Racing 507
Veloso Motorsport 316
Stratton Motorsport 270
Villois Racing 259
DDG Motorsport 231
Hamburg Racing 220
MB Racing 213
GPR Racing 186
M2 Competicoes 161
Nimkoff Racing 128
Triple A 117
88 Racing 114
Matthias Racing 100
Perfektion Racing 100
Young Driver AMR 85
Beechdean AMR 84
Vantage Racing 84
Eggleston Motorsport 79
Yas Marina Circuit 75
Multimatic Motorsport 72
Schrader Racing 65
Gulf Racing-Rofgo Collection 54
Ultimate Speed 54
Aston Martin Brussels / GPR 49
Mardi Gras 40
Track-Club.com 31
Deboeuf Racing 25
Craft Eurasia Racing 25
Aston Martin St Gallen 24
Barwell Motorsport 24
Jota 18
Generation AMR 18
22GT Racing 15
Marchal Racing 8
Adrian Johnson Racing 3
Valmon Racing Team Russia 2

Driver Challenge 2012:
M Belka 458
W Weber 408
P Mantello 270
O Bouche 245
F Mota 235
M Marques 235
A Barba 234
M Malucelli 234
K Kreijne 231
M Ferreira 228
F Carvalho 228
M Brown 213
P Cripps 213
M Schmetz 186
P Grivignee 186
S Lagana 161
A Hellmeister 161
R Nimkoff 146
D West 145
K Pflanz 144
C Kemp 133
A Hauschild 120
H Yoshimoto 117
K Hoshino 117
S Sadique 114
K Greenberg 100
X Negrao 100
Xa Negrao 100
J Wall 100
K Holmgaard 100
K Jensen 100
M Johanson 100
M Klostermann 100
P Spires 100
A Howard 94
V Rice 92
S Lewis 92
P Whight 90
T Black 85
R Goethe84
A Kramer 82
T Kappeler 78
A Mehairi 75
A Mutawa 75
J Adam 69
B Eggleston 68
F Schrader 67
S Hall 66
S Maxwell 57
T Chittenden 56
J Foster 55
R Taffinder 54
T Eakin 54
O Louisoder 52
S Patterson 47
B Baguette 47
S Hall 46
M Martin 45
W Herder 42
K Hauschild 40
K Pflanz 40
P Dryburgh 37
G Kershaw 36
D Smail 34
J Reddyhough 34
R Marchal 33
S Preacher 32
A Weishaupt 32
B Odunsi 31
A Bonner 30
M Walker 28
P Bartley 27
B Lavio 25
L Filippi 25
T Gruber 25
M Seefried 25
F Yu 25
T Fujii 25
N Verdonck 25
A Baenziger 24
T Gerling 24
J Kittlemann 24
M Hirsch 24
D Richards 22
J Balbiani 20
J Silva 20
M Petrini 18
A Cicognani 18
P White 18
J Morcillo 18
J Appleby 18
M Wagg 17
P Morris 15
T Alexander 15
A Willmott 15
F Schrader 15
K Buckler 15
C Dyson 15
F Stuck 12
J Stuck 12
C Nygaard 12
K Poulsen 12
M Lemmer 12
D Clark 12
F Kamelger 12
A Soper 12
M Doyle 12
B Gullliver 12
D Shepherd 12
M Poole 12
R Abra 12
J Struve 10
J Nellemann 10
J von Muschwitz 8
H Vans Agnew 8
R Atkinson 6
T Verbergt 6
D Dupont 6
R Latinne 6
A Johnson 5
F Borskowsy 4
C Johnson 4
A Vasiliev 2
T Kasemets 2
F Schrader 2
P Spires 2
S Hendy 2
R Hope 2
T Black 1

Looking at this list I can see quite a number of you already run Bamford Rose Racing engines, drivelines and make good use of our other special products that give the competitive edge..!

Better luck in 2013 to transform that proven winning ingredient into your racing success.
Those cars where 'Bamford Rose is not included' - we are in the Yellow Pages..!

More info. on the Global Challenge can be found here...

http://www.astonmartin.com/en/news-viewer/2012/04/...

Edited by BamfordMike on Sunday 9th December 19:24

[BamfordMike]

Guycord said:

Speaking of which, my V12V is in surgery this week at the Bamford Rose centre for clinically under-powered and lazy Aston Martins.

This is the procedure we will follow to deliver this a leaner, fitter V12V:-

1- Dyno test standard V12Vantage performance
2- db noise test at standstill and drive-by
3- Install exhaust manifolds, cats, cams and long tract length inlet manifold
4- Dyno test
5- Noise test
6- Update with resonator / intermediate silencer box to reduce sound levels closer to that recorded in stage 2 above.
7- Report findings and compare/contrast.


More to follow soon.........

Hi Guy. Here is the final update to your project.....!

1- The dyno test @ standard of your car returned very similar results to JohnG39 / Cockernee:
560 Nm @ 6000 rpm
507 BHP @ 6860 rpm

2- Noise test std:
5000 rpm 88db

3- Done....

This factory part has gone



Replaced by these....









4- The after Results:
Standard car performance
560 Nm @ 6000 rpm
507 BHP @ 6860 rpm

Pre Project 'Armstrong' Prediction
620 Nm @ 5750 rpm
530 BHP @ 6900 rpm

Actual end of project 'Armstrong' Results
619 Nm @ 6126 rpm
550 BHP @ 6638 rpm

Actual end of project 'Lance' Results
600 Nm @ 6000 rpm
570 BHP @ 6900 rpm






5- Noise test 200 Cell density cats no silencers:
5000 rpm 105db

6 - The update of cats with noise reduction....!

The Bamford Rose 200 cell density cat is the one on top, the BR 200 high flow cat incorporating silencer is underneath



Looking into the front of the cat, the catalyst matrix can be seen, looking into the rear the silencer arrangement can be seen with exit of the catalyst in the background.





7-
Noise test 200 Cell density cats with silencers:
5000 rpm 92db
Much deeper bass / baritone burble at idle.
With exhaust valves closed (sport button not pressed) <5500 rpm Valves closed and exhaust note is whisper quiet. With Sport button pressed exhaust note retains the baritone roar but not obtrusive and even above 5500rpm where approx. 4db louder than standard, exhaust note is great...!
Performance not changed by inclusion of silencers in the cats.
The 20Nm torque additional to 'Lance', lower down the rev range is really noticeable at tip - in especially when in 'sports' mode The extra torque is in the rev range where most use the engine, but 'Lance' comes into his stride above 6500 rpm and between 6500 rpm to 7500 rpm his 20BHP extra power compared to 'Armstrong' is noticeable.

So, Lance 20Nm less torque / 20BHP more than Armstrong - which one depends on each drivers desire for power / torque delivery - would be nice to get Lance and Armstrong side-by-side at some point.....!

Hope you enjoy the beast when you get home...!

[robgt]

Mike, have you got a date for me yet? I am like an excited child. I have not taken her out of the garage for a fortnight. I need an excuse!!

[yvr]

Mike, don't know if you've been following this thread full of dire warnings (and threats!) for V12 owners: DB9 engine ticking... I've been hoping that you might chime in with an expert opinion based on your experience, having actually seen the insides of some of them.

[BamfordMike]

yvr said:

Mike, don't know if you've been following this thread full of dire warnings (and threats!) for V12 owners: DB9 engine ticking... I've been hoping that you might chime in with an expert opinion based on your experience, having actually seen the insides of some of them.

Hi.

To correctly diagnose engine rattles over a forum is quite a tough one....

There are a few sources of common rattles on V12, most common are;

Prop rattle.
Heard at idle, not from cold start at fast idle but when oil warm and at normal idle speed. Is worse / best heard sitting in drivers seat opening door and listening from below sill. Press throttle and make engine speed rise above 1500rpm the rattle will go, allow engine to idle the noise will return. Is an engine related problem, noise is result of uneven combustion, typically a coil which has gone down or slight misfire for another reason is present. The uneven firing pulsations between the banks results in a rattle sound travelling down the torque tube and is amplified by it.

Throttle blade rattle.
Heard when accelerator pedal is pressed at idle and as speed rises to about 1300rpm a rattle, much like the sort of sound one would guess as being tappet / lash adjuster rattle occurs. Is a result of the throttle blade closing past electronic minimum blade angle (around 2 degrees), the sound occurs as blade rattles against the housing (where normally it should be held around 2 degrees away from housing). This is a serious problem because under long overrun conditions from high rpm the throttle will fully close (where normally it should be held slightly open) causing manifold absolute pressure to drop below a value that pulls oil across into breather circuit (<17KPa)

Tappet / Lash adjusters.
Rattle heard at idle and when blipping throttle / as engine speed rises. Caused because lash adjuster failing to hold oil / pressure required to take up clearances in valvetrain. Very common problem, lost track of the number of indi and franschised dealerships we have gone into to change the lash adjusters in situ.

Bottom end / bearings.
One engine we worked on that sounded 'very tickey', was oil temp sensitive (no noise cold but noise developed hot). We checked all the obvious other sources of rattles and decided to drop bottom end of the engine. There were no visible signs of wear on bearings when removed but the noise went away after bearing change and engine rebuild.....

Death rattle.
Normally a result of running low on oil, first to fail is big end bearing causing crank and rod contact - the rattle. As the bearing wears totally away there is enough rod / piston movement for the piston crown to clash cylinder head - the death...

There are a few good practices that can prevent certain failures.

At service, if the airfilters are dripping oil replace breather circuit valves.

At 7 year service, so manifolds off for spark plug change, replace breather circuit valves even if no oil pull over is present.

Consider lash adjuster renewal if mileage is above 60/70k at 7 year service too.

There are many V12 customer cars that come in for routine service each year, and as each year passes mileage is a little higher and there are no issues to report whatsoever - normal life goes on. I have read comments like 'problems' are wide-spread and 'it' will effect every engine / car around 50k miles and that 'issues' are 'ticking timebombs' (Intended) - I can not concur that.

However, there are a number of high mileage engines that we have seen which needed complete strip and repair, that when we closely examined each component for wear, the conclusion drawn is that if it wasn't for the original reason we stripped the engine, much of the rest of the engine is very close behind to showing a symptom of wear that would require full rebuild anyway. That figure is around 80-90k miles. I am not saying that this is the service limit of the engine. What I am saying is that whilst this engine would probably 'potter' around quite happy for a good few more miles without issue, one good 'spirited' drive might be its last before refresh / rebuild.

Advice;
Check oil every week.
Do more than minimum service schedule by preventing anything bad from happening by replacing the usual suspects when it is efficient to do so at certain service schedules.
If new to the car, have a pre purchase inspection.

[BamfordMike]

millsjq said:

Mike, I like the idea of how you set up the switch for the exhaust valves, always on or always off. Since I am in the USA it is not practical to bring my car to you. Currently I have a switch (to ground) in my car that powers a relay in the boot that provide power to fuse #22 when the switch is closed. However, when power is applied the valves still open in the specified RPM range. How to I modify the wiring to the vacuum pump to be on all the time when power is applied to fuse #22. I am assuming that the pump gets a signal (either power or ground) from the ECU when in the specified rpm range. Do I need to disconnect that input or shunt the terminal at the pump?

Jack

Hi Jack.

Did you get this one sorted? Your question confuses me a little. When power is normally supplied to fuse 22 the ECU will control the bypass valves as per the map shown in previous pages by rm. When no power is at fuse 22 (the fuse does not bridge power) the valves will be inoperative / always open. The switch we fit is a little different. We fit our switch to bridge the feed to fuse 22 from the body module in the passenger footwell of the car. This means that where we position the switch the wiring required is very short.

[BamfordMike]

mikey k said:

I saw this on the four poster a couple of weeks ago as it was being finished
Stunning piece of work

a certain vantage s will soon be a stunner to come offf our ramp....

Thanks mikey

[BamfordMike]

robgt said:

Mike, have you got a date for me yet? I am like an excited child. I have not taken her out of the garage for a fortnight. I need an excuse!!

We are into the new year for your project Roberto... Patience and the best things will come.... Some more of that cider might speed things up a bit though....

[millsjq]

Mike, I was under the impression that your mod and switch resulted in two situations: 1. Exhaust valves always open (loud) 2. Exhaust valves always closed (quiet)

This is not what I have current wired: 1. switch in cabin closed, provides ground to relay, power is applied to fuse 22 and the ECU determines when the valves are open I.E. over 3500rpm or 2. Switch is cabin is open, no ground to relay, therefore no power to fuse 22 and the exhaust valves will remain open and load across all rpms.

[v8woollie]

millsjq said:

Mike, I was under the impression that your mod and switch resulted in two situations: 1. Exhaust valves always open (loud) 2. Exhaust valves always closed (quiet)

This is not what I have current wired: 1. switch in cabin closed, provides ground to relay, power is applied to fuse 22 and the ECU determines when the valves are open I.E. over 3500rpm or 2. Switch is cabin is open, no ground to relay, therefore no power to fuse 22 and the exhaust valves will remain open and load across all rpms.

The BR switch does two things. In one position the valves operate as normal, i.e. open below below 1500 RPM, closed between 1500-4500 RPM and then open above 4500 RPM (may be a little off on the numbers but the point is that operation is as per factory and as if no switch has been fitted).

In the other position, it disbales the switching of the valves and they remain open from 0-7300 RPM.

[robgt]

Mike, just been scrolling through E Bay and noticed someone is advertising a brand new Vantage 4.3 engine. They are looking for £7000 plus V.A.T. I thought it might be of use to you.
Regards
Rob

[Cockernee]

BamfordMike said:

So, Lance 20Nm less torque / 20BHP more than Armstrong - which one depends on each drivers desire for power / torque delivery - would be nice to get Lance and Armstrong side-by-side at some point.....!

I am game . I could do with a bit of that 200cell CAT and silencer (not down to 92dB though )

[Guycord]

Cockernee said:

BamfordMike said:

So, Lance 20Nm less torque / 20BHP more than Armstrong - which one depends on each drivers desire for power / torque delivery - would be nice to get Lance and Armstrong side-by-side at some point.....!

I am game . I could do with a bit of that 200cell CAT and silencer (not down to 92dB though )

Easter my old China. Easter

[Cockernee]

Guycord said:

Cockernee said:

BamfordMike said:

So, Lance 20Nm less torque / 20BHP more than Armstrong - which one depends on each drivers desire for power / torque delivery - would be nice to get Lance and Armstrong side-by-side at some point.....!

I am game . I could do with a bit of that 200cell CAT and silencer (not down to 92dB though )

Easter my old China. Easter

oi, oi savaloy, you are starting to talk Cockerneee now. Just because you copied me with upgrades, no need to copy me dialect Anyway it is "me old china" not "my" way too posh..... Obviously from Hampshire or Surrey

[Guycord]

Cockernee said:

oi, oi savaloy, you are starting to talk Cockerneee now. Just because you copied me with upgrades, no need to copy me dialect Anyway it is "me old china" not "my" way too posh..... Obviously from Hampshire or Surrey

Oh China Mate.

Merely stating we should give it a go sometime over Easter - thats all.

Who copied who? IIRC, I beleive I dropped the hint to all PH'ers first and you came all mushy with that "cat out of the bag" me me me nonsense. Besides, despite the fact I was in no rush on account of being geographically constrained for 4 months and the considerable fact I had to help BR out a bit cos of their excessive parts inventory brought about by a certain someone does not mean you can claim monopoly on the V12 upgrade idea. I think Yeti gets that one - but with his pipe'n'slippers DB9 - that is compulsory. Poor lad has no choice. On the V12V front, it has to be parallel evolution at a minimum.

Anyway, I am a Mancunian. Not only do we speak proper English up here and have no need to mimmic that vulgar estuary talk, we also have considerably better football teams than thou - and that includes those idiots from Eastlands!

Suggest a little bo-Peep will help calm you down a tad.

Tah-Tah for now!

[Guycord]

Cockernee said:

I am game . I could do with a bit of that 200cell CAT and silencer (not down to 92dB though )

Better get them done before your gone Mutton mate!

[Cockernee]

Guycord said:

Cockernee said:

I am game . I could do with a bit of that 200cell CAT and silencer (not down to 92dB though )

Better get them done before your gone Mutton mate!

What was that Guv'nor, me ears are not what they used to be.

[Speedraser]

BamfordMike said:

... However, there are a number of high mileage engines that we have seen which needed complete strip and repair, that when we closely examined each component for wear, the conclusion drawn is that if it wasn't for the original reason we stripped the engine, much of the rest of the engine is very close behind to showing a symptom of wear that would require full rebuild anyway. That figure is around 80-90k miles. I am not saying that this is the service limit of the engine. What I am saying is that whilst this engine would probably 'potter' around quite happy for a good few more miles without issue, one good 'spirited' drive might be its last before refresh / rebuild.

Well, that's a bit disturbing. Is this the norm or the exception? Have you seen higher mileage engines that do not appear to be approaching the need for a rebuild? Different cars, of course, but my '83 Saab 900 Turbo (my first car, still have it) has 266,000 miles and runs beautifully, uses no oil, etc. I'd have thought the AM V12 would go well beyond 90K before needing work (Ford durability standards, etc.). What kind of mileage would be reasonable to expect from the V12 if driven enthusiastically, but treated well (proper maintenance, warm-up, etc.).

What about the V8? Have you seen enough of them with high-ish mileage (or from the original development testing) to have an idea of how long they'll live before requiring significant work, again assuming enthusiastically driven but given very good care?

[BamfordMike]

Speedraser said:

Well, that's a bit disturbing. Is this the norm or the exception? Have you seen higher mileage engines that do not appear to be approaching the need for a rebuild? Different cars, of course, but my '83 Saab 900 Turbo (my first car, still have it) has 266,000 miles and runs beautifully, uses no oil, etc. I'd have thought the AM V12 would go well beyond 90K before needing work (Ford durability standards, etc.). What kind of mileage would be reasonable to expect from the V12 if driven enthusiastically, but treated well (proper maintenance, warm-up, etc.).

What about the V8? Have you seen enough of them with high-ish mileage (or from the original development testing) to have an idea of how long they'll live before requiring significant work, again assuming enthusiastically driven but given very good care?

Tough questions to answer - too many variables...

It is the exception to see a high mileage Aston full stop (no surprises there then), and i think here lies part of the problem. Yes, you are correct in saying that the durability suite of tests / standards the engines were required to pass are punishing and strict. But what those tests do not take into account (as you again correctly identify) is poor service, lack of maintenance and repair of defective parts that cause other wear problems and the worst offender - poor restart after a winter of downtime. Each of these aspects make their own mark on an engine and if the engine failed because it was then run low on oil for example, perhaps due to breather circuit valves failing, the comment i make saying "the rest of the engine is not too far behind" often comes from these external / additional factors such as;

Bore corrosion from a winter of outside storage made worse by the owner not perhaps cranking at restart without throttle pedal pressed to cut injection and build oil pressure and spin the engine over at low speed without temperature to ease it back into life.

Excessive oil consumption left not fixed, when 95 Octane fuel is used the oil blended into the petrol further lowers the octane rating causing detonation and ages the cylinder from detonation 'nibbling' the piston crown.

Rattling (gone squishy) lash adjusters can mean valve clearances are excessive causing premature valvetrain wear.

There are many cause and effect examples that can be thought up from this type of in service 'misuse' that prematurely ages a low mileage engine whereas a well looked after high miler car might not be exposed to these conditions at all and might look more 'healthy' than its lower miler counterpart as a result. i think this is a proven concept for all cars in general, just made worse by the Aston typically being laid up for longer periods than most other cars.

If a new engine was put on durability test around the Nurburgring, serviced at correct intervals as it is run, and run and run continuously around the track without ever stopping - in this scenario there should be no reason why the engine could not pass 100k miles and not show any serious sign of wear to stop many more miles from being accumulated. What no manufacturer can durability test against however is the infinite number of factors the engine is subjected to across time and at the hands of different owners. It is this fact that makes any suite of durability tests a little artificial. There are road based mileage accumulation durability tests, but what these tests do not span are winters and owners.

Like any car, the base engine if well looked after could well run for many miles, the standard / most of the industry aims for something like 95% of engines making it to 100k miles without removal or serious repair. What normally fails before this interval though is the stuff around the engine - water pumps, oil pumps, alternator, starter, air con pump, Pas pumps and the like.

To answer your last question, high mileage V8's (say >120k) start to wear big end bearings and valvetrain, the rest of the base engine is pretty tough.

[CatalystV12V]

said:

Bore corrosion from a winter of outside storage made worse by the owner not perhaps cranking at restart without throttle pedal pressed to cut injection and build oil pressure and spin the engine over at low speed without temperature to ease it back into life.

Hi Mike,

I guess you mean 'with throttle pedal pressed to cut injectors', which is what I do. However on my V12 I can't get the oil pressure light to extinguish as I could when applying the same technique to my V8. Is this to be expected?

One other question, and something I've been meaning to ask since I was with you in June. Is it good practice to allow the engine to run for 30 seconds like the V8 before checking the oil level?

Merry Christmas

Richard