V8 Vantage Poor Throttle Response

[daxtojeiro]

Hi,
I have owned my 06 Vantage for a few weeks now and I am struggling with the throttle response whilst driving it normally.

It seems there's quite a considerable lag between my foot and the engine, to the point where I can blip the throttle at idle and the engine does nothing. It also seems a little slow to come off the gas when changing gears, so the engine revs as the clutch disengages the gears.

I was going to strip the throttle body down and clean it up, in-case it's gummed up, but thought I'd ask if anyone has any idea what the issue could be? I Have ordered a new gasket for the throttle body, so will strip it when it comes.

The previous owner had it re-mapped due to the back box delete, so maybe it's that? Whilst I love the sound I would rather it responded to my inputs than have the noise if that is the cure,

thanks
Phil

[olv]

Do you know who did the remap?

Sluggish throttle pedal is normal, there's a lot of travel before the throttle actually opens. The stock flywheel is also quite heavy so the engine will not spin up and down quickly. A remap that includes the throttle pedal mapping to make it more sensitive makes a big difference and the common twin plate clutch and lightened flywheel another step on.

If the remap yours had was just fuel/ignition/timing of the engine and didn't modify the pedal position map this would improve things.

Do you really have no silencer? That must be a bit loud...

[daxtojeiro]

olv said:

Do you know who did the remap?

Sluggish throttle pedal is normal, there's a lot of travel before the throttle actually opens. The stock flywheel is also quite heavy so the engine will not spin up and down quickly. A remap that includes the throttle pedal mapping to make it more sensitive makes a big difference and the common twin plate clutch and lightened flywheel another step on.

If the remap yours had was just fuel/ignition/timing of the engine and didn't modify the pedal position map this would improve things.

Do you really have no silencer? That must be a bit loud...

Hi,
it does have the lightened flywheel, if that's an improvement then the standard one must be awful

I don't have any idea who did the map, is a re-map something most tuners can do, or are there specific companies to use?

thanks
Phil

[ClassicV8]

daxtojeiro said:

Hi,
I have owned my 06 Vantage for a few weeks now and I am struggling with the throttle response whilst driving it normally.

It seems there's quite a considerable lag between my foot and the engine, to the point where I can blip the throttle at idle and the engine does nothing. It also seems a little slow to come off the gas when changing gears, so the engine revs as the clutch disengages the gears.

I was going to strip the throttle body down and clean it up, in-case it's gummed up, but thought I'd ask if anyone has any idea what the issue could be? I Have ordered a new gasket for the throttle body, so will strip it when it comes.

The previous owner had it re-mapped due to the back box delete, so maybe it's that? Whilst I love the sound I would rather it responded to my inputs than have the noise if that is the cure,

thanks
Phil

My 06 Vantage is exactly the same and has been since I bought it 4 years ago. My understanding is that as standard, they are all like that, at least the early ones, you just adapt your driving technique to accommodate it. In my ownership the car has been serviced by Bamford Rose, McGurks and AM Nottingham twice and it has never been highlighted as being wrong.
I am sure that a twinplate clutch and new flywheel with associated remap improves it, if you want to spend the money.

[Dewi 2]

daxtojeiro said:

It seems there's quite a considerable lag between my foot and the engine, to the point where I can blip the throttle at idle and the engine does nothing.

Don't think that seems right.
My V8V 4.7 does not do that (neither before, nor after the lightweight flywheel was fitted).

You mentioned back box removal. I think you might mean partial catalyst delete, or the pair of cats being replaced by sports cats.
I have never heard of anyone running without a back box. When the standard silencer valves are open, you are effectively running without the back box, because it then doesn't do anything.

Edited by Dewi 2 on Monday 13th November 22:40

[daxtojeiro]

ClassicV8 said:

My 06 Vantage is exactly the same and has been since I bought it 4 years ago. My understanding is that as standard, they are all like that, at least the early ones, you just adapt your driving technique to accommodate it. In my ownership the car has been serviced by Bamford Rose, McGurks and AM Nottingham twice and it has never been highlighted as being wrong.
I am sure that a twinplate clutch and new flywheel with associated remap improves it, if you want to spend the money.

thanks for the reply, that's interesting, maybe I'll get used to it, but I can't help thinking something is wrong, but maybe it's just how it is.

Dewi 2 said:

Don't think that seems right.
My V8V 4.7 does not do that (neither before, nor after the lightweight flywheel was fitted).

You mentioned back box removal. I think you might mean partial catalyst delete, or the pair of cats being replaced by sports cats.
I have never heard of anyone running without a back box. When the standard silencer valves are open, you are effectively running without the back box, because it then doesn't do anything.

Edited by Dewi 2 on Monday 13th November 22:40

Definitely has no back box, it was really handy when painting the rear subframe

thanks
Phil

[ds666]

My v8 always had poor throttle response - perhaps see if you can drive another one and see if there is any difference ?

[Dewi 2]

daxtojeiro said:

Definitely has no back box, it was really handy when painting the rear subframe

thanks
Phil

An interesting form of weight saving. You might be unique. Your MoT people must scratch their heads!

One would imagine the exhaust sound would be really loud, but as I mentioned earlier, I suppose it must be similar to 'fuse 22 out'.
The only sound reduction on your car, would be the single pair of catalysts, 900 cell + 400 cells in each.

[olv]

daxtojeiro said:

Hi,
it does have the lightened flywheel, if that's an improvement then the standard one must be awful

I don't have any idea who did the map, is a re-map something most tuners can do, or are there specific companies to use?

thanks
Phil

Yours should feel pretty snappy then, unless you're comparing it to a V12 F1 race engine. Have a garage that are used to looking after modified cars look at it, Bamford Rose and David Appleby Engineering are the biggest names but Vantage Engineering and a few others have good reps.

[NickXX]

Doesn’t sound right given that you have a lightweight flywheel and remap (although depends on who did the remap).

Cleaning the throttle body would be a sensible first step - let us know how you get on!

[Dewi 2]

daxtojeiro said:

Hi,
I have owned my 06 Vantage for a few weeks now and I am struggling with the throttle response whilst driving it normally.

It seems there's quite a considerable lag between my foot and the engine, to the point where I can blip the throttle at idle and the engine does nothing. It also seems a little slow to come off the gas when changing gears, so the engine revs as the clutch disengages the gears. ...

The previous owner had it re-mapped due to the back box delete, so maybe it's that?

Whether this will be of help Phil, I don't know, but am posting the link just in case it might be.

https://youtu.be/BJtUDwZeCc4?si=lzG64Dj4KqtqySqK

You might want to begin watching (at 25:00, to see) the conclusion summary, before viewing the earlier part (technical stuff).
There is a suggestion that re-mapping errors can easily occur, thereby negatively affecting the way an engine behaves.

I am going for a lie-down now, after watching that video.

Hope that you can your problem fixed.

[daxtojeiro]

Hi,
thanks for the link, I did wonder if the re-map might be the issue to be honest.

I'm going to clean the throttle body first, if that doesn't sort it I will try getting someone to look at the tune.

cheers
Phil