Bamford Rose Clutch and Flywheel Upgrade
Discussion
Simonamvr said:
One question I have guys is how much difference does the new clutch make to hill starts. We all know about the reversing problems but how do you cope when stopping at a red light on a hill or pulling away from parking on a hill. With the OEM clutch this can be tricky.
It’s ok if you live in California or middle England where it’s relatively flat but in Yorkshire, Cumbria etc. Just posing the question, interested in opinions. ( Manual car)
Manual 4.3v8 with the BR clutch. I find that it’s so much easier to modulate - my driving tends to involve a very steep upward hill or reversing uphill onto a driveway. I got close to mastering the old clutch, but the new one feels so much more precise when negotiating these manoeuvres. It’s ok if you live in California or middle England where it’s relatively flat but in Yorkshire, Cumbria etc. Just posing the question, interested in opinions. ( Manual car)
Simonamvr said:
One question I have guys is how much difference does the new clutch make to hill starts. We all know about the reversing problems but how do you cope when stopping at a red light on a hill or pulling away from parking on a hill. With the OEM clutch this can be tricky.
It’s ok if you live in California or middle England where it’s relatively flat but in Yorkshire, Cumbria etc. Just posing the question, interested in opinions. ( Manual car)
on a 4.7 you dont notice because it has "hill hold" function and holds the brake on for you.....It’s ok if you live in California or middle England where it’s relatively flat but in Yorkshire, Cumbria etc. Just posing the question, interested in opinions. ( Manual car)
in the 4.3 and 4.7 , you should be able to lift your foot off the clutch gently and drive/reverse up low inclines without using any throttle at all. Both my 4.3 and 4.7 are like that. I can start my car, drive up my drive (up incline) and about 1/2 mile to the main road ......all on tickover, no throttle input needed either forward or reverse.
ANY of the newer clutches including "standard" OE clutch is much lighter than the original design fitted in the first cars. I noticed this immediately when I changed clutch in my 2006 4.3
LTP said:
bogie said:
on a 4.7 you dont notice because it has "hill hold" function and holds the brake on for you.....
The 4.7 6-speed manual box has "hill hold"? I didn't know that. Every day's a school day.bogie said:
yep ...actually not sure if it came in with the 4.7 in 2009 or it was a MY 2012.25 addition. Its another small tweak to help with clutch life as some people struggle with the handbrake on hill starts...now it does it for you. You take your foot off the brake and it holds it momentarily for you.
I knew the SSII had “hill hold” as mine has it (and very useful it is too) but I was unaware that it was also on the manual gearbox.I thought hill hold was new for SportsShift, not sure how it would be part of a manual, as that doesn't have automated control of the clutch, or handbrake.
From the earlier post, I'm impressed that anyone can manoeuvre in reverse on tickover, my drive is so full of bins, water butts and building materials that I have to go super carefully in either direction, in reverse the car goes way too fast for me to be able to make the millimetre perfect adjustments needed to avoid hitting anything
From the earlier post, I'm impressed that anyone can manoeuvre in reverse on tickover, my drive is so full of bins, water butts and building materials that I have to go super carefully in either direction, in reverse the car goes way too fast for me to be able to make the millimetre perfect adjustments needed to avoid hitting anything
My '09 4.7 manual doesn't have the hill hold function. I'm pretty sure hill hold was new for MY12.25. I'm also pretty sure it uses the brakes, so there's no difference in that respect between manual and SportShift. There is no brake-by-wire, but there is electronic control of the brakes via ABS, so I'd guess that the ABS control unit has something to do with how the hill hold function works.
cypriot said:
I have just picked up my car (one of the v8 AMR's) from Bamford Rose after having the lightweight flywheel and twin plate clutch installed. The original clutch and flywheel didnt need replacing, but I wanted to improve this specific aspect of the car.
I had the twin plate clutch (V12V OEM part) from DAE, with their own flywheel. Similar transformation of my 4.3 V8V 
Confirmed Hill Start Assist (HSA) came in with MY2012.25 4.7 cars. I have it on my manual roadster, it works well.
mentioned here in the spec change
https://astonmartins.com/car/v8-vantage-4-7-my2012...
mentioned here in the spec change
https://astonmartins.com/car/v8-vantage-4-7-my2012...
V8 Vantage S Owner´s Manual Issue 1 June 2016:
Perhaps that is the reason why I have never ever discovered this feature on my car. I had heard other owners talk about an "anti stall-feature" but could not believe it. Anyway reversing uphill only once on a very slight incline with the six speed manual was a real nightmare that I do not want to relive again. Of course I had used the parkbrake, perhaps unneccessarily?
Perhaps that is the reason why I have never ever discovered this feature on my car. I had heard other owners talk about an "anti stall-feature" but could not believe it. Anyway reversing uphill only once on a very slight incline with the six speed manual was a real nightmare that I do not want to relive again. Of course I had used the parkbrake, perhaps unneccessarily?
The "anti stall" feature reported by owners is something different. What they mean is If you are smooth with the clutch the engine revs rise a little and you start moving ...without any throttle, in forward or reverse...the engine does not stall...unless you start messing about adding throttle/slipping clutch as you would in a gutless 1 litre hatchback...
There is more than 200lb/ft torque at tickover revs to move and accelerate the car and drive it around without stalling....if you let it...no need for any throttle input and clutch slipping.
There is more than 200lb/ft torque at tickover revs to move and accelerate the car and drive it around without stalling....if you let it...no need for any throttle input and clutch slipping.
I hear what you are saying, bogie, and we may have spoken before about that topic. But I swear my car does not behave like this 
Worse even the car has developed a habit of falling into engine fail safe mode and throwing throttle position DTC´s when manoeuvering back and forth with little throttle input. Very annoying. The dealer hasn´t found anything abnormal yet.
But I swear my car does not behave like this Worse even the car has developed a habit of falling into engine fail safe mode and throwing throttle position DTC´s when manoeuvering back and forth with little throttle input. Very annoying. The dealer hasn´t found anything abnormal yet.Emilio Largo said:
I hear what you are saying, bogie, and we may have spoken before about that topic. But I swear my car does not behave like this Worse even the car has developed a habit of falling into engine fail safe mode and throwing throttle position DTC´s when maneuvering back and forth with little throttle input. Very annoying. The dealer hasn´t found anything abnormal yet.
That's not so good...im sure its not supposed to be throwing errors just from some low speed maneuvering But I swear my car does not behave like this Worse even the car has developed a habit of falling into engine fail safe mode and throwing throttle position DTC´s when maneuvering back and forth with little throttle input. Very annoying. The dealer hasn´t found anything abnormal yet.The "anti stall" thing was not something that was ever mentioned or brought in as a feature as far as im aware, its just how some people on here report their car behaving. My 2006 4.3 was the same as is my current 2012 4.7.
Just wanted to give an update to this thread as I have recently had Bamford Rose's Stage 3 power pack installed on the vantage. For ease of reference that means equal length exhaust manifolds, an ECU remap, sports secondary cats and a three-way exhaust valve switch. For the record, I have not put the car on the dyno.
Lets get the small stuff out of the way first. The 3-way switch is brilliant, as it allows you to run the car in quiet mode 100% of the time, which other 2-way switches do not. With the 2-way switches, it is either standard or always loud. Aside from being able to turn the car on quietly if you happen to be leaving early in the morning, it means you can always leave the car in sport even if you are cruising on the motorway, whereas before cruising in sport would mean the valves would open at 3k revs which is basically cruising speed. The switch also means you can do trackdays if you are that way inclined.
Noise. Mike at BR suggested that i go for the unbaffled secondary cats do to my car being one of the later models that have a quieter rear silencer than earlier models. He said going with the baffled cats slightly changes the tone of the exhaust, and I can confirm that the noise now is the same tone as before the modifications. it terms of volume, it is just slightly louder than my car was before, however my car had the secondary cats removed already. So if you are coming from stock, then this would be significantly louder.
ECU remap. I will save the performance benefits related to this for later, but an important aspect to the remap is how the car now behaves in start stop traffic. the remap actually makes the car far smoother and less likely to stall or bog down when setting off. I discussed this with Mike at BR and he said the reason for the tendency to stall or bog down is Ford's anti-stall software doing a terrible job and actually making it worse. The remap has removed this issue and feels far more refined now.
Now to the performance aspect. Wow. At first you think there isn't that much difference when you are casually driving around, but get above 4k revs and the gains become very apparent! The car is much more urgent and actually feels properly rapid. For context, at the top third of the revs, the car now feels faster than a 991.2 GTS if anyone has driven one of those. The car now feels like a full on sports car, and you have to treat the throttle pedal with respect. It is a properly rapid car now.
Overall I am very happy with the upgrade. Is it worth the money? probably not, but then again nothing in Aston land is worth the money anyway.
Having done the clutch/flywheel and manifolds mods in isolation, I can say that the clutch/flywheel is the most impactful one, and the one I would recommend to do first.
I am so happy with the car now with all the modifications. Crucially nothing feels modified, and in fact the car feels more refined than stock. This is how the AMR's should have come from factory, even more so for the GT8s.
Lets get the small stuff out of the way first. The 3-way switch is brilliant, as it allows you to run the car in quiet mode 100% of the time, which other 2-way switches do not. With the 2-way switches, it is either standard or always loud. Aside from being able to turn the car on quietly if you happen to be leaving early in the morning, it means you can always leave the car in sport even if you are cruising on the motorway, whereas before cruising in sport would mean the valves would open at 3k revs which is basically cruising speed. The switch also means you can do trackdays if you are that way inclined.
Noise. Mike at BR suggested that i go for the unbaffled secondary cats do to my car being one of the later models that have a quieter rear silencer than earlier models. He said going with the baffled cats slightly changes the tone of the exhaust, and I can confirm that the noise now is the same tone as before the modifications. it terms of volume, it is just slightly louder than my car was before, however my car had the secondary cats removed already. So if you are coming from stock, then this would be significantly louder.
ECU remap. I will save the performance benefits related to this for later, but an important aspect to the remap is how the car now behaves in start stop traffic. the remap actually makes the car far smoother and less likely to stall or bog down when setting off. I discussed this with Mike at BR and he said the reason for the tendency to stall or bog down is Ford's anti-stall software doing a terrible job and actually making it worse. The remap has removed this issue and feels far more refined now.
Now to the performance aspect. Wow. At first you think there isn't that much difference when you are casually driving around, but get above 4k revs and the gains become very apparent! The car is much more urgent and actually feels properly rapid. For context, at the top third of the revs, the car now feels faster than a 991.2 GTS if anyone has driven one of those. The car now feels like a full on sports car, and you have to treat the throttle pedal with respect. It is a properly rapid car now.
Overall I am very happy with the upgrade. Is it worth the money? probably not, but then again nothing in Aston land is worth the money anyway.
Having done the clutch/flywheel and manifolds mods in isolation, I can say that the clutch/flywheel is the most impactful one, and the one I would recommend to do first.
I am so happy with the car now with all the modifications. Crucially nothing feels modified, and in fact the car feels more refined than stock. This is how the AMR's should have come from factory, even more so for the GT8s.
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