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Hi 6Speed Aston Martin board; owners, prospective owners and fans of the brand alike.
My name is Mike.
It is my great pleasure to be here in the US via our approved installer, partner an purveyor of brand Bamford Rose; British Automotive Repair of Scottsdale Arizona.
Greg of British Automotive Repair joins myself and Adrian of Bamford Rose as board sponsors and starting today we will be active on this forum to help answer questions and discuss Bamford Rose unique range of enhancements for your Aston Martin – we hope you like what you see.
We are very excited about the prospect of providing the same bespoke, tailored upgrade service Bamford Rose has become famous for in England to discerning US clientele. Together with creating a car personalized to individual owner’s specification, the same as we do in England, we now also look forward to making some great friends and having great experiences with US clients along the wonderful bespoke enhancement journey.
For those who don’t know Bamford Rose or have visited PistonHeads of UK, Bamford Rose is Worlds Ultimate Independent Aston Martin Specialist based in England. We devote our attention to Aston Martin repair, service but importantly we are unrivalled market leader of bumper-to-bumper enhancement and upgrades.
Since birth of Bamford Rose in 2010 we had both the desire to enter US with our services, and we were frequently contacted across the years by many US owners wanting a piece of the Bamford Rose magic that we created for owners in UK. However, we were continually frustrated not to be able to offer our services to US owners, but that is in the past now. One of the reasons for us not to service US market was that we decided never to ship parts in a box, period. Not that mail order is any problem, it’s just a fact that mail order is that, mail order, and it’s not for us. The only service we were / we are prepared to offer is personal, managed by us at all stages and finishes with our seal of approval over all works conducted for every car. We learnt that from project definition through to waving goodbye to a bespoke project car that every car needs slightly different tweaking, every owner has slightly different needs during the project and should the need arise continued onward aftersales care must all be managed by one-stop-shop, meaning that we decided we either wait until we could offer the complete one-stop-shop or we offer nothing at all.
Thankfully absence in the marketplace has now ended! It has taken a long time for Bamford Rose to find a partner of sufficient competence, ability and who shares the same values for quality and attention to detail as we do, but the search is over. Bamford Rose now enters US exclusively through approved and trained partner, Greg of British Automotive Repair Arizona. But our commitment to a Bamford Rose seal of approval for every car will no doubt see Adrian and myself waving goodbye to project cars personally until Greg’s team is in-all-intents-and-purposes – Bamford Rose.
For Greg and his team at British Automotive Repair the step into new-era (DB7 / Vanquish and Gaydon era) Aston Martin cars is nothing new. But now aided by Bamford Rose pedigree to resolve the problems nobody else can fix, together with care and service to the highest possible standard, British Automotive Repair will strengthen their position in marketplace to be the ultimate independent Aston Martin Specialist for USA. Both in the workshop at Arizona and here on this forum, we are here too to help out with technical matters. Although 6speed online the same as PistonHeads UK is indeed already well supported by posters who have great depth and knowledge of these cars, but if we can help with routine matters as well as the bespoke – just ask!
For each Aston Martin model we have enhancement and upgrades which are as minor or as major as each owner wishes for the direction of his car. Bamford Rose is all about drive-in then drive-out night and day transformation, but also minor upgrades too such as ECU re-flash, high flow cats are of course available, and all with Bamford Rose brand values such as; seamless integration, never a CEL or driveability flat spot and for me the most important – no matter the depth of the project, even if major strip and rebuild, the car never shows any witness marks of being molested, worked on or any evidence of taking a spanner to, Bamford Rose upgrades stand for, 'as if the original auto maker had done it themselves'.
The extent of our upgrades will come to light after many posts across time, but for today its easy to start with a project currently in at the UK dream factory.
Project TeaSpoon - every project gets a name, its the rule
Teaspoon started life as std 4.3L manual which drove in @ 380BHP, Teaspoon drove out @ 480BHP wrapped in a tailored suit.
Engine:
4.3L to 4.7L conversion to Bamford Rose GT4 racing engine build with Blue printed and gas flow ported cylinder heads.
Tuned equal length Exhaust headers / 200 cell density cats.
N400 style air box upgrade.
3 position Switch for manual control of exhaust bypass valves, fully open / fully closed or as per std switch speeds.
ECU Remap.
Lightweight Flywheel.
Twinplate heavy duty organic material friction plate clutch.
Suspension;
Chassis stiffening plates
Upgrade rear anti-roll bar and bushing
Fixed rate damper upgrade although upgrade to full electronic switchable soft / stiff mode work is ongoing now
Brakes:
315mm front discs / 4 piston caliper upgrade to 380mm discs 6 piston caliper
Wheels / tyres;
HRE one-off custom design wheels with brushed finish
Michelin Pilot super sport for road / Pirelli Trofeo tyres for track
Exterior;
Latest style V12 Vantage carbon surround grille and mesh
Vantage S lower bumper and carbon splitter
N400 Side sills
Carbon rear diffuser
Paint high gloss black roof to seamlessly blend with trunk
Interior;
V12V Zagato door card inserts,
Zagato roof panel and rear environment panels
Piano black ski-slope and side steps
Last but not least, the stamp of approval!
Of course, custom works like these represent a significant investment, but what the proud owner of Teaspoon achieved was a car that is tailored to his own specification, a one-off, and a car that beats a std V12V around a track meaning that for his all-up spend on the car, is a result not possible by spending any amount of money with the factory on a V8 engine’d car.
Thank you for reading and please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
For many reasons we are surely only to partner with British Automotive Repair Arizona, or one approved centre at any one point in time. That puts us off the map for ECU reflash only i know, but that's not what we are essentially about. For bespoke projects the pilgrimage to Arizona or collection of car by Greg's team will have to form part of the 'fun'. Time will tell, lets see how it goes!
If they open up in SoCal, there goes my savings account! Those engine mods can't be smog legal in our sate, correct?
Ron
Hi.
should Greg's team not collect i will come trailer any car myself. We conducted a project with identical motor and exhaust spec that went into Switzerland market which had tough regs to pass. For that project we specified greater cat precious metal loading to gain the pass. Emissions compliance working for auto makers was part of my previous jobs, so with us throwing some expensive metal at cat and me at a laptop a pass is a certainty, then when we achieve it once its a carbon copy for all future projects, but i cant believe our Swiss spec would be too far off if not be compliant. Swiss spec also included all original markings found on OEM exhaust placed back on enhanced exhaust
We have a tactic for this, comes as bolt-on extra to an upgrade project. For a small fee you get a pot of used engine oil and a prepared script which has been developed and honed after being deployed by many owners.
Whilst the good lady is out doing what they do best, shopping for bags and shoes and the like no doubt, carefully spill the oil underneath the car. Work yourself up into a bit of a frenzy for her return, then complain like crazy how the darn car is leaking oil and it will need to go to a garage to be fixed. Of course, garages being what they are dear wife, they found the clutch and brakes were shot, so was the suspension, what a pain i will have just have to repair it all, dearest.
Good on any better half that allows boys and their toys to flourish, but in my experience it always gets converted back into bags, shoes and spa weekends. You gotta luv em.
Should my dearest be reading this, they made me do it, i didn't set out to deceive womankind.
Hi Mike,
This is very exciting news indeed. I am wondering what upgrades you would recommend to significantly improve the performance and reliability of the transmission. I have a 4.7L sportshift I, always drive with paddles. So far it has been good to me but it's definitely a bit rough around the edges at slower speeds. Up shifts can be slow (full throttle or with lift) especially for 1-2. It would be great to be able to push the car hard and not worry about ruining the transmission.
We have a tactic for this, comes as bolt-on extra to an upgrade project. For a small fee you get a pot of used engine oil and a prepared script which has been developed and honed after being deployed by many owners.
Whilst the good lady is out doing what they do best, shopping for bags and shoes and the like no doubt, carefully spill the oil underneath the car. Work yourself up into a bit of a frenzy for her return, then complain like crazy how the darn car is leaking oil and it will need to go to a garage to be fixed. Of course, garages being what they are dear wife, they found the clutch and brakes were shot, so was the suspension, what a pain i will have just have to repair it all, dearest.
Good on any better half that allows boys and their toys to flourish, but in my experience it always gets converted back into bags, shoes and spa weekends. You gotta luv em.
Should my dearest be reading this, they made me do it, i didn't set out to deceive womankind.
Hi Mike,
This is very exciting news indeed. I am wondering what upgrades you would recommend to significantly improve the performance and reliability of the transmission. I have a 4.7L sportshift I, always drive with paddles. So far it has been good to me but it's definitely a bit rough around the edges at slower speeds. Up shifts can be slow (full throttle or with lift) especially for 1-2. It would be great to be able to push the car hard and not worry about ruining the transmission.
Hi.
Thanks for your interest!
Firstly, although shifts feel clunky and the whole system a bit disjointed in std guise, i don't think there is any risk of mechanical failure to driveline or trans, the entire system is well proven to take a pounding.
The clunky feel comes mainly from the factory wanting fast shifts beyond the capability of the single plate clutch, so trans tends to thud into gear which i know does feel mechanically unsympathetic. The disjointed feel comes from the time taken to cut torque, clamp clutch, shift gear, reinstate torque all being too long and all because the clutching part of that process is, well, basically a let down even for slow shifts where comfort shift not speed is primary. This is what returns what we called the nodding dog syndrome, the occupants nod heads at every shift like the nodding dog ornament.
Our lightweight flywheel and twinplate clutch including TCU remap upgrade solves both of these problems, faster shifts with no nodding dog and with increased clutch life.
Customers with this upgrade report shifts to be a step closer to DSG speed yet we address the nodding dog and deliver smoothness with combination of trans TCU remap and thanks to the organic friction material twinplate clutch. I know others report that fit of sintered (derived from race) material friction plate clutch delivers success, and long may that continue. But our experience of BR customer deliverables is that the judder in 1st and reverse gears was something they couldn't live with as an upgrade, because an upgrade has to be that, on principal an upgrade has to tick every box without a symptom or compromise. Meaning we no longer fit a sintered clutch unless the customer specifically asks for it.
For MikeyK 'Johnny 550' project - a 5.0L V8 Vantage S, we did strip box and shot peen and super polish all internals. The added benefit of this was a box at almost DSG shift speed and refinement was supreme, the gearbox could hardly be heard to the extent you had to look behind to see the rear of the car was attached to the front still, but this is over the top for what most Sportshift cars need to make them bang-on, which is a simple clutch and flywheel upgrade.
09-30-2014, 10:45 AM
