no, its really never noticeable. the entire rotating assembly when you are letting the clutch out, is the crank (60lbs and all the pistons and rods, as well as the 40-50lb clutch pack. (the clutch is mounted/attached to the flywheel).... so, losing 7 lbs on a flywheel, is not going to be noticed. however its effects in 1st gear acceleration an quick idle rev response will be as if the engine gained 25hp and only about 1-2hp in 5-6th gears.

 

stalling is an effect of very high clamping force pressure plates and high grip clutch plates, not the lower rotational inertia.

 

Stuart, I think finding the right after market part is not hard, but who is going to do the fitting? U.S. is a big place and for most people, the main dealer is the only place to service their cars. Do you have a list of recommended shops that can fit your parts around the country? I for one would be willing to travel, but anything more than 100 miles out becomes impractical.

 

this was big barrier to Bamford rose entering US until it was resolved by finding approved independent installer. If a dealer sells a clutch he is making about 35% on parts at same time as selling the 10hrs labour to fit. If dealer was to fit an aftermarket product at request of customer, if dealer didn't make the same money from the aftermarket part like he would fitting a factory part, the dealer is losing money, making it difficult for dealer to on more than one occasion, fit aftermarket parts. Problem is that apart from dealer there are few shops one could entrust with responsibility of working on an aston.

 

I can help, wanna take a drive to Canada?

 

Rbobby, Irish07 wants to go to New York and see some of his brethren anyway, maybe you can talk him into leaving the land of hockey for a little working holiday.

 

I've found over the last 8 years that there are some dealers who are more than willing to work with aftermarket companies, and people who work there who find it quite interesting.

I agree with you that there's less incentive with less margin on the parts, but there's nothing to stop the same dealer from selling an aftermarket part for good margins either.

The one thing I don't agree with is that there are few non-dealer shops that could be entrusted with the responsibility of working on an Aston. I DEFINITELY agree with you that there are plenty of shops out there that are not up to the task, but I have found through many years of experience that there are actually a lot of really well-qualified and experienced shops out there who are more than up to the task of working on Astons, or for that matter Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche and so on. I'll give you a good example - my good friend John Ryan at New Tickford Street Service in San Diego has 10+ years under his belt as a factory trained dealer technician. You'll never find a bad review out there for his shop or his work. Heck, Ken Lovejoy, aka Mr. Aston Martin works out of his home garage but is widely regarded as being one of the most knowledgeable and competent Aston Martin guys out there.

I'm not trying to stir the pot with you or anything Mike, and you certainly make a good point that you can't just take your Aston any old place, but I think you do a disservice to a great many professional independent shops who actually provide great service and great value for money, many of them having come from well trained backgrounds or even from motor racing, or Aston Martin Racing backgrounds.

 

Oh that's interesting. Montreal is not out of question. Great city, had my bachelor party there
Will keep in mind when the time comes. Thanks

 

You raise some good points but the issues are a little bit deeper, and my fault, i should have gone into more detail and qualified 'entrusted' with 'means to complete successful install'.

The best tech in business working in the best indie shop in business but without AMDS could not complete upgrade from single plate clutch to twinplate on sportshift due to fact clutch stats need both a clear and relearn procedure. So those entrusted to those not, baring ability, simply comes down to have / have not AMDS, and as is known, shops with AMDS outside franchised dealer are in the few. So certainly no disservice intended, because i certainly dont need telling indie is better for overall car care than dealer, but here is the problem, those that wont stray dealer face dealer who wont fit aftermarket (this thread) and nearest indie with AMDS could be an impractical journey away. Of course some upgrades dont need AMDS, but i find it always helps with the unexpected to have it by my side, and although a generic fault code reader will read ECU, what AMDS is needed for is those problems where other modules need communicating with and few generic tools have full access required to operate body side modules.

Linked with this problem is that dealers realise should the fit of a few aftermarket parts increase in popularity, the buck in their pocket takes a tumble, because numbers above all is what its all about. My guess is dealer makes about $900 on the supply of each OEM clutch kit. Lets say aftermarket could squeeze $500 to dealer per unit, at low volume fit rate of 3 per month the dealer would find himself losing nearly $15k per year by fitting the interesting aftermarket part. Not good when dealer has paid the franchise fee which should mean monopoly. Most dealers i spoke to wanted more than the $900 to enable fit of my part, because in their eyes it should not have access to market. Simple solution for Bamford Rose was find a partner who has all equipment and trained, meaning no longer at whim of dealer whether they will fit or not and at what price. Problem at present with this, is same as dealer network, to cover the country perhaps a few similar set ups are required as minimum. This is my prefered way at least because i dont want to rely on if a dealer will fit or not, or if a close by to customer shop has AMDS. At Bamford Rose approved outlet the electronics enable complete install and the end price to customer doesn't fluctuate across different installers. Its much simpler in UK, UK being so teeny tiny. Just today we had customers from absolute North east Scotland to absolute south west tip England. I'm in no way stating anything good or bad about your supply chain, this is just analysis of marketplace where there is no right or wrong solution, just a problem caused by size

 

Very well said and stated thank you. I would only add that dealers can't warrantee aftermarket parts and that makes them nervous in regards to it causing another problem with a factory part in a car under warranty.
Ron

 

Mike,
Thanks for your very carefully worded response. It is so very helpful to those of us who own this very special car to be totally informed about the ins-and-outs of maintenance.

You, irish07, and others provide superb information to help us correctly maintain our Astons. THANKS for taking the time, it's greatly appreciated.

 

Ok so all the guys who commented about how we will know if the clutch is on the way out...well on Monday night without warning mine said cheers with no warning stooped at the lights then as i wanted to put it in gear and it would not shift...was a bit of a mess.
In any case me now with a broken car and not yet decided how we would fit a Stuart clutch with the agents in SA fitting OEM only and my mechanic saying he will not do it until i purchase him a lift, left me in a pickle

So its at AM Cape town now they are fitting a std clutch (boring) at a cost of around 7600 USD i will have it back next week what a xmas present from dad to dad!

No warning no slipping no funny noises!! I will get a pic of the thing and try and post. so be warned guys it does happen

 

Part of the reason why some installers refuse to fit aftermarket parts is because there's no way for them to know the quality of the parts. An indie I used in Georgia stopped installing customer-supplied parts because people would bring them crappy parts and then blame the shop when the crappy part failed.

 

Here's what happened to mine. Rivets holding the two pieces together ground off and clutch failed.

 

Is your a sport shift or manual? I had a look at the new clutch assembly today and shook my head in dismay at the lack of quality in is manufacture, its an OEM thing and on the rivets it even rattles, I mentioned I would have preferred a B/Rose or RSC set up from Stuart, seems our guys In CT are not aware and also dont troll the net for support.
Found it disturbing that the main dealer is not familiar with the two brands I mention, and its frustrating because dropping 7000 odd USD on a part that looks like ****e grinds me.
Regarding after market guys we have one here in Cape Town, now I have seen 4 Vantages that came from them back to AM and it had looked like some one worked on the cars with a hammer, they also installed a auto clutch in a manual that failed!? not aware of the difference? apparently they are better at working on vintage cars, this is what our dealer tells and says they have had to repair lots of the after market shops mistakes.

You guys in the real world have some choices we dont, i have read loads about B/rose and considering its history i would not have questioned sending my car to them given the choice or to Stuart. guys who produce aftermarket anything do it with passion, other are just doing a job in my opinion, will add that the workshop facility in CT and our local engineer is superb in cleanliness and actual OEM knowledge, Jason Longtoft brilliant guy.
My Aston looks very at home in that pristine workshop