Excellent. Thanks!

 

I had to look away almost immediately - not worthy.

Fking awesome.

 

My thoughts EXACTLY!!!

 

Is that the smaller dual clutch setup?

 

I do not know. As against it is much more durable (like the one I have for sale in the "sale of parts") and perfectly balanced with the other parts relation (flywheel,...) I'll ask Mike

 

Next step with the explanation by Mike:
Many folk have asked me to describe what makes the modifier built engine so special. This is something simply explained in 2 reasons; the modifier prepared race engines are more durable than the competition, coming with longer between service intervals than other Aston racing engine suppliers, and Bamford Rose engines are significantly more powerful.
These results can be seen in champions. Nicholas Mee won UK GT4 2011 racing season with the modifier prepared engine which successfully completed 2 Silverstone Britcar 24 hour races (2010 and 2011) and was used for the entire 2011 UK GT4 racing season. Rhesus racing were the highest positioned Aston Euro GT4 racing car and Mathol racing pound the Nurburgring beating all Astons year on year with the modifier prepared engines (they run 3 cars).
PistonHead member Vincent1972 has kindly allowed us to capture the modifier build process on his engine which is undergoing transformation from 4.3L to 4.7L GT4 racing specification which will see power output increase to approx. 526Nm @ 5000 rpm (from 410Nm) and 475BHP @ 7600 rpm (from 380BHP). At the heart of this power increase is a construction process which increases durability levels from standard release of the parts and engine, this blog will show how by explaining the durability and performance tweaks we apply.
Pictures 1/2 below show the rotating parts ready for build (front pulley, crankshaft, clutch and flywheel) and the reciprocating parts (con rods and pistons). The flywheel is the lightweight option which dramatically improves throttle response and the clutch is the twinplate option which improves clutch feel, performance and longevity over standard clutch component.
Picture 3 shows clutch and flywheel fully dynamically balanced
Picture 4 shows the end result of all connecting rods being perfectly weight balanced. The lightest rod out of the set of 8 is found (marked with blue pen) and each of the remaining 7 rods are precisely machined to bring the weight down to the lightest rod weight. The machining marks can be seen on the bottom of the rod (top rod in the picture).
Picture 5 displays the crankshaft after precise dynamic balancing
Picture 6 shows 2 piston pins. Each piston and pin are paired and weighed. The lightest pair are found and the remaining 7 piston and pin pairs are machined down to the weight of the lowest pair. The weight is taken from the centre of each piston pin as it is not robust to remove weight from the pistons. The pin on the left was the lightest originally, the pin on the right is an example of a pin which has been machined to replicate the same weight as the lightest. If you look carefully the piston pin on the left compared to right is ever so slightly thicker.
The weight distribution measured in the pistons has been reduced to 0.1g lightest to heaviest from a spread of 7.1g, and together with less than precise balancing of the crankshaft from manufacture, the weight distribution measured in all rotating and reciporicating parts was approx . 27000g/mm, compared to an imbalance after the modifier machining was complete, which is controlled to F1 standards – to as little as to be immeasurable imbalance measured in g/mm unit.
The end result of this meticulous attention to detail is a considerably smoother running engine than standard. A standard engine will shake on its mounts at idle whereas an engine prepared to these standards will be sewing machine smooth. This in turn creates a much more durable engine – less vibration, and the ‘on-throttle’ response will also be a lot sharper as the rotating components are lighter and balanced.
More blog to follow when the bottom end is remanufactured to a 91mm 4.7L (from 89mm 4.3L) liner and the performance enhancements are given to the cylinder heads.
I have also been asked many times if it is safe to reduce weight from the very heavy crankshaft front pulley damper in an attempt to improve throttle response.
An engine (such as this) that has been perfectly balanced can use a crankshaft front pulley without the heavy damper part (the front part). However, with imbalance levels from standard such as 27000g/mm, it is HIGHLY advisable that the damper part of the front pulley remains to protect engine durability. The removal of the heavy damper unit part of the front pulley will dramatically improve throttle response, but even when used with a perfectly balanced engine, a secondary reason for the damper unit is that it has been tuned to remove harsh cabin vibrations at certain engine speeds. So whilst it is safe to remove the damper because the engine is now perfectly balanced, cabin vibrations may be introduced which were not evident before with the rubber part of the crankshaft damper present.

 

Excellent info, however, removing the front mass does not remove the rubber in the damper. The rear portion still has rubber in place so you can easily do the same to a stock motor.

Also not surprised you can push the motor to 7600 rpm, these motors can easily take it in stock form, especially a race built motor.

Great info, look forward to some independent dyno graphs once the whole process is done

 

Wow awesome thread above and beyond the normal modding I see for am v8v. I like the clear tail lights. Can I get those for db9 and if so where do I get them and how much (US dollars) do they cost? thanks for the help anyone

 

Coool auto!
C est rare ici que quelqu'un modifie une anglaise a ce point la.
Premierement a cause de la rarité des pieces et le cout de la main d'oeuvre, c'est rare a trouver un mecano independant Aston Martin, Jag, bentley etc..

 

Hmmm, does anyone with a stock motor want to try this, or do we prefer to trust the qualified engineer that has successfully built dozens of race engines, and helped design this engine when he worked for AM?

 

Merci, Cédric

Little update:
My engine build is nearly complete…. I am one step closer to a more powerful and exhilarating Aston Martin V8 Vantage…!
The company in charge of the conversion have released the following engine internal build update notes to me;

Block re-machined from 4.3L to 4.7L and piston grade selected to match bore dimensions
Piston weight variance minimum to maximum from Aston Martin parts supply = 7.6grams
Piston weight variance minimum to maximum after weight matching = 0.1gram
Connecting rod variance minimum to maximum from Aston Martin parts supply = 4.6grams
Connecting rod variance minimum to maximum after weight matching = 0.1gram
Crankshaft balance at flywheel end from Aston Martin parts supply =2,014 g/mm
Crankshaft balance at flywheel end after dynamic balancing =32.3 g/mm
Crankshaft balance at damper end from Aston Martin parts supply =2,118.5 g/mm
Crankshaft balance at damper end after dynamic balancing =48,45 g/mm
Lightweight flywheel balance = 54.44 g/mm
Original car damper pulley balance = 199.2 g/mm
Original car damper pulley balance after dynamic balance = 22.4 g/mm
Lightweight damper pulley balance = 140.22 g/mm
Lightweight damper pulley balance after dynamic balance = 8.0 g/mm

They tell me this means A SUPER smooth running engine, think of it as the same balancing you do for a wheel and tyre for your engine.
The lightening work will improve throttle response, the balancing makes the engine feel super smooth and improves durability as vibration is not causing wear.
I guess this is the reasons why this modification company beats Aston Martin factory in the racing world.

They will not tell me too much about the cylinder head modifications as that is their own intellectual property that results in the astonishing performance they achieve from this engine build, but they do tell me the compression ratio has been increased from 11.0:1 to 12.5:1 and the beautiful porting work that can be seen in these pictures returns 20% extra flow.

All I can say is that they are magicians to me…..

Cant wait for the first drive….!
The big brake kit and electronic adjustable suspension are next on the list….!

 

Vince_1972, thanks for sharing this with us, these photos and technical details are fascinating, really looking forwards to reading your impressions when you start driving the car when everything is back together.

I hear that Pommehogster has done 10,000 miles since his engine was build in the same way as yours, he must really love driving that car!

The thought and experience that has gone into the rebuild does give the impression that this is an engine built to give a lot more power, for a very long time

 

Hey guys, vince you will not be disappointed ! Yes that's right I have covered over 10,000 miles since having this work done on mine and its been faultless, all the work has improved the smoothness and delivery of power.

 

Saw both of your cars up there today when I took mine up... now to start a thread of my own!!

 

it is a pleasure, thank you for your message!