Hello,
Interested in a early Vanquish. I have read a factory transmission conversion has been developed. Has anyone had this conversion done or heard of people doing it? Are those who have had it done happy with it? Can the conversion be done by a U.S. Aston Mechanic or does the car have to be sent to the factory? In addition, are the later but non-S Vanquishes (2003, 2004, 2005) superior to the first years (2001, 2002) in terms of maintenance or is it all the same? Any thoughts are welcome,
JM

 

amoc.org will be your best source for Vanquish information -- they have a whole section devoted to Vanquish and it's fairly active.

 

At this time only Aston Martin Work Service can install the upgrade. I have never seen one. I heard they were fairly expensive. The major difference between a non-S and a S vanquish is the horse power. A non-S is 460hp, we're a S is 520hp. There are also several body changes, spoiler here, a lip there, things like that. Then the only other difference is a '06 model year has the newer center stack, which is a lot like a DB9. The older models have issue with the transmission knowing what gears it is in. There is an update to that, but it could be costly.

 

In the past, Works Service has sent teams to North America to make the swap from SSM to the full manual when they've had enough owners sign up for the changeover.

 

Works sends tech's to us for the Manual converstion if thats what your talking about(back in the past though)..ASM to a true manual stick shift 6-speed is what I'm talking about though..I don't know if they still do this, used to in the past..I know the guys that used to do it, there now in other departments..so I'm on the thinking if you really wanted this..all parts would be sent to the dealer for them to figure out..I've seen them do it, not hard

Older Vanquish models did have a magnet pick-up sensor problem(2 pick-up and 2 magnets with a lot of play)..this is most prob what your talking about and heard of..Aston came out with a SB to convert the old magnets and pick-ups to the newer V8V ASM unit..1 pickup module and 2 magnets on 1 collar. Transmission has to be dropped for all this, but it's really all plug and play..calibrate with trans out..fit everything back in and your good to go, no more mis-shift issues...most of these concerned cars have all been corrected though

 

i've heard the conversion is $35k, but i don't know how accurate that is and at what conversion (GBP -> USD). but i'll be at the works factory in July if you'd like me to ask lol

 

Thank you all for your thoughts. I will do some further research based on what you have told me. Thanks again,
JM