First of all, much thanks to Stuart@VelocityAP for creating and selling these fantastic parts, and to irish07 for helping with some key installation questions along the way. You guys rock!

TL;DR version – VelocityAP twin-plate clutch + flywheel is excellent! Well worth the marginal premium over OEM replacement. Greatly reduced pedal effort, silky engagement, stout construction. If you have it installed by an independent garage, be prepared to explain some things to them (detailed below in the long version). Let’s just say that I now know far more about this car than I ever thought I would.

Long version – VelocityAP makes a twin-plate clutch and lightweight flywheel combo that allows the installation of the Aston Martin V12 clutch pack into the V8 Vantage. The stock clutch in the V8 cars seems to be the car’s weakest link, with many cases reported of the clutch wearing out with relatively few miles. My V8 Vantage is a 2007, and at about 12,000 miles (all put on by the previous owner), the clutch was completely destroyed, with lots of slipping in 3rd through 6th gears. The flywheel and pressure plate friction surfaces looked like they were incinerated.

I decided to go with the VelocityAP clutch kit after reading some great early reviews. It was more expensive than just replacing like-for-like with an OEM V8 clutch and flywheel but not shockingly so, and I always seem to follow the adage that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth over doing. Because I’d rather not do it over.

I also decided to have an independent shop do the installation, for three reasons. First, there is no Aston Martin dealer in my state. Second, the nearest Aston Martin dealer would not install parts not purchased from them at absolutely absurd markup, and their labor rate is $150/hr. Third, I have a mechanic that I trust and who has worked on my Ferrari for the last decade. However, he had never worked on an Aston Martin Vantage before. Here’s your chance to learn from our adventure.

Parts I bought from Stuart at VelocityAP as part of their twin-plate clutch kit:

• Custom steel billet flywheel
• Aston Martin OEM V12 clutch pack
• Aston Martin OEM slave cylinder/throwout bearing
• Custom slave cylinder mounting spacer
• Clutch bolts (mount clutch pack to flywheel)
• Spacer bolts (mounts spacer to torque tube)

Parts I bought from Stuart in addition to the kit, so we wouldn’t have to chase around for parts from out of state or out of country:

• Flywheel mounting bolts (flywheel to crankshaft, you aren’t supposed to reuse the old ones)
• Pilot bearing
• Half-shaft bolts (half-shaft flange to transaxle flange, you aren’t supposed to reuse the old ones)
• Header collector gaskets (exhaust manifold flange to catalytic converter flange)
• Exhaust manifold gaskets (exhaust manifold to cylinder head)
• Rear main engine oil seal (decided not to use this because the original one wasn’t leaking)

Once all the parts were on hand, we had to wait a few weeks for the shop schedule to open up enough to get the car in and not have to rush.

Next post: The Installation

 

As previously mentioned, I decided to have my trusted Ferrari mechanic do the installation. The reality was that I really had no choice, it was either him or do it myself. I managed to get my hands on a shop manual for a 4.3 Vantage. It had most, but not all of the procedures at least somewhat covered. The worst part was that the V12 clutch pack needed to be compressed to be properly installed. Eternal thanks to irish07 for posting that information along with a photo of the special Aston Martin tool that dealers use for that task. Installing this twin-plate clutch is impossible without compressing the clutch pack. Let me say that again. It’s impossible without compressing the clutch pack.

But that’s a dealer-only tool that costs like $1500... Couldn’t readily find an off-the-shelf tool that could do the job. Maybe a tool sold for installing self-adjusting clutches MIGHT work, Photos we saw of that device looked similar but no way to tell for sure without spending $150+. This is where it is good to have smart friends with lots of fabrication tools and skills. Using the photo of the Aston dealer tool and measurements of the clutch pack, my mechanic’s buddy fabricated a simplified version of the Aston tool that did the job perfectly. I would imagine this tool might be available for loan in the right circumstances, contact me via PM if you want to explore that option.

The general order of operations was to remove the underbody panels and shields, remove the catalytic converters and exhaust center section, remove the left-hand fender liner and exhaust manifold, disconnect the half-shafts, cooling lines, shifter cables, backup switch wires, and ground strap from the transaxle, remove the transaxle (2-man job), remove the driveshaft from the torque tube, remove the torque tube (2-man job), then remove the old clutch, flywheel, and pilot bearing. Reassembly is exactly the reverse. There is an almost unbelievable number of fasteners involved. Amazingly we had no extra parts when we were done.

I hung around the shop while the work was being done, and helped when necessary. Which was a lot of fun and very interesting. The biggest problem we encountered was disconnecting (and then reconnecting) the shifter cables from the transaxle. There are 2 cables, attached at the ends to ball studs. Like a million other cars, the cables are supposed to pop off the ball studs with a bit of force. Not on my car. We had 3 grown men apply all their strength using a drawer full of different prying tools and the damn things just wouldn’t come off. Eventually we figured out how to separate the cables at their adjusters. Irish07 got a big laugh out of that! J We got them reattached pretty easily, but then since the adjusters were disturbed we had to re-adjust the cables so the shifter would work properly. Easy in concept. Less so in reality. Again irish07 and a lot of patience saved the day.

I think my mechanic spent at least 30 hours on this project (which also included installing new headers, that’s going to be a different thread). He charged me for 17, at $120/hr so $2,040 total. Which I think is perfectly reasonable. Doing the headers probably accounts for 2 of those hours.

While the car was on the lift with all the bottom panels removed, I took the opportunity to install new air filters, replace the orange front marker lights with LEDs, replace the pneumatic door cylinders, and replace the fender vent strakes with new ones. I did that work myself so no charge for that from the mechanic. Nice of him to let me use his tools, etc.

So – how’s the new clutch? AWESOME! The clutch pedal pressure required feels like it is almost cut in half. The clutch pedal force is now very light. Took a little getting used to since all my other cars have very heavy clutch pedals. I can tell the flywheel is a little lighter, the revs seem much more sensitive when starting from a stop. The clutch engages buttery smooth, no chattering or shaking, but it does seem like I have to pay a little more attention to the revs to avoid stalling – which I did 3 times on the first test drive. But now that I’m used to it the operation is perfectly smooth. The contradictory thing is that reversing seems much easier now. Go figure. Maybe I’m nuts. Once at speed, the rise and fall of revs while shifting seems just about perfect. Overall, I highly recommend this clutch upgrade.

 

If I understand your post correctly, there is an issue with a lighter flywheel and the 4.3 engine’s lack of low end torque. (Stalled the engine, had to use slightly higher revs when engaging clutch at start)
That said, the benefits seem to far outweigh this issue. Glad to see you are thrilled with the twin clutch. This is an example where the factory can learn a thing or two from the go fast independent guys

 

After driving the car some more yesterday I think for me it actually has more to do with the much lighter clutch pedal effort than the lighter flywheel. I had the same problem when I test-drove a new Mustang GT-350R, the clutch pedal is so light it took a while to get used to it. All my other cars have very heavy clutch pedals in comparison.

Overall, I am very happy with the new clutch in the Vantage. This is how it should have been from the factory.

 

Great information, thanks for taking the time to post it all!

 

Interesting, I used to own a 1965 Mustang GT 350, and was in the market for a new Mustang GT-350R, however the wait and dealer markups were more that I was willing to go along with.
Glad to see you are completely satisfied with the twin clutch. I currently have less that 5K miles on my Vantage so hopefully I have some time before I have to follow your route.

 

Jeff
You stated in the write up of the tear down (btw thanks for posting this is such detail) that the transmission was removed then the driveshaft and then the torque tube. Question, could the torque tube not be removed without removing the driveshaft? I would have thought that the torque tube with driveshaft could just be disconnected at the bell housing?
What am I missing?
Thanks

 

The shop manual says to remove the driveshaft then the torque tube. However, like you, we thought why not just pull the torque tube out with the driveshaft in it? Well... we learned the hard way that you can't move the torque tube far enough back in the chassis to get the installed driveshaft to come all the way out of the clutch. And it turns out that it's literally a 5 second job to pull the driveshaft out of the torque tube - remove one big circlip and pull it out. The manual says you need a special tool to pull out the driveshaft but all the tool is is a special pliers to grab the shaft so you can pull on it. We just put a small hose clamp around the end of the shaft and used that to pull.

 

Nice !
Do you know the inside diameter of the Pilot bearing ?
I need to fabricate a Clutch Alignment Tool.

Thanks

 

Sorry, I don't know the pilot bearing inside diameter. The "universal" clutch alignment tool my mechanic had fit the bearing perfectly.

 

Just as a post-script. We weren't sure at the time if this tool would work. I've since confirmed that it will work fine, if you grab 3 extra M6 fasteners and washers.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Comprehesive-...8AAOSwfZ1WZpjd

For those of you pursuing this route in the future, you might find an installer who's even willing to buy this kit themselves for future uses. Alternatively we might be able to loan one out.

 

Tks Stuart for the link to the tool .
A couple of hundred bucks (CAN) is pretty much pocket change when you think of the cost/work involved in changing out the clutch .
I will be going this route when time comes for my clutch in my 07 and seeing as I have a hoist I will be doing the whole thing myself .
I'm sure if I can build a Healey from scratch I can change out a clutch in the Vantage .

 

Jeff
Your mechanic buddy is worth his weight in gold! You are very lucky. I'm new here but it also looks like Stuart is a huge help to the Aston community.

 

Hi airbusdrvr! Yes, I'm glad I have a guy like that around. He's done all the work on my Ferrari for the last 10 years so I really trust him. Stuart has also been a big help - I'm also pretty new here, just got my Vantage last October - and I think I've already helped Stuart make 3 or 4 mortgage payments! LOL His products are first-rate, well-developed, and marked improvements over the OEM stuff.

 

The torque tube is the bellhousing..just extremely longer(nothing to split). You could leave the shaft in the torque tube but image installing a transmission with the bellhousing attached. There struggling to get the input shaft into the clutch splines and then wiggling the transmission to get the dowels lined up so you can bolt up the bellhousing...now take the input shaft away and how much easier is it?

So take out the shaft from the torque tube and it's 1 less thing to deal with...takes 5 seconds to remove and refit the shaft from the torque tube.