Thx for help

 

None at I know of, but I've been trying to track one down for a while. RSC had originally said they were going to have one but it apparently didn't make it to market...maybe Stuart can chime in on this. I think there's lots of potential for a lightweight flywheel in this car...lowering the flywheel weight to 15 lbs would improve throttle response dramatically. You may have to get a custom one done.

 

I tried going that route as well, but was told the 4.7 flywheel/clutch assembly was not compatible with the 4.3. I even went so far as to try to get the one from the N24, but it didn't work out.

 

It was the dealership. The story was that since the crankshaft was different, the new flywheel and clutch were not able to fit on the older crankshaft design of the 4.3. I didn't have any parts diagrams and I had a short window of time to decide because I was getting a clutch upgrade for the supercharger. If you find out something different, let me know.

 

Hey guys, sorry I'm a bit late on this one. Tahoe is correct, the 4.7L Clutch/FLywheel assembly is not retro-fittable to the 4.3 due to the revisions to the crank etc.

We did develop a lightweight flywheel and clutch package for the 4.3L which cut the weight from 19kg to 9kg, but the clutch mechanism was found to be impractical for the road. Michael996TT was good enough to test it out for us and his words were - this is a great track product, just not suitable for the road.

In the interim, we have taken a slightly different approach and released an uprated friction plate for the 4.3, and are currently working on a pressure plate to go with it, which will be available later this year. These are both a straight swap with the OE parts and mount to the OE flywheel. Once I have that finished, we're going to move on to developing a flywheel which will work with this design, possibly a solid CNC machined part, possibly an insert.

 

Thanks for the input, Stuart. I've been saying for a while now in previous posts that the lightweight flywheel has a lot of potential in this car. I'd still do one now even with the supercharger because it will add even more in the low and mid range where the stock engine really lags and will make a big difference in throttle response.

I'd have to run the numbers to say for sure, but based on other evaluations I've seen on the M3, dropping 15 lbs of flywheel weight is huge. For the M3 example I saw, less than 10 lbs lost gave something like 40 hp across the power band in 1st, 30 in 2nd, and 15 in 3rd...it all depends on weight lost and gearing, but it's a big change.

I've argued in the past that the lightweight flywheel for the '09 Vantage was a big reason in the huge drop in 0-60 times.

 

listening to you guys talk about the lighter flywheel piques my interest, but am i to understand that nothing at all is available from anybody at the moment? also, could it be an expensive project to change out flywheels? any dangers in doing this? and why is it that what seems so obvious to you, aston didn't get? or did they do this intentionally? btw, i own a 007 vantage

 

sorry if i over- or under-explain anything, but here's some info...

Aston Martin is a very small market for modifications compared to most cars out there, so generally parts are as readily available (getting a part to market costs a lot of money, especially on an expensive low-volume car).

the cost of changing out flywheels is pretty much the cost of the part plus the labor to swap out the flywheel (get a quote on labor for a clutch replacement, same number... someone can fill this in).

the benefit of a heavier flywheel is that the extra mass holds in rotational energy (more weight is harder to slow down), this keeps the engine spinning a bit more so shifting from one gear to the next is smoother (your revs don't drop much as you shift). a lightweight flywheel will let the engine rev up quicker (not as much weight to get moving), but your revs will drop faster between shifts. sometimes you can get a check engine light with light-weight flywheels because the faster acceleration makes some readings go out of spec (i want to say it has to do with increased air being sucked into the engine because of the faster/higher revving, before the computer is ready for it).

basically, the heavier flywheel gives the car better drive-ability but at the cost of performance. AM probably tried to strike a balance between the two but most owners seem to want a lighter flywheel (and i'd agree).

 

Agreed. A week ago I turned onto a highway onramp from a stop and there was some jacked-up little Honda or something (large can exhaust, aftermarket body kit, etc.) that wanted to overtake me and beat me to the highway. I'm not a street racer by any stretch, but I decided I'd join in on the fun. Although I of course won, we were neck and neck for a while until I got the revs up and got into the higher gears. Quite disappointing. The lack of low end power really is the weak point of this car, which is otherwise fantastic in my opinion.

 

Bear with me guys. We have the friction plate done, and should be weeks rather than months away from having the pressure plate done. A lightweight flywheel won't take long after that's done and we will have a plug and play solution. We're $10K+ into this project already but I'm committed to making it work.

 

This sounds interesting Stuart. Do keep us posted!

 

I will check up with our Racing partner and AP Racing on the status of the pressure plate. The friction place has proven to outlast the OE clutch by 3-fold during competition use so it's a good investment. It is a 4-puck clutch but because of the large (OE) diameter it is apparently very streetable.

 

Just for clarity the 9kg clutch/flywheel package was the original one we developed. This featured twin 4 paddle friction plates, both unsprung, with a 187mm diameter, and a CNC machine billet steel flywheel. This product is still available, but as Mike's review suggested, this is really only appropriate for people who's cars are race/trackday setups. It's basically on/off. Great fast shifting and feel once you're rolling but parking lots would be a nightmare.

The new design pressure plate is a sprung single plate, same diameter as the OE clutch, so much more slippage as a result of the increased distance from the axis of rotation (from the center of the crank.) The pressure plate design is going to be the same diameter, but will be lighter than the OE pressure plate.

Flywheel design and lightening will be restricted based on the diameter, which will be larger than the original design which dropped to 9kgs. I'm just spitballing but I would hope to see perhaps an 8kg reduction, so 11kgs overall weight.

The new friction plate currently retails for $1395.00, I am very confident we should be able to offer the full clutch/flywheel assembly for around the $3500.00 mark once it is complete (this is the price on the race version as well.) For reference the AM price is just over $2500.00 so let's say you were quoted $5000.00 by a Main Dealer to have your clutch changed, it would cost you $6000.00 to have ours installed assuming the prices come out in a similar range to the race design.

Hope that's clearer... if not, keep asking me questions!

 

hey stuart,

Wow that initial setup sounds extreme as heck, def not streetable I agree. The new setup sounds great. Could the clutch and pressure plate be sold as a separate package for those looking for a bit more mass reduction but keep the stock flywheel (more potential options for cconsumers)? If so how much for just the clutch + ltw pressure plate. Any estimates on weight savings from just pressure plate as well.

Always full of questions , thx again for being a good sport and all the help Stuart.
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Clutch and pressure plate will be directly compatible with the OE flywheel, in fact, all 3 parts should theoretically be interchangeable.

Clutch + pressure plate I would expect/hope to be around $2700-2800.00

Weight savings from just the friction plate, I'd say probably 0.5-1kg, somewhere in there. All of these figures being educated guesses.