Welcome to Bamford Rose and another question of the week. This week it’s different exhaust notes on the Vanquish ii. So, this is going to be the 565 BHP motor, either six speed or eight speed spec. And after modifying and going for a particular exhaust system what is the exhaust note likely to change to. Any of the Astons with the 565 BHP motor in, these are already rocket ships fast to start with anyway. so, just for giggles, if you did want maximum performance possible then yes, we can put our bespoke exhaust manifolds and catalyst on that car. And with the EC remap take horsepower north of 600. But proving very popular for the 565 BHP motor is the option where we remove the primary catalyst.

That is good, because it gets rid of the risk of catalyst ingestion. Also, delivers about 20-30 BHP horsepower and then fits a high flow secondary cat just to get a good bit of noise. So, after we’ve done that the catalyst can either be the catalyst with a baffle or without a baffle depending on if you wanted a fruitier or a pretty much standard exhaust note. So, before we listen to each exhaust note let’s just recap the hardware. This first picture is of the standard V12 exhaust manifold. And you can see the heat shield around the catalyst. There’s a couple of runners there that are really short length and the catalyst is really very close to the engine. This is why if there was a misfire, then the front face of the brick would break up and the engine would ingest the debris.

So, now we can look at what we do with a modified catalyst. And after we’ve removed the catalyst, we cut just below the primary catalyst on the weld seam that was originally there. So, we can remove the primary cap, and then we weld back on some three bolt flanges. So, it’s a nice neat refit of that manifold back to the car. The advantage of going in with flanges, means that as you can see here you can put that exhaust back onto the car in four separate pieces. Whereas before if it’s just one assembly, that needs a front subframe drop to be able to get the exhaust manifold out. So, by refitting with those bolted flanges it’s a really neat idea to reduce installation time.

Next, we have a picture of catalysts without a sound baffle and these give a fruitier exhaust note than catalysts with a baffle. And now we have a pair of vanquish that we’re in simultaneously and we can assess what each option sounds like.

So, separate to our full kit, that’s a really nice cost-effective upgrade to make to the car there. Also, it equally applies to the V12 Vantage S that’s the same 565 BHP motor. Catalyst failure and subsequent ingestion on the 565 motors is pretty uncommon. That’s because these cars have still got a level of newness to them. It’s not until the cars get much older early DB9S. Where old cars suffer old car problems, misfires due to coils spark plugs that sort of thing. And a misfire can risk that catalyst failing and then the engine ingesting the catalyst.

If I owned a V12 on day one no matter what V12 it was I’d be getting rid of those primary catalysts. They serve me as the driver as the owner, no purpose whatsoever they just offer liability. And as a driver as an owner you don’t need them whatsoever. You know current legislation does not outlaw removal of those catalysts explicitly the automaker needed them to pass a mulligation to sell to the market. But then once in the market all the car needs to do is pass the annual MOT check. I hope that video shows what the sound difference is between baffle and non-baffle cats. But even if you made the exhaust note the most fruity, you’ve always got the three-way switch to control the exhaust valves in permanent silent mode.

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