I didn't install my conversion, but my understanding is both Modena Lucerna and Cambio Manuale are distinctly different than EAG. The other two are compatible with OEM parts whereas EAG is only compatible with itself.
The TLDR is: He (Dan, Nice Guy Supercar) sold a car on an auction site that had been converted by EAG - the buyer, later decided there was problems with the conversion and (reportedly/evidently) "just had it fixed" but without prior approval by EAG or NGS - then "made lots of noise" that it should be covered under warranty. Dan/NGS saying, "car sold as is" - which includes a manufacturer's warranty from EAG on the conversion. I'm not liable for conversion problems, contact the company/EAG that is... Oopsie! EAG out of business, so no use suing them! So Dan/NGS gets threatened with a lawsuit, repeatedly ignores the threat and the whole issue blows over!!! I don't blame Dan on this - as clearly selling cars - especially exotics - is fraught with drama and not something I'll ever be majorly involved in. Kevin
That is not accurate. A dozen posts above yours it states that the former EAG guys, less Art, formed Macchina Motorwerx. Modena Lucerna is a different company.
Well, he "somehow" al ways finds himself at the bottom of a pile of crap. Don't swim in toilets and act surprised when you get pissed on.
Thanks for the info. I have not heard of Macchina Motorwerx Starting to feel uneasy about all these swaps. May just hold out for a factory manual, even if the price tag puts me into a factory gated 360 instead of factory gated 430
A factory 360 would be pretty sweet. There hasn’t been widespread issues with any of the conversions, only the business practices of Art/EAG being a POS. Cambio Manuale (dr S)/Modena Lucerna are both well designed/compatible with OEM parts. You can always source a kit and install it yourself/have a known shop install it if you feel uneasy about inheriting someone else’s project. That said, even though EAG was a circus ran by someone robbing Peter to pay Paul, the work/conversions done on 360/430 cars were never really the problem. As much as I’d never send them my car, I’d purchase one already converted. In fact, I tried to do so, twice (outbid both times on BaT), before purchasing an F1 car and going the DIY route.
This is why, in my opinion, the only truly unassailable conversion is one using factory parts. They OEM parts are obviously almost extinct these days, but it doesn’t diminish the fact that the best conversions are the ones that are facsimile of cars rolling out of the factory when they were built, which are the elusive OEM conversions. From there, OEM style/copies would rank second and non-OEM compatible/unique designs last (and I’d never consider something like that, personally… OEM parts only for me).
I don't see anything that would break in any of the EAG conversions. I think the shift cables are OEM. What is nice is a lot of "upcharge" work was done on conversion cars at EAG. (flywheel resurface, Hill bearings, oem valve gasket replacements, fluids etc) Not sure the diy folks do all that.
Honestly, with how far machining has come in the past 25 years, things can be done a lot better now. I've been steadily swapping out the aftermarket and homemade parts of my conversion for OEM, and with over a decade of experience in a machining plant, with another few years working in a foundry, I can say that some of the aftermarket and parts I've had custom made are just as good, if not better than oem.
With EAG having the bad rep they do (rightfully so), is there another business that is highly credible to go to for 360/430 manual conversions in the USA?
I remember meeting art from Eag when he was working like a mad scientist on these conversion ideas… It’s crazy to think something he created took off like it did and then got transitioned to other entities…. The life cycle of a business
I was CEO of EAG and worked closely with Art. It is important to remember that he did not create anything "new" he copied existing parts, made minor changes, and then proceeded to rip off tons of people. The parts EAG originally used were purchased from Ferrari. This is not innovative or "mad scientist" stuff. Don't let him fool you, he is not an inventor or designer. In fact the Lamborghini Merci project was started while I was still at EAG. The gearbox we acquired came covered in white powder used to cover parts for a laser scan, additionally whomever Art purchased the gearbox from also provided design files. The mad scientist image he gave off was just his on and off manic phases. He ran around looking like a mad scientist because he did not know what he actually needed to do to make a successful business. He is just a con artist that had a very hungry market. Art's thievery and lies are catching up to him quickly. The next 6 months will probably be very bad for Art. He is such a bad dude he got his wife tangled up in his very serious legal messes. The EAG's business life cycle is in the process of ending because Art could not stop ripping people off any lying. If he had stopped scamming his investors, family, and employees EAG would have been a successful business. Now he has time to watch a doorbell camera looking for a BMW to drive by. Not many people will understand that reference, not yet anyways.
If EAG is doing conversions, and that is a big if, they probably wont be for long. Art recently messed up big time with some serious legal filings. The spinoffs in Austin are run by much more professional people than Art. MMWX is converting 575, 599, 360, 430, and the Lamborghini Merci regularly. Converted 4 run by Eric Goodkind is knocking out 360 and 430 conversions. Dan at Normal Guy super car can help out with 360, 430, 575, and 599 conversions. These guys all worked with Art and myself. After getting screwed by Art, they all moved on. My experiences with Art (I was CEO of EAG) are well documented in this forum. Art is a serial liar, steals from customers, steals from investors, and has serious court judgments, criminal convictions, and extremely serious pending legal issues. MMWX, Dan NGSC, and Converted 4 have none of those issues. They also deliver cars without taking parts off other customer cars. If you are thinking about sending a car to Art please do some research on this forum and watch Dan's Normal Guy Super Car videos on the subject.
I have a $50K judgment. Will never see it, but hopefully he sees a prison cell and finds redemption for his soul, over many, many, many years.
I stand by my assessment of his contribution to the swap idea. I remember getting a ride in the first swap f430 car… then I got to experience the scud. sometimes it’s the effort and vision to supply a service new to the market that is innovative, Of course I’m not defending any bad business practices. I did consider doing some business w them early on… I’m a mech engineer…. I’m just commenting on the business life cycle…. idea generated Plane takes off Hype phase YouTubers rejoice Projections are run w dreams of boats houses fame.. then the landing.. over scaling? Bad practices? the good idea lives on… so much so that several new suppliers start up as a result… The world rejoices w more and more gated cars! hooray
yeah I didn't wanna be the one to say it but ya... invent is a pretty strong word, not really applicable to this particular product hell even the actual design work needed to go from rod linkage to cable linkage isn't really "designing" anything ... if it is then I am a designer because I've spent a few dozen hours in solid works before ... if anything the cable actuation is a lot easier to make/implement than a direct/rod linkage ... it's amazing that it was marketed as an upgrade to the factory design.... i mean even if it was superior to the factory components it's not the superior choice when it comes to feel, it was merely superior to a bad implementation of a fundamentally superior design (for feel) trev or whoever else that did the ECU tweaks and stuff neccesary to get the engine to behave with a manually actuated gearbox are far more worthy of praise in my opinion than any mechanical work done to manufacture or remanufacture parts for the conversion from electro/hydraulic actuation to standard manual actuation. This isn't a case of Ferrari 458 speciale manual conversion where the mechanical side was much much more complicated (i'm sure the electronics side was atleast as hard if not harder than the 599/430/360/etc.)
I don't really have a dog in this fight but what unique ideas are you referring to ? As far as I know most if not all these common conversions were not terribly complicated and had precedent in the past with people simply throwing OEM parts at the job when they were cheap/plentiful and before the manual hype train drove pricing of original service parts through the roof. Almost all if not all of these cars (with maybe exception of the 430/Cali) were of an age where the implementation of the TCU and ECU were almost entirely seperate systems that don't communicate directly with one another making any neccesary software adjustments relatively easy (calm your horses, I'm saying "relatively easy" compared to the more modern stuff where the transmission control and engine control are extremely intertwined) People have done 360 F1/MT conversions long before EAG and they'll do so long after. It just seems like EAG was in right place right time to benefit from the Manual nostalgia-hype and they bit off more than they could chew. Fundamentally the product was probably fine (I haven't done it or know anyone that's used their parts, I live in Asia, my information is purely off youtube and this forum) but the failure was likely just due to overpromising and taking in orders way over capacity leading to huge backlogs, inefficient processes due to effectively trying to go from a prototype process to full production without figuring out how to optimize that, crappy management of labor/incentive/rewards system leading to disgruntled workforce, and then all the financial issues that come with the above.
Yeah I would not classify him as an inventor. He tried to sell the idea of getting patents on the parts, which I shot down because there is nothing worth getting a patent on. Sure he could have gotten a design patent but those for the most part low value patents. Trying to get a utility patent would have been a waste of time because the overall design was mostly copied Ferrari parts with small changes. Trev360 did more for the community than Art. Without his programming Art would not have been able to do conversions that pass state inspections. Anyone can copy parts, getting the software to work was the hard part. The MT conversion community owes a lot to Trev.
