New F430 – modifying for tall driver | FerrariChat

New F430 – modifying for tall driver

Discussion in '360/430' started by drmc, Jun 23, 2020.

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  1. drmc

    drmc Rookie

    Dec 12, 2013
    36
    Australia
    Full Name:
    Danny
    After 3-years of searching, a few months ago I finally purchased my dream car - a red / black F430 spider 6-speed. I believe only ~6 manual spiders were delivered to Australia hence the long, long wait.

    I’m planning to do a few modifications to the car so I thought I’d post my experiences here.

    I’m 6’5 / 90kg and have struggled (failed!) to get comfortable in sports cars in the past. But when the opportunity came up to finally purchase a 430 stick, I jumped at it without really considering if I would actually fit.

    After a few weeks of driving I was pretty over it. My back and neck would ache, I couldn’t really see out of the car and the seat wasn’t holding me in place around corners. I also felt like I was sitting really high in the car, like you do in a SUV.

    After a bunch of research I decided to purchase a fixed back bucket seat and bolt it directly to the floor. You can see from the pic that this is as low as you can possibly mount a seat in an F430 – the bottom of the seat is literally on the floor. I went with the Sparco Rev 2 ($800) which is narrow in the waist but broad across the shoulders. My mechanic, Paul from Maranello Motorsport, fitted the seat and created a seat belt clip extender ($500). Finally, Blake from Arrows Performance Engineering, certified the mod as roadworthy to keep my insurance company happy ($350).

    For comfort I purchased some 1” thick foam padding, cut it to size and jammed it in the back of the seat. I also got a 15cm in diameter cylinder of foam, cut it down the middle and also put in the seat back for lumbar support.

    Then I removed my rear vision mirror (simply pull it up the windscreen), purchased a smaller mirror from my local auto store ($12) and velcrowed it to the top of my car.

    All up I’m now sitting exactly 4.5cm lower in the car and I can now see perfectly out the front windscreen. The Sparco, with my added padding, is as comfy as the seat in my Mustang and 911 plus I’ve also saved about 20kg (the Sparco seat is 10kg and the old power Dayton is about 30kg).

    Now that I'm comfortable in the car it has totally changed the experience from a pretty average one to an outrageously fun one – I can’t get the smile off my face every time I drive her now. Plus I reckon the sparco seats look badass in the F430 - really purposful.

    If you've got a sports car and aren't built like a jockey then I highly recommend changing out the seat and mirror.

    I’ve got a few things left to do on my F430 list:

    (1) Fit the same seat to the passenger side for symmetry and to save an extra 20kgs

    (2) Fit the S-line exhaust which should arrive soon. Really excited to get this, I’ll chuck a review up when it's fitted.

    (3) Look into updating the v2 headers to capristo 4-2-1 for extra low down torque (if anyone has some used ones for sale I might be interested).

    (4) Change the tach colour to yellow, and;

    (5) Change the tyres from new Michelin Pilot Sport 4S back to something less grippy to make the car more fun on the street at low speeds.


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    kestrou and mwstewart like this.
  2. w0rtw0rt

    w0rtw0rt Karting

    Jun 21, 2020
    60
    Jefferson, GA
    Full Name:
    Matthew Lawson
    Absolutely useful and ingenious. As a 6'2" man, I noticed my head brushes the roof of the 430 spider so I can only imagine what 6'5" felt like. Beautiful car and love the pics!
     
  3. Eric C

    Eric C F1 Veteran
    Rossa Subscribed

    Mar 20, 2009
    8,960
    St. Louis, MO
    Full Name:
    Eric
    The Scud Seats sit much lower. I was suprised when I bought mine. I'm 6'2'.
     
  4. Baltazar

    Baltazar Rookie

    Aug 9, 2023
    11
    Thanks for info, very usefull. Just a question...did you bolt the bracket to excisting holes in the floor, or did you make your own? I can see you dint use the one in the front...
    Thanks for your help


     
  5. kestrou

    kestrou Formula Junior
    Rossa Subscribed

    Jan 22, 2023
    759
    Danville, IL
    Full Name:
    Kevin E. Stroud
    Making it work! Very cool.

    Kevin
     
  6. drmc

    drmc Rookie

    Dec 12, 2013
    36
    Australia
    Full Name:
    Danny
    Hi mate, I did not modify the floor at all. From memory there are 6 holes and I simply bolted the standard sparco bracket into the 4 that lay flush with the floor. The car is in storage at the moment but I can have a look next time I've got her out and confirm.
     
  7. Some Guy in the sky

    Some Guy in the sky Formula Junior

    Sep 19, 2018
    344
    I'm the exact same height and weight with a 360 coupe six speed manual. It came with the standard manual seats and I have never had any physical pain from driving the car. The manual requires full mobility and I have never had any problem with that either. The only problem I do have is that there are some angle where it is hard to see out of the car but that is true for every car I drive. If you have the problem of alot of height you might want to see if you can get some oem manual seats. They used to be cheap but that might not be true anymore.
     
  8. Baltazar

    Baltazar Rookie

    Aug 9, 2023
    11
    Thanks a lot, that is very positive. Im going to change my seats as well, but dint know exactly how i just do it. Now it seems very easy. Thanks again

     

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