360 My Take on Manual Kit Conversions

Well, I'm glad you posted as I was wondering about your opinion on what people choose to do with their own car...seemed like a long way to get to your closing paragraph that states that different folks like different things...and watching NGSC is not exactly something I would be proudly exclaiming as his credibility with most of the people on this forum is sketchy at best.

Not trying to be a jerk here, but this has been discussed at length several times and the horse is still dead. I love manuals, so I paid a premium for a factory manual, thankfully 8 years ago before they got insane. People will do what they do, and if for some reason the F1's spike above the conversions, they can be reverted back just as easily as they were converted. You do you, let the others be themselves and spend their money how they want.

 

Manual lovers are also bucking the norm, and are very vocal (from what I've seen, present company included!), so they're making waves and getting press.

Bear in mind, the VAST majority of modern sports cars are F1 paddle shifter style, most people agree with you it looks like.

Ferrari hasn't sold a manual shift since 2009, how many cars are we talking? Lamborghini as well. And for Porsche, where you still can get a manual, I expect most are ordered with paddles.

So don't mind us backward crazies who love shifting gears with a 6 spd. It's a nostalgic and/or acquired taste.

I bought my car as an F1 and I thought it was spectacular and also lived the thrill of paddle shifting.

I just feel the relationship more with the car with the stick. It's not that one is good and one is bad.

As for your last point about investment potential, it wasn't a consideration for me either way, I bought it to enjoy ownership and to drive it, and I customize it. If I bought a low mile mint car for the sole purpose of maintaining it as an investment, it would be all original and not driven, which makes the transmission style a moot point.

 

Well I think even with conversions, the 360 and F430 F1 shifters are still probably a ratio of 8 or 9 to 1. So you just happen to step into a hot topic.

The manual conversion became a possibility only a few years ago, and options have been increasing for being able to DIY the conversion within the last year, so there is lots of activity on this forum about it, you hit it at the height.

Personally, I found this insanely exciting because I dreamt of owning an F430 with a 6spd, then the market for them made them unreachable and largely undriveable (due to collectibility). I'm sure there are other reasons it's exciting for others as well.

3 years ago there were I think 2 posts about it, 3 years from now the craze will be over and it'll be a routine job.

It's an exciting space, next up you can look into LED taillights and join that debate too

 

Did you advise against it because it was red/tan or because it was a 360 Modena, or both? And why? Just curious. Thanks.

 

I could not agree more. I looked for months back in 2011 for a manual coupe of pretty much any color. It had to be a manual not flippy top because by then the problems were becoming well known and a mechanic that worked in a Ferrari shop, and serviced my Porsche 911 race car, flat out told me to forget the spiders and F1s. The shop he worked in hardly did anything other than routine service on the manual coupes and the F1 flippy tops were always in the shops with major problems. I took the advice. A silver manual Modena popped up and I bought it for 80K and have had no troubles with my car other than the expected ball joints, flan blocks, etc. Easily fixed diy things. Just this year, I found traces of trans fluid in the coolant so I installed a new cooler. It is a 2002 with 28K miles. To be fair, I have a buddy with a black/black F1 430 Spider and I like it a lot. A lot. He has had it for 3 years with no problems. So? Another thing, I am in deep South Louisiana and it is no place for a convertible except for very rare cool, low-humidity days. A fully functioning A/C is a must!

 

I'm on your side Erik...love my 430 F1. It's unique being a manual first, unlike DCT. I grew bored of our/wife's Porsche PDK's very quickly. Now she drives a Tesla should I want blazing acceleration. I also love the F1 on the track where I can still be in control of the gears without having to clutch...I'll admit to not being a good enough driver to properly track a stick.

 

Hello all,

I have a 2006 F430 F1 and I love it, I would never convert it to a manual.
If I need the feel of a manual I go for a (slower) drive in my 1957 Austin-Healey.

Regards,

Les

 

I agree! I think conversions will age like over pearled paint jobs did. There is nothing with either one!

I wanted a car I could maintain so the gated manual was my choice. I know the F1 will out perform my ability to shift every day of the week for the remainder of my life (assuming it continues to work).

 

Well said. And yes, the horse is long dead.

 

10th year of F1 360 ownership. Love it, never had issue with F1, and have no desire to convert to manual. F1 is great on the track esp for a non-pro! And I drove manuals all my life.

 

The two transmissions represent two different driving experiences. I have never driven an F1, but i know what it delivers. Flick shifts, faster shifting than a manual, very techy, I get it....but it comes down to what you want out of your experience. The newer F cars have double the HP my 360 manual has, but jeez I can't use all the power my stock car has. So.....do people need the obscene amounts of HP? To each his own. This debate is the same as coupe versus convertible. Personal preferences. Some love the F1 for all the technology it gives and the wonderful attributes it possesses. Some love the manual, with the clutch, clacking gears, driver input and involvement, etc. Again, to each his own. Both transmissions are fantastic. Do you want chocolate or vanilla Sir? Manual conversions are a great resource for those who couldn't budget for a factory manual, who bought an F1 but want to try something new, etc. It's all good....I only wanted a gated car. Period. End of story. That's the essence of a sports/muscle car IMO, and that's ONLY my opinion. But it's my money too, so I bought what I wanted. This is a Jets versus Giants comparison too. So many analogies. What a wonderful position we are all in to have the debate with this beautiful marque in our garages.

 

For Me I can't drive a F1 anything slower than a Scuderia with 60ms shifts, everything else is too slow. So its a 6 speed for me and the reason why I bought a f430 and converted it is because I wanted to Mod mine without worrying about resale value. I sold my factory gated 360 and I was offered a factory gated 430 but didn't buy it because I knew I couldn't touch it without hurting it. Now I own a converted 430 gilt free and do whatever I want with it...like stuff like this
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I have to agree. I absolutely love the F1 system in my CS. It's fast, better than me, and my goodness those effortless downshifts with the throttle blips are amazing. I also have both hands on the steering wheel while pushing it instead of just one. People say its terrible, but I really don't get it. The oldness of the system actually makes it feel really engaging for me atleast, so I get an additional thrill that I really enjoy. I like a good manual car too and if mine ever starts giving me problems I cannot fix, then I will convert it, but I can't see myself just removing such a cool and for the time, very advanced shifting system just because. With that said, I've thought about buying a conversion kit just to have just in case my F1 system ever finally completely fails.

 

Your car is SICK

 

Thank you! . I love your car tooooo man. I want a CS so bad....in fact I'm looking for Adam Corolla's CS so I can convert it gilt free. Your car I wouldn't do it, its too perfect.

 

This is why I went with the Scuding Swiss LED, it uses the factory lights but just replaces the bulb holder and is completely reversible. For me, it was a safety thing. The factory lights on the 430 are very dim and I was afraid that some idiot would rear-end me.

 

Even though this dead horse is now a bloody, pulpy hole in the ground, the EAG saga has died down so let's have a go.

Imo single clutch is way more exciting than a DCT. Firing off gears on an F1 or an E-gear at redline is a blast. The F1 gets an undeserved amount of hate from the people who have never driven one and just spew what they heard from some dickless youtuber. That being said, it is a tricky system to diagnose compared to gated.

After having lots of issues with my F1, I converted my 360 using a combination of oem parts and parts made by my friend and I. It's just a lot easier to diagnose and work on. I figured the people who would annoy me the most about it are all of the manual purists, but oddly it's F1 purists. I've literally had people on here PM me telling me I've bastardized my car. It's like y'all keep forgetting how easy it is to convert back... a weekend of work and it's like it was never there....

I will say, they both can be very enjoyable in different ways. I think the notion that one is terrible in every way and the other is perfect is silly.

A lot of people in this argument also keep spouting off the same ******** of HELL YEAH BROTHER THEM MILLENIULS CANT DRIVE STICK LIKE A REAL MAN. There is some truth in that. Most millennials can't drive stick and most boomers can. However what people fail to realize is that most millennial car enthusiasts want a stick and most boomer enthusiasts don't. Part of the reason manual cars died out is because nobody was ordering them anymore. Eventually the older generation will pass away and the younger generation of car enthusiasts will make more money. They will want manuals. Before my car was converted, one demographic of people told me over and over again I should have gotten a manual. Millennials.


I feel like a large part of the anti conversion crowd is the people that spend more time looking at their service records and car's purity than they do driving it. That is the wine tasting, elbow rubbing sector of Ferrari owners i avoid. If 360s were flawless from the factory we wouldn't be removing sticky buttons, failing precats, 70 lb mufflers, etc. Image Unavailable, Please Login

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The muffler is 70 lbs?!

 

I have 69 lbs in my notes for the muffler. Cats 13.2 lbs each and headers 17.5 lbs each.

 

My mistake. 50 pounds. It might have been 70 with the tips. Image Unavailable, Please Login

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