Thank you European Auto Group for my F1-Manual F430 Conversion

Got my beautiful 2007 F430 Rosso Corsa/Tan with CF interior/Engine bay in May 2019 and enjoyed it for 6 months. It had 20k miles and was a driver, really enjoyed every aspect of it, including the snappy F1 shifts. I am a big fan of single-clutch transmission, such as the SMG in the 2004 BMW M3 and 2006 and 2008 M5 V10. You can modulate them in very interesting ways, including throttle position at shift-up or down. The F1 in the F430 was darn good and I loved it except for its tendency to slip clutch when cold and on reverse. My clutch had >85% left so wasn't worried.

Sometimes over last summer I bought the upgraded solenoid from Scud Ing Swiss and installed it in my F430; worked nicely but failed suddenly one day and so I went back to my conventional F1 solenoid. Car ran great for another 2 months then one day, I got the dreaded F1 pump light of doom on my instrument cluster. It was disheartening... I checked the F1 pump fluid level and it was fine, then sent the car to my local official Ferrari dealer (which will remain unnamed...). Initial thought they said I had a low battery level because I didn't have my car on a trickle charger even though I drove it once a week. They did a PIS calibration and said I was good to go then on the day I was supposed to pick up the car, F1 pump came back on again... another 2 weeks later, during which they supposedly had to wait to send diagnostic files to Italy and they again could not reproduce the problem which was not intermittent. At this point, I had had my car at the Ferrari dealer's without definite resolution for over 3 weeks, and without the sense of what was needed to fix the problem. I got frustrated and started computing the cost of replacing the F1 pump etc. and I remembered a conversation I had had with Art Bertosik of European Auto Group/San Antonio TX when I was looking at F430 regarding F1 to manual conversion. I had watched the many videos of the 430 Scuderia he had converted to manual, and he said he had available a kit for OEM conversion from F1 to Manual except for a few parts linkages/grommets that he had improved. After having lost confidence with the local official Ferrari dealership, I decided to pull the plug and had the F430 shipped from my dealer to Art's garage in San Antonio.

After a number of months, and a little more time than I had initially hoped for, Art and his amazing team at European Auto Group came through and I got my car back yesterday on a beautiful New England sunny evening. All I can say is wow... I am absolutely blown away by the workmanship and the quality of the execution. The mechanical action of the gearbox is literally rifle bolt action... positive and crisp. The gate and shifter and pedal assembly are perfect. Art also did some maintenance on the engine, changed spark plugs, fixed a leaking vacuum line, replaced the serpentine belt, and changed engine and transmission mounts. The car is absolutely delicious to drive, it's more mechanical and involving than in its F1 guise, but very satisfying, tactile, and mechanical. It's a bit of a different car no doubt. As much as I loved it with the F1, it is a bit more retro now, and reminds me of the many 308/328/348 manuals I heard growing up with their gated shifters, The snappy throttle response of the F430 and its light flywheel enhance the entire experience.

I apologize to all Ferrari classiche snobs, and realize my F430 will never have the value or cachet of a factory manual but Art used >95% OEM parts and the car feels amazing and the quality of the work and execution beyond reproach. I will enjoy the car and don't care about resale value, at least I won't have to see that dreaded F1 pump sign every again (I hope). Also Art and his group did a fabulous job with the software reprogramming; my center display has the upshift arrows functional and the mannetino works perfectly changing the damping and traction controls as expected.

So just wanted to share my experience, and so grateful to Art and this forum, and many Ferrari friends along the way, I am blessed to have the chance to enjoy this manual mid-engined flat-plane crank Ferrari V8, and thanks again to EAG and their dedicated workers who made this happen and for completing the job in these difficult times for everyone.

I hope that Ferrari brings back a normally aspirated V8 mid-engine car, even if its' not the fastest, it will be a amazing addition that many purists would enjoy; something like the 911R, with a manual transmission.

 

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Two times and a half what it would have cost to change the F1 pump at your Ferrari dealer...
Worth every penny, call Art, some parts are becoming very difficult to source...

 

Things could have turned out differently If I had access to a local F1 specialist who could have pinpointed the issue and provided resolution at a reasonable cost ... in my case seemed to be heading down a rabbit hole...

 

It wouldn't shift beyond 2nd gear. It was not driveavle...

 

Sure thing, please DM me and happy to show you the car anytime!

 

The resale value did enter into my mind for a while in both positive and negative ways.

First, given the Vin# on the car showing it is originally an F1 transmission, I don't assume it will ever be as desirable as an original manual 6-spd from the factory to collectors and rightly so. I feel bad if any owners of original 6-spd feel slighted or if they are concerned it will rob them of the car's exclusivity or decrease demand.
The truth is the F1 F430 is an amazing beast, and I actually love its functionality and response; I think it marries well with the engine's response. However for me, growing up, I first became enamored with a Dino 206 at age of 5, then got interested in the Dino GT, 308 and its derivatives and listening to their being driven always involved a symphony of gear shifting double clutching etc.

After watching Martchettino's YouTube video on the F430 manual, David's Cironi's video on the 360 manual, and Smoking Tire's video on the F430 also, I started thinking of a creative way to avoid spending $10k to fix the F1 pump failure and time wasted dealing with what had become imperfect. Prior to that, I loved the F1 for what it was and it was working fine; after 3 weeks worrying and no time horizon or budget estimate for resolution I changed my approach out of impatience.
I realized that I would be getting a different car after the conversion and that started to appeal to me. I imagined a more involved drive and a more engaging experience but a different one nonetheless.

I am very happy with result and I suspect the car should have a higher resale value compared to before. One recent conversion sold for $135k but a more recent one only managed $115k likely because of timing and the current state of car sales.

One big factor is that the F430 came in both versions from the factory and the car is setup for both, unlike something like the 458 or newer cars.

Hope that helps ...

 

Hi, not sure but I'm sure he can tell you; definitely more than a handful

 

Art and EAG are involved in a number of interesting projects centering on 'saving the manual' and these include a manual transmission for the new Toyota Supra, which they have already achieved, and others such as a manual Huracan and also researching a possible manual 458. In addition, they have their usual business of service European cars for their local market. Art has been very responsive to queries but because of EAG's popularity and the various projects, completion of the conversion can take longer than a few weeks or a couple of months. That said, the pandemic certainly hasn't helped, But the final product is impressive and Kudos to his team to keep this going.