hey guys, So i have to vent!! Please listen. I cant stand this keisler engineering for one more minute. First of all the customer service is absolutely garbage. I call for tech and shipping questions and they first put me on hold for 15 minutes, I call back and get the same guy who i just asked for tech support, and he says to me "im sorry what was your question again?" Are you serious? he said that he was going to ask someone who new a bit better then him. Then my trans was a full month late, ordered a clutch kit, that was thirty days out even after the 2 weeks that they said it was on back order. and it took me one week to find out. the one customer service guy kept telling me htat there was nothing that he could do for me and he couldnt find out. So finally I get the head of the sales dept. he tells me all of the info that i need, they were going to give me a different clutch that was "on the shelf" and was going to ship the next day. Apparently that guy never even wrote up the order. just told me these things and hung up the phone. another week! I was sitting and waiting for parts I flipped when i found out that there was no order written up for me. I get the clutch, wrong one! Get another clutch from the speed shop around me, put the trans in, wrong trans mount. Can they get anything right? oh yea this whole time they keep telling me that i have to give my driveshaft measurements, i have a stock rear, i told them that on many occasions. on all of those occasions that was ignored. the driveshaft came as the clutch came. a full 4 weeks after the trans got here. we all know that a trans can not go in a car with out a clutch. now i think that the driveshaft is too short.


Now the real problem. can you guys help with this. Everything is in. everything is screwed up. the tail shaft and yoke are not in the center of the car. I have a 71 by the way. No matter what i do i cant center up the tail shaft in the tunnel. the shifter mount is too far forward (hitting the front of the hole) and also about 1/8" to the passenger side. All of this resulting in the yoke hitting the floor in the passenger side. way too far off. I tried moving the motor, mounts will not give me any room at all. the yoke sticks out of the trans about 2 1/2". does anyone think that is too much. how far should it be. If the shaft was longer it would be in the part of the tunnel where there is a bulge for the yoke. I tried all day to get a hold of keisler but it is like they are avoiding my phone calls. Unbvelievable! any guidance will be great.

All in all im sorry that this is a long winded post, but i had to vent. I think it is safe to say that everyone needs to stay away from this keisler engineering. my slster could do a better job engineering then these people and she is 16. What a nightmare

 

Your not alone. Been a few of these lately. For the money that these kits cost you would think they really would be close to a bolt in. Did you see the other new thread 'Tremec 5 Speed'....similar alignment issues. You might want to jump over there.

 

Sorry to hear of your misfortune.......... Keep in mind if someone tells you "this is a direct bolt in on a C3", you can assume it isn't.

 

sorry about your problem

 

I think everyone is finding out that the tranny and shaft are shifted somewhat toward the passenger side of the tunnel. This leaves room for the parking brake mechanism on the driver's side. Some of the others were having problems with the yoke hitting the tunnel and carved out some of the excess fiberglass in that area (they mentioned that some cars had a "bulge" of fiberglass there). Almost every car is different.

It could also be that your car and frame had been damaged long ago which might explain the misalignment. I can't see any way you could move the engine forward or back for adjustment unless you have the wrong engine mounts or a different bellhousing. Also, my transmission support bracket had round holes. It looks like they are shipping them with elongated holes now. Is there any adjustment left or right using those holes?

My setup from Keisler pretty much bolted right in with the shifter exactly in the right spot and the drive shaft the perfect length.

 

well for what it's worth when i pulled the body of my 75 to do the backhalf i relized they are all off center from the factory. the motor and tranny are actually about 2 inches toward the passenger side and the diff is off center about a half inch. thats the center of the diff not where the drive shaft goes.the drive shaft is about another half inch off centerline towards the passenger side. this is just from my memory and i havent been out thwere for a couple of months. ( to hot) to measure latly.the keisler kit for my 65 fit in pretty good. tight but good.
good luck
greg

 

Absolutely agree about the customer service, i called and called, wrote multiple emails and would get a response in days. I had so many problems that this can not be called a kit. It was so bad that they had never sold one to an 80 before and i had to send them my xmember so they could figure out how to make it work since their tranny mount is made for a welded in xmember. I could go on and on about a driveshaft that was too long, a slip yoke that was too big around to slide in the end, the same slip yoke that is physically too big to fit in the tunnel without hitting the tunnel no matter how far you could push it over to the left (i had to dent the tunnel to make it fit), a tranny that leaked like a sieve causing me to remove it, take it apart and seal it the way it should have been done but can't get too negative with a supporting vendor.

ps - the xmember i sent to them so they could figure out how to make their tranny mount fit didn't fit. I have to shim it 3/8" else it will ride on the xmember, hmm wonder what this has done to the pinion angles. When i took the tranny apart (tailhousing) there was no sealant, just metal to metal.

 

On these installations the practical man must take over from the engineers.....be patient...this forum has good info on this topic,and you will find the solutions you need...with that said,I'm going with Richmond...

 

so what you guys are saying is that you did not correct the problem of the yoke hitting the floor? you just carved out a p;ace for it to spin? that doesnt seem like a good idea to me. pinion angles are going to be changed now. has anyone noticed a problem with this? how much of the yoke should be showing? vette-for-life we need to talk. seems like u have a lot of info.

 

Be careful with changing angles from factory! All the RWD cars I've seen have ALWAYS had the engine/tranny shifted slightly over to the right in the back. If you force it to the middle the angles will be different.

In my opinion a correct Tremec TKO installation requires floor mods. If you don't modify the floor the rear of the tranny will be too low and angles will be wrong. To get the tranny up properly the floor needs to be cut under the console and on the right side to clear the yoke. I riveted a plate over the side hole and used a screw on a plate for the under-the-console hole.

Keisler claims installation with no floor mods, but their drive line angles are off. Will it lead to problems? I don't know, but I do know it is not correct.

 

I wouldnt say that I it was an easy job of an install but I did not have any of the problems that you are referring to. (But), first they sent the wrong tranny, then sent the right one. I had in all in otherthan the driveshaft, guess what?, wrong shaft. They did send another out overnight, there expense. As for now, the tranny works very well and everything did line up as I expected without alot of grinding. Mine went into a 75, 3.36 and went with the tko500. Alot better cruising at 75mph at 2000rpms instead of 3300.

 

i sent you a pm since negative comments about supporting vendors isn't tolerated too well around here, i probably posted too much negativity already.

 

Mine took four hours to install. It does not leak. It shifts great. It does not vibrate. My calls and emails were always answered.

Oh yeah, my centerforce clutch is fine, too.

Why is it I seem to have all the good luck? Maybe I make my own?

 

Deal with the maybe?

 

That is
If you pay that much it should fit...

I am not comforted, this is something I am about to do...

 

I just looked at the Richmonds... Are they fairly stout, how about a manual conversion with one of their six-speeds?



I haven't seen them mentioned much on the forum, everyone is talking about the T-5 and TKO....How do the Richmonds measure up...Price?

 

Don't feel so BAD, I tried to buy parts for my T56 swap, and the sales guy was a real jerk

He said If I did not buy their complete kit, I could not have the parts I needed for my swap. And All I wanted was their clutch pedal assembly ...

But honestly, just because I had my own trans, did not give him the right to flare up, on buying keisler parts , I will never deal with them.

 

Problems? Like vibrati ons, then leaks, then needing to be rebuilt shortly after one year of use?

I can't say for sure where the vibrations are comming from. It's nothing major, but I guess after all the money I spent on the engine and transmission I expected it to run like a lexus.

I noticed a couple small leaks from the transmission about a year after it was installed. I took it to a local transmission shop to have them look at it. Well they told me it would be about $750 to RR and fix the leaks, after they got it opened they saw that it needed to be rebuilt, and the clutch was way too weak for the task and needed to be replaced (Keisler recommended that particular clutch), Then they labor went WAY over their wildest dreams! So it ended up costing me over $3000 to fix a year old transmission.

I'm happy to have a 5 speed
I'm happy that I didn't have to cut my car up

But I wish I had the skill to do what Zwede and some others have done. Just cut the car and make my own kit, that truly is a custom fit, and save thousands of dollars in the process.

I don't know why I am so parinoid about making permanate changes to the car... It's not like it's an L88 or something

The only real value my car has is the smile it puts on my face when I drive it

~Jay

 

I would like to think supporting vendors would not be afraid of complaints on a forum. In fact I would think that they would welcome the opportunity to help correct a problem.

 

Street 5 speed under $2000.00 I think they are a good transmission for the money....don't know about the 6 speed...Stout ? Well, I have been banging shifts on my original Borg Warner Super T-10 and have not had any problems in 122,000 miles...think the Richmond will be as good based on some owner feed back I got...I've not seen comments on forum....
Rich