GKull:
I will have a 80-82 crossmembers in hand on Friday or Monday. If you think it will fit, I will get you one. I also have in stock and ready to ship, hydraulics for the C3. You won't have to worry about the brake lines and frame bracket. Let me know.

Richard
Tech Support
Keisler Engineering

 

The bird cage isn't too bad. It's got a couple small rust holes under the windshield in both corners.

What happened to the pedal box is water leaked in around the bolt holes (I guess that is in the cowl area) and a couple of the box's welded nuts are gone.

 

Chris,
Your Fed Ex tracking # is (9612019) 0563351 10000039 GND 019
You should be getting it today or Monday.
Bernie

 

Richard,
I'm sure everyone on the forum appreciates the help you are giving. This is the customer service we all can appreciate!
Bernie

 

why are you giving keisler praise in every thread??? are you affiliated w/ them or something?

 

I haven't given Kiesler praise in every thread, in fact, I said they would rip your head off charging high prices for their products in this thread. But everytime I have seen Richard get involved with one of their problems he has done what he should to fix it. If everyone at Keisler had his attitude and understood, as he does, the importance of and meaning of Customer Satisfaction; they would not have the poor reputation that is clearly evident in this forum. I don't think they are where they should be but it is good to see someone trying and I was letting Richard know that people do see it. It seems as though they do not stock much and order from their vendors as they receive orders. If this is the case their service will never improve. We have a saying in our industry; "you can't sell from an empty store". It is true for every business. Keisler is located in Knoxville and I could have bought from them easier than doing my T5 swap, but I wasn't satisfied with their service or their prices and saved $3,000.00. But they do have an excellent product and, at times good service. And Richard is one who seems to try to do the right thing.
We bash Keisler regularly and we should also recognize when someone is trying to better. They should know when they fail to satisfy their customers and I believe that we should recognize someone trying to help. I believe you will agree with this.
Bernie

 

Thank you very much for the kind words. I am trying to have a positive influence on everyone I work with and am confident that over time the public will see a difference. I do monitor this and other forums throughout the day everyday and am here to help anyone out there that I can whether they are our customer or not. To all out there.... If I can be of any help, please contact me directly at 865-609-8187 ext. 201 or by PM or customerservice@keislerauto.com

Richard
Tech Support
Keisler Engineering

 

I don't believe any of us enjoys making derrogatory comments about anyone or company. But we are very passionate about our hobby, resentful that the cost seems to go up when you say Corvette, then receive less than stellar service; which adds insult to injury. I know a lot of guys running TKO's and love them. But what they have gone thru and what others are still going thru to get their transmissions installed, missing parts, poor deliveries, unanswered calls (until this forum criticizes) should not be acceptable to the owners of Keisler and is not acceptable to the members of this forum. I applaud Richard for his caring attitude to his customers; but this attitude needs to come from the top of his company for it to succeed. Richard, don't give up, but if your ship sinks there are plenty of companies that appreciate what you offer.
Bernie

 

Alexarz

 

I believe that the important thing is that guys like George and Chris get treated fairly and receive what they pay for from Vendors like Keisler and the rest. The voices of this forum help make that happen. We are not the better business bureau but our words of criticizm and praize affect how our fellow members react to the treatment we all receive. Criticizm should be constructive, as well as, to the point. And if something good happens it should be recognized. I am in the customer service business and I make mistakes, but as a member of a team of individuals that strives for excellence with our customer service and an owner who advocates it; our competition can't touch us. This is a dedication and a process we perform everyday; it can't be occasional. Everyone reading this understands and seeks it; and it is really very easy to make happen. We seek perfection in what we do to our cars and we should expect the same from the people we spend our money with.
Bernie

 

Bernie,

It came this evening! It looks perfect, much better than my original! Now I don't have to try to weld that thin metal to fix the old one, or spend money on a new one. Thanks again!

 

Chris,
I'm glad that you are happy with the bracket and can use it. I will find out how much the freight was and let you . Don't worry about it until you hear from me. I can't wait to hear from you when you take your first drive!
Bernie

 

I don't understand why people spend the money by going to Keisler?? You can pick up a Tremec TKO for well under $2000 and the rest is simple. Any driveshaft company can shorten the driveshaft and in George's case I believe the 700R is already the correct length. You are just paying not to think or look for a few simple parts.
If you pay the type of money Keisler asks then yes I would expect everything to be just about perfect. By just about I mean little thing always need tweeking between cars but the basic's should be right there.
Hanlon motors will connect you with a cheap tremec and do some of your own legwork and save thousands,'
I have done 4 from scratch with nothing but the tranny and every time it was so simple to just buy a few parts from ANY autoparts store and wrecking yard that I shake my head everytime I see the name Keisler associated with this trany swap.

 

Norval, I have to agree with you. It should be perfect for what they charge.
Bernie

 

Norval, Kits are for people that don't want to find 10 parts at 10 different locations.

last night I spent 6.5 hours making a custom cross member. I wish that I had a plasma cutter, but I has to settle for the old torch. I'll be able to pass 4 inch oval exhaust pipes under the cross member.

They paid some big buck engineer from GM to design a pass through the cross member. When the best solution all along was an exhaust passing under.

I'm going to trial fit the tranny and then take it back off and paint it.

 

Until I get pictures of mine here is kind of what I made for a cross member. Before I had a 4 inch pipe pass through system outboard of the existing twin factory holes.

I used 7 inch 1/8 wall pipe to keep it lighter. This pictured unit used 6 inch 1/4 wall.

 

I did my own install of my TKO before many people considered a Tremec install. I did it all in my garage, learning and fabbing as I went along. At the time I would have loved if someone was offering a kit with some directions to point me in the right direction. While I did have some headaches at the time, I did solve any & all problems as they arose. I think it's great that there are now more people that have done this mod and can offer assistance. I did go from a 4spd so it was easier than swapping from any automatic

Nice loop George

 

Why don't you write a white paper for the forum on how to do the install without a kit? I would be very interested on how I could have a 5 speed for under $2000 without having to reinvent the wheel.
Your making it sound so simple.

 

It is extremely simple. I did alot on this subject over the winter. Doug/Carguy4sure and Bernie both were following my instructions and both posted alot on the subject. The T5 or the tremec is all basically the same installation.
George 10 different parts would probably do the entire installation.
Guy when I started doing these swaps in the late 90's there were no papers out on how to and yet it all seemed so simple at the time.
George you have a automatic so the crossmember is removable, It should have offered no problem doing anything you want to it.
All exhausts should pass under the crossmember , not through it, that was dumb idea by GM.
Write a paper, I don't think so. Like all papers they seem to get lost quickly and it has been documented over and over. You can post a paper this week and next week someone will come along and ask if it has ever been done before.
I just look at it as a $2000 install and yet guys will spend $5000 for the same thing with a different sticker on it. I run a Tremec TKO and it was $1740US at the time.

 

It seems like the most difficult part for a semi-novice is working around the silly non-removable cross member (at least on C2's). Why doesn't somebody (not Keister) make up some cross members with flanges and the exhaust below and supply a template to cut the cross member out correctly. It would make installation of a stock Tremec a lot simpler.