Definitely do it through KRC and not directly with Keisler. The big problem
with Keisler is they have a bad habit of advertising/selling products they
don’t actually have in stock. I purchased a Keisler kit for my 67 Barracuda at
Carlisle in 2002. I Spoke with Shafi Keisler and his brother Marc for over an
hour and was told several things that didn’t turn out the way I was led to
believe. First off, I was told it was a complete kit. One thing I stressed
with them was I didn’t want to have to wait for parts. Because I didn’t have a
garage and was planning on doing the swap at a friend’s shop, I wanted to be
able to take the car apart and put it back together in a weekend so not to
disrupt his business. They told me that I would have to remove the bell housing
from the existing 4-speed and send it to them to be machined for the new gear
box with a two week turn around. Or, I could purchase a pre-machined bell
housing from them and not have to wait. I could just send them my core and get
a credit after the swap. Since the goal was to do it in a weekend I opted for
their bell housing. When I eventually did receive their bell housing, it looked
like crap. They literally took a bell housing from a scrap pile, machined 4
small groves on it and mounted their plate on the back. It was a nice shiny
machined plate mounted to a bell housing covered with grease, dust and
cob-webs. No effort was made to clean it what so ever. What paint was on it
was mostly peeled or scratched off. Years ago, I threw out bell housings in
similar shape. As soon as I saw it, I removed their plate and had it abrasive
blasted and powered coated. Not that I was expecting them to go that far but I
would have expected them to at least put it in a parts washer for the amount I
paid. I bought a bell housing at a swap meet to send them back as a core. It
was in far better shape than the POS they sent me.
I was also told that I would have everything in hand in six weeks which would
have been the end of August 2002. In reality, the first parts didn’t start to
trickle in until the first week of October. Repeated calls to Marc just
produced excuses about supply problems.
When I inquired about the missing drive shaft, I was told that I had to supply
them with the required measurement before they would have it made and shipped.
Again with a two week turn around. This really pissed me off because I was
never told this when I ordered the kit. I was told the drive shaft was
included and if I purchased the bell housing, I would have “EVERYTHING” I
needed to do the swap in a weekend. I wasn’t the first person installing this
kit into an A-Body Barracuda, why didn’t they have this measurement on file?
So, I got the measurement from a guy on the MML who installed the kit in an
identical Barracuda Coupe and called to give Marc the measurement. After
supplying them with the measurement repeatedly via several calls, I finally
gave up and had a local shop build me a driveshaft. To date, I have never
received a drive shaft from Keisler though I havn't followed up in a while.
By December 2002, I had received two clutches but no pressure plate, the
gearbox, and about half the other required hardware. The optional shifter
handle I ordered was backordered until the spring though it wasn’t required for
the swap. When it finally did arrive, it was a piece of crap which required
work before it could be used. They had chrome plated over the very sloppy
threads and I had to clean them up with a die in order to screw the knob on.
Another delay, which was really of my own fault, was I changed my mind on a few
details while waiting for all the parts. Originally, I was planning on reusing
the original clutch Z-Bar linkage and while waiting for parts, I decided to use
their optional hydraulic clutch kit instead. I called to order that, was told
it was on back order and would have to wait a few months. After, repeated
calls, I was finally told that they were expecting a shipment from the supplier
so I ordered the hydraulic clutch kit. It never arrived and I eventually
canceled the order after a half a year of excuses.
I’m not the only one who has complained of delays, everyone who I have spoken
with who has installed the kit have described similar problems though not to
the extreme I had experienced. While I think their product is top notch, they
really need to work on delivering what/when they promise.
Walt
In article <BAY17-F37Ldvap3rlxE00034a77@hotmail.com>,
roadking_dakota@hotmail.com ("Zachary Burcham") writes:
>
>
> There was a guy on dakusa (MoFinWinley) that put a T56 in his GenIII 4.7 and
> had all kinds of trouble with their "bolt-on" kit. Took him months and lots
> of at-home fabbing. If you go through KRC to them, you should have much
> better luck, he was dealing directly with Keisler.
>
>
>
>
> >From: "TJ Goettner" <dakota52318@toad.net>
> >Reply-To: dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net
> >To: <dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net>
> >Subject: DML: Experience with Keisler??
> >Date: Sun, 19 Sep 2004 16:41:33 -0400
> >
> >
> >Just wondering if anyone has put one of the Tremec trannys in thier truck,
> >and how they like it. How was the istall, and how is thier service. I was
> >considering calling them on monday and asking them about putting one in my
> >2nd gen, but it would be a swap from an auto, so there would be more
> >involved.
> >
> >TJ
> >http://forums.atvconnection.com/Photos.cfm?ID=2972
> >dakota52318@toad.net
> >1992 Dakota
> >318, 4X4, Long Bed
> >46RH, MP Comp
> >Vortech SCer at 6#
> >Crane Ignition, Custom TB
> >DT Headers, 4350 lbs.
> >14.3@96.5 Best to Date.
> >
> >
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Oct 01 2004 - 11:38:59 EDT