Resently purchased a Trans Kit from Keisler, of course it was the biggest and baddest they offer. Viper T-56 for a 1st gen Camaro with a SBC. After waiting over 3 months to get the kit, seems im not getting any love from the tech/cust service dept. But they sure answer the Sales line in a hurry. Today is Wednesday. i called last Friday Regaurding a few issues im having, and still havnt heard a word or a phone call back. One question was about the pilot bearing they supplied. It was incorrect, too big on the i.d. side, you could place it on the input shaft and rattle it around a 1/4 inch. I've cured this by paying $18 at GM and getting a stock one. Other problem i was having was the single hydrolic line that feeds the t/o bearing assembly from the slave cylinder has a huge kink in it right at one of the bends. I was told from someone at keisler that if i could blow in it and it held pressure it would be just fine. Blew my mind. Another problem im having is that with the correct pilot bearing installed now. It seems the input shaft of the trans doesnt go in far enough. With the bearing installed flush with the crank.. only goes in about half way, according to my measurements. And another thing, how am i suspost to check the bellhousing alignment. From what i can tell to get the bellhousing off, ill have to remove the factory installed hyd. t/o bearing assembly, and some kind of spacer/mounting plate for the hyd. t/o bearing... then take the 1st piece of the bellhousing off (closest to the engine) then it looks like another part off the bellhousing thats factory siliconed to the transmission??? does any of this sound right ? a 2 piece bellhousing? Awful lot of work, i remember when i was ordering the transmission i was told that they rarely ever hear of a case where thier bellhousings dont line up perfectly. My engine builder suggested setting 6 long 3/8 studs on the back of the engine and sliding the trans in w/o the clutch/flywheel attached and look thru one of the holes to see how the input shaft goes into the pilot bearing. Said that if it had more than the .005 tolerance allowed that it wouldnt want to go in easy.

Any info be much appreciated/.

Thanks,
=)

I went through hell with these guys , Good Luck

Gene is on here once in a while, username keislergene . His email is gene@keislerauto.com

Sure wouldn't hurt to drop him a line directly. He seems to be fairly responsive.

I used to be with Keisler and have a lot of technical service experience concerning their systems. I now own a company that sells transmission systems. If I can offer any tech help for things that you still have issues with, I will be glad to help. :D

You can also e-mail Richard at customerservice@keislerauto.com. He is very good about helping as much as possible, but sometimes he is over run with requests.

Damn, now you have me nervous. Last week i ordered the perfectfit tko 600 kit. Should be a little easier install than a t56 but i would like to know how you turn out with these guys, good luck man!

Damn, now you have me nervous. Last week i ordered the perfectfit tko 600 kit. Should be a little easier install than a t56 but i would like to know how you turn out with these guys, good luck man!

If you get too freaked out let me know and I will have you a more complete kit out the door in less than 48 hours with 24 hour a day support and a lower price. In fairness, the Keisler kit is a good system, and the 5-speed does go in easier than the 6-speed. Let me know!

Interesting - when I was working with Keisler on my kit they were always available to discuss tech issues and never had to retun a call later. They had a couple techs at the time who seemd to care and try hard to assist.

However, my big complaint is that they sent me a heavy duty clutch fork with my kit that wouldn't work with a first gen camaro which caused me tons of grief and wasted time. I did all the leg-work on proving that it wouldn't work properly and even discussed with Lakewood who made it and their tech expert said - nope won't work on first gen. For my assistance with improving their product and the grief it cuased, Keisler sent me a shifter-ball that doesn't fit with any of the adaports that it came with. I'm doing their R&D as an amateur mechanic for them trying to install their kit and figured out a major problem with it and one of the head office-guys can only afford to send me a shifter ball that doesn't fit for my pain/reward.

If you did purchase their kit don't be too worried - just verify (like above person with pilot-bearing issue) that all is appropriate and intended parts are correct along the way. They do put out some good stuff but could benefit from improving their resources to guide installers and verifying al parts in kits are appropriate for intended vehicles. Use this forum for help as well - many knowledgeable people here who've been there done that. I wish I knew about it when I did my auto to 5spd. retrofit.

Here it is Thusday pm and still no calls no love... Yea im not feeling it at all.

Next time go with Classic Chevy for the 5 speeds, and ATS for the T56. We never have the fitment issues that Kiesler seems to always have with the stuff they put out.

Good luck with the install and let me know if I can help.

Tyler

Next time go with Classic Chevy for the 5 speeds, and ATS for the T56. We never have the fitment issues that Kiesler seems to always have with the stuff they put out.

Good luck with the install and let me know if I can help.

Tyler

Just getting up to date haven't been here in a while.

Couple of things 1st

There is no company Other than Keisler who can put a t56 into a 1st gen Camaro and have the shifter come in the correct location with out mods to your car.

5speed fanatic lets not go there on here!!!!

I am not aware of a customer locally with a 1st gen Camaro t56 kit please send me your name. I WILL BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO HELP.


Picking up the phone typically always gets a response from us 1st.

I talked with tech and I am not really sure who you are all I can gather is Jay from Knoxville Tn.

We have a lead time on all of our kits for many good reasons.

The T56 1st gen kits typically have a longer lead time. Currently We are putting them on hold due to limited availability on usable cores.


If anyone has any questions please call or email me direct.

Gene Charsha
865.609.8187 ext 211
gene@keislerauto.com

Here it is Thusday pm and still no calls no love... Yea im not feeling it at all.

Funny...I don't remember talking to anyone recently with a Viper kit in Knoxville that was having issues. I am working with a guy in Michigan right now, who had the wrong pilot bearing sent out by mistake but that was easily corrected.
Did you talk to me or leave me a message?
As for the braided steel line on the hydraulic kit, it does have bends in it down where the hard line is. It is made that way and is not a kink(unless it was damaged in shipping).
There is no way to do a bell housing run out check on the viper kit. It does not use a standard bell housing. It uses a clutch housing that bolts directly to the adapter plate and does not have a register hole. The only think you need to concern yourself with is the stackup height so that the slave is positioned correctly.
Please give me a name and phone number and I'll be glad to call you and see what we can do to correct your issues.



Richard
Tech Support

I just got done installing a Keisler TKO500 in my '68 RS convert. I worked with Gene from Keisler and he was always there to help, and referred me to a tech guy who was equally helpful. All email questions were returned the same day. They had the best price and product in my opinion. The ONLY problem I had was a bad throwout bearing. In the first 20 miles of driving it started making noise, major bummer! Gene sent a second one right away, but man that's a second trans pull! When I pulled the first one out, it looked bone dry like it had been solvent washed or something. Wierd. Everything is good now, except Gene if you're reading this, when are the 5-speed console plates going to get made?