Keisler 5-speed conversion on Early A-body: Install has begun

[dart4forte]

I asked the mod if we could get our threads stickied

 

[abodyjoe]

looks great.. keep the updates coming.

 

[daves66valiant]

Here is the next update. I trimmed the foam and laid down the carpet to see how it fit. Well, everything seemed a little tight but there was enough room that I will not need to replace the carpet..thank God.

Here are the photos with the tranny,shifter and front bench seat :love4:

 

[Longgone]

Dave ,is the spray foam you used, just like the kind you`d buy at the home improvement stores to seal around pipes, etc.?

 

[daves66valiant]

Had to do a little grinding on the Tremec to get it to fit into the tunnel. The tranny mount tabs were hitting the inside of the torsion bar support rail, which was preventing me from being able to bolt on the tranny crossmember mount. Also in the picture with the bellhousing the tranny seems to sag a little low. Hopefully my trimming remedies this problem and the tranny will sit a little higher into the firewall. The tranny came with the tab pre-shaved from Keisler but it was not enough. I'm not going to shave anymore for now and see how it goes with the convertible. There might be a little bit more variability/tolerance in that car.

Lakewood Housing

Here are the trimming before and after pictures. You may or may not need to do this on your vehicle. I only needed a 1/4" more clearance in the tunnel to get the tranny crossmember bolts in.

Unitl the next update :salute:

 

[daves66valiant]

Dave ,is the spray foam you used, just like the kind you`d buy at the home improvement stores to seal around pipes, etc.?

Yeah the same exact stuff. You are supposed to spray paint it afterwards. Don't know if they make an automotive kind that is better.???

 

[Longgone]

Haven`t seen any , thought maybe you did though. Lol. I`m almost ready to take the cutting wheel to my floor but I`m waiting to see what kind of problems you encounter. Meanwhile Keisler is reworking my bellhousing. They`re pretty weird about bellhousing runout when it comes to their warranty ,huh?

 

[daves66valiant]

looks great.. keep the updates coming.

Thanks Joe. Loved the RMS setup. Does Bill have one for the Early A guys?

 

[daves66valiant]

Haven`t seen any , thought maybe you did though. Lol. I`m almost ready to take the cutting wheel to my floor but I`m waiting to see what kind of problems you encounter. Meanwhile Keisler is reworking my bellhousing. They`re pretty weird about bellhousing runout when it comes to their warranty ,huh?

They will VOID the warranty if the RUNOUT is greater than 0.005" I would hate to have some vibration problems because I failed to perform this procedure. Also, I want a long life out of this tranny. I spent big bucks and I'll be damned if I screw it up over something that really wasn't that hard to do.

Cut away. Yours may be easier than mine since it's a later A body. You might have more room to work with under the car. Goodluck, and I'll be sure to post any pitfalls of course. Everything so far has been pretty mild. Just gotta stick to the "take your time" approach.
-dave

 

[dart4forte]

Had to do a little grinding on the Tremec to get it to fit into the tunnel. The tranny mount tabs were hitting the inside of the torsion bar support rail, which was preventing me from being able to bolt on the tranny crossmember mount. Also in the picture with the bellhousing the tranny seems to sag a little low. Hopefully my trimming remedies this problem and the tranny will sit a little higher into the firewall. The tranny came with the tab pre-shaved from Keisler but it was not enough. I'm not going to shave anymore for now and see how it goes with the convertible. There might be a little bit more variability/tolerance in that car.

Lakewood Housing

Here are the trimming before and after pictures. You may or may not need to do this on your vehicle. I only needed a 1/4" more clearance in the tunnel to get the tranny crossmember bolts in.

Unitl the next update :salute:

Man Dave, looks like you did a bit more fab than i did. My problem is that I'm using Schumacker mounts and since they use polygraphite pucks it raises the motor about a 1/4". That really makes a difference when installing a motor with a deep pan. Oh, and I moved the mounts back. Obviously that made all the difference in the world on firewall clearance.

 

[daves66valiant]

Dart4forte,
I'm using the Schumacker mounts as well. I can see where that 1/4" would make a big difference. I have a stock 340 pan. Hope that I don't need a different pan or have to notch the K-frame. I don't think I will have too since i already have the original V8 dropped center.

 

[dart4forte]

You won't have to notch if using the stock pan, even the 340 pan. I'm using the Milodon deep sump pan with the kick-outs. I'll get you some pics as to where i had to notch. Basicly we are going to eliminate the curved portion on the K-frame and put some gussets in to reinforce.

 

[fstfish66]

dave your doing a great job,, looks great with or with out the carpet,,
love the spray foam idea,,could be a new demension in auto insulation,,,,
wanna do mine????

 

[urchinhead]

What was the total amount you paid for the Keisler kit including the hydraulic clutch assembly and shipping? Did you have to buy a new shifter as well, or did it come with one?

 

[daves66valiant]

What was the total amount you paid for the Keisler kit including the hydraulic clutch assembly and shipping? Did you have to buy a new shifter as well, or did it come with one?

$4726 in March 2005. Base price was $2995. Got a bunch of upgrades. Lakewood housing, Hydraulic Clutch Kit, Performance 550hp Clutch package, Poly tranny mount, billet steel flywheel, flywheel bolts, hurst shifter and boot etc. and $125 for shipping to Cali. You can obviously spend less without the extras. Adds up quick but it will be worth it when it is all done. The life of my engine and pleasure of driving will be much greater.

 

[urchinhead]

I'm starting with a 4-speed '64 Dart GT ( factory V8 ), so it should be little different. I've been looking at the Keisler kits on their website, but I can tell that I'll need more that what their "complete" kit includes. I would like to keep my Hurst 4-speed shifter, but it looks like the one they sell is much more complicated, with an additional bend in the handle. ??? I'll need to buy the actuator (hydraulic ) kit separately, and it looks like my clutch needs to be reused/replaced. Do I have to change the bellhousing? I will call for a quote, but any further input would be appreciated.

 

[Longgone]

You can send your bellhousing to Keisler and they will machine it to work with their transmission. You can also keep your shifter handle if you`d like, as long as it`s the 2 bolt connection and not the push in type. The Tremec shifter is internal. Keisler will supply the throw out bearing, m/c, slave cylinder, and all the plumbing for the hydraulic clutch. I believe the clutch and pressure plate they use is a Chevrolet size to fit both the input shaft and the flywheel. Dave can correct me if I`m wrong about that. Call Keisler and talk to Gene in sales ,he can give you all the 411. Let us know what you come up with.

 

[daves66valiant]

I'm starting with a 4-speed '64 Dart GT ( factory V8 ), so it should be little different. I've been looking at the Keisler kits on their website, but I can tell that I'll need more that what their "complete" kit includes. I would like to keep my Hurst 4-speed shifter, but it looks like the one they sell is much more complicated, with an additional bend in the handle. ??? I'll need to buy the actuator (hydraulic ) kit separately, and it looks like my clutch needs to be reused/replaced. Do I have to change the bellhousing? I will call for a quote, but any further input would be appreciated.

Longgone is correct.

 

[Longgone]

I finished the install of the slave and master cylinder today. The bolt that holds the hose bracket to the bellhousing is too long to go in the bottom hole (as it must) so it will need to be washered or cut off. I just cut mine off. The new master cylinder went in without a hitch but getting that pin out of the clutch pedal was a mutha! The m/c shaft was too short ,but that was okay because I had the B-body m/c that had the adjustment rod. I just used a piece off it and I was good to go again. The slave cylinder is supposed to mount on the drivers side of the brake m/c but I couldn`t put it there on account of the voltage regulator and the fact that the firewall protrudes out right there. I caught hell trying to get the bracket on the back of the bellhousing opening cover to not spin when tightening it. When you have the Lakewood bellhousing, you can`t get to it. Oh yeah, the braided hose line has metric ends, so have some wrenches ready. I`m sure there`s more but I thought I`d prep you on a couple things I found. Regards- Longgone

 

[urchinhead]

I'll call Gene tomorrow, but I would like to know a little more about the shifter;
I want to keep the handle because it is the original two-bolt Hurst unit that the car came with - but - are there some major benefits to the redesigned Keisler shifter with a big extra bend as far as comfort and/or performance?

 

[daves66valiant]

I finished the install of the slave and master cylinder today. The bolt that holds the hose bracket to the bellhousing is too long to go in the bottom hole (as it must) so it will need to be washered or cut off. I just cut mine off. The new master cylinder went in without a hitch but getting that pin out of the clutch pedal was a mutha! The m/c shaft was too short ,but that was okay because I had the B-body m/c that had the adjustment rod. I just used a piece off it and I was good to go again. The slave cylinder is supposed to mount on the drivers side of the brake m/c but I couldn`t put it there on account of the voltage regulator and the fact that the firewall protrudes out right there. I caught hell trying to get the bracket on the back of the bellhousing opening cover to not spin when tightening it. When you have the Lakewood bellhousing, you can`t get to it. Oh yeah, the braided hose line has metric ends, so have some wrenches ready. I`m sure there`s more but I thought I`d prep you on a couple things I found. Regards- Longgone

Hey thanks for the update. Glad we could help each other out. My setup is slightly different with the early a, but I hope I dont have to many issues with the Lakewood and the bracket you are talking about. I'll keep this updated. Thanks again
dave

 

[dart4forte]

Hey Dave, did you make it to Springfling?

 

[Longgone]

Hey Dave, I got the trans in and "OH MY GOD"..............this is a bad !@#$%^&*. With the 3.91 ring and pinion, 1st gear is like a 4.23 and after all the stoplight to stoplight stuff ,you can drive right up on the interstate. Wow ,this is the most drastic and profound change I`ve made to the car and I wish I would have done it first. Between the trans (and the extra 60 cubes I added) the car is just amazing. A couple things you might do when you install yours is to install your speedo cable as you bolt up the rear crossmember because you`ll have a hell of a time doing it later if you don`t. If you`re not going to use the electronic speedo simply cut it off with a hacksaw because it gets in the way. The neutral safety switch can go the same way if your not going to use it. I just cut the pigtail off mine. The crossmember ,oddly enough ,fit much better one way than the other ? I did have a leak at the top cover which was remedied with RTV, so you`ll want top be careful on install that you don`t bump them. They`re pretty light stuff and don`t take any bumps well. I also removed the center hump (Keisler supplied sheet metal) that I initially put in and fabbed a much smaller piece that kept the contours of my carpet closer to what they were. Keisler didn`t have a shifter for use with the console so I`m searching for something now that`ll work. In the meantime I`ve made one from a 5/8 anchor bolt. I think you`ll be happy with the trans/transformation in your car. We`ll be waiting to see how things progress.Regards- John

 

[daves66valiant]

Hey Dave, did you make it to Springfling?

Yeah I was at the Spring Fling. I posted a bunch of pictures. Sorry I didn't see you there. I probably walked right by ya. How are things?

 

[daves66valiant]

Hey Dave, I got the trans in and "OH MY GOD"..............this is a bad !@#$%^&*. With the 3.91 ring and pinion, 1st gear is like a 4.23 and after all the stoplight to stoplight stuff ,you can drive right up on the interstate. Wow ,this is the most drastic and profound change I`ve made to the car and I wish I would have done it first. Between the trans (and the extra 60 cubes I added) the car is just amazing. A couple things you might do when you install yours is to install your speedo cable as you bolt up the rear crossmember because you`ll have a hell of a time doing it later if you don`t. If you`re not going to use the electronic speedo simply cut it off with a hacksaw because it gets in the way. The nuetral safety switch can go the same way if your not going to use it. I just cut the pigtail off mine. The crossmember ,oddly enough ,fit much better one way than the other ? I did have a leak at the top cover which was remedied with RTV, so you`ll want top be careful on install that you don`t bump them. They`re pretty light stuff and don`t take any bumps well. I also removed the center hump (Keisler supplied sheet metal) that I initially put in and fabbed a much smaller piece that kept the contours of my carpet closer to what they were. Keisler didn`t have a shifter for use with the console so I`m searching for something now that`ll work. In the meantime I`ve made one from a 5/8 anchor bolt. I think you`ll be happy with the trans/transformation in your car. We`ll be waiting to see how things progress.Regards- John

That's awesome John. Glad you are happy with the car. I can't wait to get mine going. I'm going to change the floor sheetmetal as well so my carpet sits down better. I knew about the electronic speedo and figured I would unscrew it and clock it so it is out of the way. I don't need the neutral safety switch either. I'll just keep it capped in case I ever use it. Yea the tranny mount only fits one way on my car. Great advise on installing the speedo cable...thanks. The other thing I heard from TTI at the spring fling was you have to make sure the tail shaft angle is just right...otherwise the tti headers and tti exhaust will have trouble mounting up properly. I may have to shim the poly mount to get a good angle. I'll have everything on a cradle so I'll be able to see everything pretty well before it goes under the car.

I hope to have my car back home in a couple of weeks. It's on the home stretch from the painter. :headbang:

Thanks again for all the advise. I'm sure that I will be keeping in touch.

Dave