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

[dart4forte]

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?

You probably did. I was at the swap most of the weekend except for the few times I sat by my 71 Charger. Too bad we didn't meet up, maybe next year.

Where are the pics you took?

 

[daves66valiant]

You probably did. I was at the swap most of the weekend except for the few times I sat by my 71 Charger. Too bad we didn't meet up, maybe next year.

Where are the pics you took?

Yeah next year I will have my car done. Will be nice to show it and I'll make a point to meet up with other members.
Here are some of the pictures.

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=20426&highlight=spring+fling+****

 

[dart4forte]

Yeah next year I will have my car done. Will be nice to show it and I'll make a point to meet up with other members.
Here are some of the pictures.

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=20426&highlight=spring+fling+****

Did you see that 64 Dart 4 door? Those guys drove out from Virginia and ran the car at Willow Springs on that Thursday. That car runs like a scaulded dog!!!! Converted to BBP, 4 wheel disks, fuel injected S/6 with a Ford 5 speed. He went on the cruise on Friday and driving up Mulholland that thing can scoot!! I too will be back next year. I should have my 64 completed by then.

 

[daves66valiant]

Did you see that 64 Dart 4 door? Those guys drove out from Virginia and ran the car at Willow Springs on that Thursday. That car runs like a scaulded dog!!!! Converted to BBP, 4 wheel disks, fuel injected S/6 with a Ford 5 speed. He went on the cruise on Friday and driving up Mulholland that thing can scoot!! I too will be back next year. I should have my 64 completed by then.

Shoot I missed that one. That would have been a good site to see. I would love to do the Willow Springs if they have it again next year. I hope that they do. I'm getting psyched to have my car finished by the next Fall Fling. I'm at a stall point right now because my painter has been ultra slow. It's killing me. If you have pics of that 64 that would be cool.
Dave

 

[dart4forte]

Shoot I missed that one. That would have been a good site to see. I would love to do the Willow Springs if they have it again next year. I hope that they do. I'm getting psyched to have my car finished by the next Fall Fling. I'm at a stall point right now because my painter has been ultra slow. It's killing me. If you have pics of that 64 that would be cool.
Dave

They were posted on several of the springfling threads on Moparts

 

[daves66valiant]

This is my second attempt using my own template design on the real thing. The black lines near the floorboard were Keisler's original template overlaid on top of mine. I extended their lines by 3 inches and trimmed everything to fit my floor almost perfectly. No ridiculous gaps see previous pictures.. Keisler's floor shift sheet metal template is a waste of good metal. You are better off fabricating your own floor hump to better fit the floor of the early a-bodies. Too many large gaps are left with the template sent by Keisler. It's too bad that the early a-bodies are still the stepchild. :thebirdm:

More to come soon in the next couple months
Dave

First Try

2nd go at it

 

[fstfish66]

dave,, thats the new templet in the real car now???? the shifter wil come up in the middle of the hump,,,verses the side like a factory handle would ??

and chance you made a cardboard templet of urs ??keep us posted,,,

 

[Dodgenut64]

Also, have you messed with were the clutch pedal is? Are you gonna have to change anything there or will it all be the original stuff? I guess what im trying to say is, can i use an old set of clutch pedals from a early abody or will i have to buy keislers highly priced clutch pedal setup? Thanks

 

[Longgone]

Also, have you messed with were the clutch pedal is? Are you gonna have to change anything there or will it all be the original stuff? I guess what im trying to say is, can i use an old set of clutch pedals from a early abody or will i have to buy keislers highly priced clutch pedal setup? Thanks

I have their hydraulic clutch in my `68 Barracuda without changing anything. I did have to remove the overhead spring though. I would think you would be fine using the stock pedal set-up.

 

[daves66valiant]

dave,, thats the new templet in the real car now???? the shifter wil come up in the middle of the hump,,,verses the side like a factory handle would ??

and chance you made a cardboard templet of urs ??keep us posted,,,

I didn't keep the template. The carboard piece you see in the picture is what I made for the tail of the hump so it would fit snug so I would have very small gaps for welding. I took the rest of the keisler template design and extended it by 3 inches and trimmed it to fit my floor. Hope that helps some.

Also, have you messed with were the clutch pedal is? Are you gonna have to change anything there or will it all be the original stuff? I guess what im trying to say is, can i use an old set of clutch pedals from a early abody or will i have to buy keislers highly priced clutch pedal setup? Thanks

I'm using the stock pedals from my parts car. You should be fine. I'll keep the updates coming.

-Dave

 

[daves66valiant]

This is for those of you who plan on going with TTI's as your choice for expelling the gases from your early-a. I got the heads up from a member here on FABO that the passenger side TTI header extension hits the Keisler tranny mount. So, I mocked the X-pipes up to the headers and sure enough the pipe extension hits. Here is my modification of the mount. I think it turned out well.

please excuse my welds. doing better though

The welds are flatter than they look in the picture. :eye:

 

[memike]

Great looking work!! And your picture's sure look good to.
Looks like you kicked that part of the protects A$$ .
Keep it up.

 

[fstfish66]

dave all is looking good,,, nice pics of the tranny,,,bell housing,,,,and cross member,,,think ill send ,my cuda out to you when you are finished,,imagine how perfect mine would be since you have already figured out all there wrong crap,,,,,mine project is being delayed,,a little while,, but watching yours keep me wanting to get at it,,i have learned a lot about this conversion from you,, thanks man keep up the GREAT WORK,,,

 

[daves66valiant]

dave all is looking good,,, nice pics of the tranny,,,bell housing,,,,and cross member,,,think ill send ,my cuda out to you when you are finished,,imagine how perfect mine would be since you have already figured out all there wrong crap,,,,,mine project is being delayed,,a little while,, but watching yours keep me wanting to get at it,,i have learned a lot about this conversion from you,, thanks man keep up the GREAT WORK,,,

Thanks.

BTW. I'll get you that template sometime soon.

 

[rumblefish360]

Your weld looks good. Mine look like Fido's..a..ahem, you know.
I also hate welding upside down on my back all cramped up, but, it's done.

 

[Dodgenut64]

Man, thats coming along well.

 

[kenabody]

Wow!
I am happy to see that there are so many people interested in doing this swap. I am finishing up a similar swap, and hope to fire up for the first time this Saturday (1 Sept). I am running PS with my car. Using the PS pump from a late model van (ala Savvy Savoy) and a '65 PS box, I completed the PS hookup with a high pressure hose only 11-3/4" long. Can supply details.......
Kenabody

 

[fstfish66]

kenabody,,lets hear about this swap,,,,see some pics if you can,,,

early A,s rule

 

[daves66valiant]

Well Keisler is officially a bunch of hackers out to screw us over with their shitty work. The tremec is an awesome tranny but their kit sucks ***. So is their claim of "no hack job" This is a direct quote from their website: "BOLT IN REPLACEMENT – Engineered for NO CUTTING or ALTERATION of the car body or frame" :cussing: Total BS. Check out what I had to do to make mine fit. I'm still having trouble getting the motor to sit in the stock position so the tti headers will fit properly.

I have had to pull the engine and tranny 3 times.:cussing::cussing: I figured as much with all the bad press Keisler got on Moparts.com. I bought everything before I found the mopar forums.

At least my system

for installing the engine and tranny together is working out really well and saves the old back. Plus I can do it by myself.

Here is what I had to do to get things to finally fit. Although the headers hit the center link and idler arm on the passenger side even in the stock position. At least TTI lets you know ahead of time that you may need shims. Which I did and now it clears. The first picture was the first install. Keisler modified tranny does not clear rear crossmember. I cut the lip showing in the first set of pics and massaged a bit.

The second set of pictures is the 3rd time I pulled everything. I had to hack out half of the rear crossmember hoop. I was able to dog ear and weld the bottom portion to maintain structural integrity and strength. This was about an inch thick and allowed plenty of clearance afterwards. I also found that the firewall pinch weld needs to be flatted a bit to clear a spot. You need a BAMFH to massage the bellhousing tunnel for the Lakewood. I may go back and weld up some sheetmetal.

Afterwards I tried everything again and I still have some issues.
BTW it is best to have the power steering hose attached and have the hydraulic slave installed loosely beforehand as well. You'll never get it in with the headers already installed.

I'm keeping the patience alive because I know the tranny is not the problem. Keisler did not do me any favors with their kit. Maybe I'll do them a favor and give them an ear full and a link to this thread. :goodman:

 

[moparlee]

It looks like you doing some killer work there. That exhaust really looks killer. I wish that I would of done the blow proof bell. I would like a ride in that.

 

[Dodgenut64]

Do you think ill have as much problems as you have had, if i use stock exhaust manifolds and a single exhaust line? I still cant believe you had to mess with the trans tunnel so much. Still, im thinking a 5 speed is worth it.

 

[daves66valiant]

Do you think ill have as much problems as you have had, if i use stock exhaust manifolds and a single exhaust line? I still cant believe you had to mess with the trans tunnel so much. Still, im thinking a 5 speed is worth it.

This is a big job with lots of little modifications as I go along. There is another FABO member that I've kept in touch with and we have been sharing our experiences. He had to modify the rear crossmember and tranny tunnel as well. I have not seen pictures of his work but I think it is very similar. He said they did weld some extra sheet metal which is what I may do today to make things look cleaner, even though I think it is strong enough the way it is.

As to your question of having a single exhaust line and stock manifolds...you should go dual exhaust for sure. I don't think it would be a big deal to just have a muffler shop bend up the pipes for you. I would modify the transmission mount so you can tuck the passenger side pipe up into the chassis more if you plan you use a 904 or 727 with dual exhaust.

The 5-speed tremec TKO-500 transmission is an awesome transmission. The Keisler kit for the early a-body has lots of problems as you can see. Once the transmission is in and the car is running I know for a fact it will have been the best improvement that I could have ever made to the car besides new disc brakes. People that I have talked to absolutely love the 5-speed. It is a whole new car afterwards. For me, I know it will be well worth all the headaches and hard work in the end. Plus I have learned so much over the past year and believe this is what hot rodding is all about. Trial and error. I say go for it on the 5-speed and be prepared for some hang ups along the way. Ramble Ramble

Dave

 

[Granny's Duster]

Hi, I recently finished a Keisler 5 speed install in my '75 Duster. I ran into all the same problems you did especially with the part of the torsion bar crossmember that's over the transmission. I also cut a substantial notch in the crossmember and then welded in a piece of angle iron to gain enough clearance. Later I saw Lou Santiago on Muscle Car on Spike TV make his own crossmember for a Chebby. Another idea would be to cut the torsion bar crossmember completely out where it starts to hit the trans, weld a plate flush on each side where you cut out the crossmember, then bend a piece of tubing to go over the trans and weld it to the plates. This would give you clearance and strength, IMHO.
Now that it's all done, I love it! I have 3.23's in the rear but it still launches hard and I can cruise down the freeway 75 mph at 2000 rpm.

 

[daves66valiant]

Yeah it just burns me up that they claim you do not need to cut the frame. I hope to be in your shoes soon...cruising down the freeway at 75 in the 2500 rpm range since I'm running 3.91s. I bet nobody is going to be able to win the grab the dollar bill off the dash board trick. haha.

This is the part that keeps me encouraged. People who are happy with how the tranny performs.

 

[Granny's Duster]

With 3.91's you better buy some more tires!