7.19.2004
Last week I finished the installation of the Keisler hydraulic clutch actuator, the new transmission from Passon Performance, and a new clutch. I have a bunch of pictures of the process which I will post when I get a chance.
The Keisler clutch actuator kit finally arrived after over a month of waiting and more than 10 (not free) phone calls. I'm pretty sure the kit was sitting on their shelf the whole time (when I orrdered it they said it was in stock) and they just couldn't spare the time from putting together $5000 transmissions to mail it to me. When I finally did get the kit I got some decent support from the tech guy. The trick with Kiesler is NOT to talk to the main "customer service" guy who answers the phone and does supposed "order tracking" - he doesn't know anything, and repeats the same excuses over and over, and is infuriatingly polite in a really fake way that to me indicates he spends all day speaking to people in soothing tones instead of, say, looking in the inventory to see if they have something or not and why it hasn't shipped.
Also, in my experience no one from Keisler will ever return your messages - ever. So don't waste your time leaving a message. Keep trying until you get a person. For technical information, you need to talk to George at x 207 - he actually handles the parts and knows how they all go together. If you get the customer service guy, ask to speak to someone else. I'm not kidding. On average the phone calls to "customer service" were 15 or 20 minutes long, I always had to repeat my entire life story to the guy (even though it was the same guy each time) and the calls invariably ended in frustration and empty promises of "I'll look into it", "I'll raise the issue in our staff meeting", etc.
George was able to measure a part for me, to answer a question not appropriately addressed in the directions, and my phone calls were invariable under 4 minutes.
Anyways, enough about Keisler. On to the install.
One thing they don't mention until you actually get the directions is that you have to cut off part of the snout from your transmission's bearing retainer. This is described in a supplement for the 833 trans (the main directions are made for their 5-speed unit). They are a little vague about exactly how much to cut off, so I called George and he said the overall height of the retainer after you cut off the end is supposed to add up to 3" - that is, if the retainer is sitting on the ground pointing up, you would measure from the ground up 3" and that's where you cut. Sort of tricky to measure this but he also said it doesn't have to be exact. I used a hacksaw, as suggested, which was a bad idea because it ended up coming out crooked, and I had to grind on it with a Dremel tool for an hour to straighten it out.
Another thing that is not mentioned in the directions is that installing the trans will compress the hydraulic throwout bearing, and it is supposed to ride on the fingers of the clutch, which is different from a typical throwout bearing which is supposed to have a little free play.
Re-installing the transmission proved to be the most difficult part of the process, for 2 reasons:
1) I kept the dual exhaust w x-pipe in my car, which meant I had to angle the trans up through the pipes while sliding the input shaft in through the clutch and into the engine's crank. This was more difficult with the new throwout bearing in place, since it was much larger than the stock one. This reduced the clearance at a couple of critical points and made it much trickier to wiggle everything into place.
2) Once everything was lined up, the trans just WOULDN'T slide in the last inch or so. I wrestled with it for half a day, then posted on moparts.com, where it was suggested that I loosen the clutch bolts, even though I had already aligned it with the provided tool. This did the trick and the trans finally slid into place.
Another issue I ran into is that I had to cut the threaded parts of the heim join and the adjuster on the clutch master pushrod, since it was too long in stock form to fit between the pedal arm and the master. Once I cut these parts down to fit, now I can't get a full .030 of air gap at the clutch. This because I ended up shortening the throw of the master by cutting the rod. Again I contact George and he suggested drilling a new hole in the pedal arm below the original one. I'm not 100% sure this will work.
The pedal effort is very easy yet precise. Much better than the creaking mechanical linkage I had in there before. The shifting is very notchy, though. I'm not sure yet whether this is due to the clutch air gap being too low, or the shifter itself. I'm going to experiment with a different shifter at some point.
I have a weird noise that seems to come from the trans when decellerating, but only in 2nd gear. I'm still trying to track that down and I'm wondering if it might be u-joints. More later...
The Keisler clutch actuator kit finally arrived after over a month of waiting and more than 10 (not free) phone calls. I'm pretty sure the kit was sitting on their shelf the whole time (when I orrdered it they said it was in stock) and they just couldn't spare the time from putting together $5000 transmissions to mail it to me. When I finally did get the kit I got some decent support from the tech guy. The trick with Kiesler is NOT to talk to the main "customer service" guy who answers the phone and does supposed "order tracking" - he doesn't know anything, and repeats the same excuses over and over, and is infuriatingly polite in a really fake way that to me indicates he spends all day speaking to people in soothing tones instead of, say, looking in the inventory to see if they have something or not and why it hasn't shipped.
Also, in my experience no one from Keisler will ever return your messages - ever. So don't waste your time leaving a message. Keep trying until you get a person. For technical information, you need to talk to George at x 207 - he actually handles the parts and knows how they all go together. If you get the customer service guy, ask to speak to someone else. I'm not kidding. On average the phone calls to "customer service" were 15 or 20 minutes long, I always had to repeat my entire life story to the guy (even though it was the same guy each time) and the calls invariably ended in frustration and empty promises of "I'll look into it", "I'll raise the issue in our staff meeting", etc.
George was able to measure a part for me, to answer a question not appropriately addressed in the directions, and my phone calls were invariable under 4 minutes.
Anyways, enough about Keisler. On to the install.
One thing they don't mention until you actually get the directions is that you have to cut off part of the snout from your transmission's bearing retainer. This is described in a supplement for the 833 trans (the main directions are made for their 5-speed unit). They are a little vague about exactly how much to cut off, so I called George and he said the overall height of the retainer after you cut off the end is supposed to add up to 3" - that is, if the retainer is sitting on the ground pointing up, you would measure from the ground up 3" and that's where you cut. Sort of tricky to measure this but he also said it doesn't have to be exact. I used a hacksaw, as suggested, which was a bad idea because it ended up coming out crooked, and I had to grind on it with a Dremel tool for an hour to straighten it out.
Another thing that is not mentioned in the directions is that installing the trans will compress the hydraulic throwout bearing, and it is supposed to ride on the fingers of the clutch, which is different from a typical throwout bearing which is supposed to have a little free play.
Re-installing the transmission proved to be the most difficult part of the process, for 2 reasons:
1) I kept the dual exhaust w x-pipe in my car, which meant I had to angle the trans up through the pipes while sliding the input shaft in through the clutch and into the engine's crank. This was more difficult with the new throwout bearing in place, since it was much larger than the stock one. This reduced the clearance at a couple of critical points and made it much trickier to wiggle everything into place.
2) Once everything was lined up, the trans just WOULDN'T slide in the last inch or so. I wrestled with it for half a day, then posted on moparts.com, where it was suggested that I loosen the clutch bolts, even though I had already aligned it with the provided tool. This did the trick and the trans finally slid into place.
Another issue I ran into is that I had to cut the threaded parts of the heim join and the adjuster on the clutch master pushrod, since it was too long in stock form to fit between the pedal arm and the master. Once I cut these parts down to fit, now I can't get a full .030 of air gap at the clutch. This because I ended up shortening the throw of the master by cutting the rod. Again I contact George and he suggested drilling a new hole in the pedal arm below the original one. I'm not 100% sure this will work.
The pedal effort is very easy yet precise. Much better than the creaking mechanical linkage I had in there before. The shifting is very notchy, though. I'm not sure yet whether this is due to the clutch air gap being too low, or the shifter itself. I'm going to experiment with a different shifter at some point.
I have a weird noise that seems to come from the trans when decellerating, but only in 2nd gear. I'm still trying to track that down and I'm wondering if it might be u-joints. More later...
# posted by jb @ 11:35 AM 
