You know the scene…Cruising up a scenic, winding mountain road in your classic 1970’s chevy with the top down, enjoying the feel of the sun on your face and the wind whipping by. You’ve done everything to this car from the tires up, from the inside out. But there’s one last thing to bring this classic muscle machine up to the modern age: a Keisler Engineering Perfectfit 5 or 6 speed transmission kit.
Throughout the heyday of the muscle car in the 70’s, the standard transmission was a manual 4 speed. But these days, auto manufacturers are wisely switching to 5 and 6 speed transmissions. More gears means better gas mileage, more cruising speed to choose from, better performance over all. For many years, home enthusiasts and professional mechanics alike have been converting older cars, upfitting and retrofitting them with modern components. But up until now, each job was a custom, unique process. But thanks to Keisler Automotive, in Tennessee, you can retrofit you classic 1970’s Chevy muscle car with a high performance 5 or 6 speed transmission with no problem.
Keisler custom makes each Perfectfit transmission upgrade kit to the specifics of your car, to ensure ease of installation and reliable, top quality performance. Keisler offers three different transmissions for this conversion. The TKO-500 is appropriate for most small block engines. It is a five speed transmission with about 550 horsepower capacity.
The TKO-600 is also a five speed, but can handle horsepower up to around 650, and it also has a choice of 5th gear ratios. This is a good choice for any engine that pushes over 500 horsepower. The third and final choice for the Perfectfit upgrade is the T-56 transmission. The T-56 6 speed transmission and is used by many of the major auto manufacturers in newer 6 speed manual transmission vehicles. You will find this transmission inside some new Corvettes.
Each of these transmissions is brand new, not rebuilt, and is customized for the precise needs of the retrofitting consumer. Using a Muncie/Borg-Warner T-10 bolt pattern and input shaft arrangement makes it convenient and easy to match your new transmission right up to your old engine. It will bolt up as easily as any four speed factory transmission would. The location of the shifter is customized with each PerfectFit kit, so there is minimal cutting of the floor board, if any at all. Each kit comes with a new flywheel, and is available in 3 different materials depending on the application.
Keisler has developed a Perfectfit kit for several cars: the C1, C2, C3 and C4 Corvette, the ’62 to’72 Nova, the ’67 to ’81 Camaro, the ’64 to ’72 Chevelle, and ’55 to ’57 Chevy. Keisler offers Bell Housings to fit all engine sizes from small to big blocks. If you want to improve the performance, fuel efficiency and power of your classic chevy muscle car without changing the classic looks, then a Keisler Engineering PerfectFit 5 or 6 speed transmission conversion kit is a perfect fit for you.
