Silver Sport?

[Motobrewmaster]

Has anyone felt with Silver Sport before for a transmission and/or conversion from auto to manual? My application is 69 Camaro converting to T56 from TH350 with a small block pushing about 500HP.

I am also considering Hurst Drivelines.

Any experiences with either or suggestions are welcome.

Cheers, Brew

[dontlifttoshift]

New company, feedback will be limited. It's Keisler without the Keisler and better funded and seems to be run by smarter, more ethical people.

[214Chevy]

Don't know anything about the new people and further more didn't know the name of the people who bailed out Keisler, which I guess y'all are saying is this Silver Sport Company. Well, I can't speak on them and we all know about the Keisler debacle. But, I can definitely recommend Hurst Driveline. Have never dealt with them personally, but know a many of people who have and they are great. I have called their customer service department before and got great service though. I would use Hurst Drivelined if you ask me. The Silver Sport company is too new and not saying they aren't gonna be good, but I wouldn't want to find out the hard way on my hard, earned dollar considering where they come from or who they are in busines with. I'm just saying.

[dontlifttoshift]

I assume that everyone is on the email list..:innocent:

http://shiftsst.com/

[Motobrewmaster]

I had a feeling that Silver Sport was the resurrection of Keisler. Hope that their new venture fixes the past problems and they are able to add another good option out there for transmissions.

That said I really like what I am seeing/hearing about Hurst Drivelines. It's a big purchase as I am going the whole hog on it.

Thanks for your help.

[SilverOverdrives]

Don't know anything about the new people and further more didn't know the name of the people who bailed out Keisler, which I guess y'all are saying is this Silver Sport Company. Well, I can't speak on them and we all know about the Keisler debacle. But, I can definitely recommend Hurst Driveline. Have never dealt with them personally, but know a many of people who have and they are great. I have called their customer service department before and got great service though. I would use Hurst Drivelined if you ask me. The Silver Sport company is too new and not saying they aren't gonna be good, but I wouldn't want to find out the hard way on my hard, earned dollar considering where they come from or who they are in busines with. I'm just saying.

Good post.

I would just like to clarify the fact that we did not bail out Keisler. I can see how it would appear that way since we have the same address, same phone numbers and most of the same employees. This was all intentional so the business could open up and be functional very quickly.

I might add that the problems associated with KEI were not employee or product related. They were all generated by Mr. Keisler and he IS NOT part of our new company.

Silver Sport Transmissions owns all KEI products and technology.
Back on track to the OP - along with research on the web, make phone calls and ask many questions. This will be the best upgrade you can make to your car!

Jeff

[Che70velle]

Glad you posted this Jeff!

[WSSix]

Yep. Thanks for stepping in and providing the information, Jeff. Good luck to you guys! :thumbsup:

[Motobrewmaster]

Jeff,

Thanks for adding to the thread. It is always better to hear directly from the vendors themselves.

I look forward to receiving and then comparing your quote. It is good to have more than one option out there.

Cheers, Brew

[SilverOverdrives]

Guys,

I'm more than happy to add to this thread and help here on the forum.

Brew, I have located your quote request and will send as soon as I finish this reply.

Thanks!

[Motobrewmaster]

Guys,

I'm more than happy to add to this thread and help here on the forum.

Brew, I have located your quote request and will send as soon as I finish this reply.

Thanks!
Thanks Jeff.
Received both quotes this morning. They look good, will review them after I have my other quotes in to compare with.

Cheers, Brew

[Motobrewmaster]

Well, finally pulled the trigger. One T-56 Magnum is heading my way! Really looking forward to this change. Bet this will increase the amount of miles that get put on the car now.

[Johnjan]

Well, finally pulled the trigger. One T-56 Magnum is heading my way! Really looking forward to this change. Bet this will increase the amount of miles that get put on the car now.

I'm curious who you bought from and why. I'm considering the same conversion. PM is fine if you dont want to make public. Your experience would be very helpful!

John

[Motobrewmaster]

Hey John,

I went with Hurst Drivelines. I compared the pricing and components in the kit and pm'ed a few people who had purchased kits. Honestly they both were on par with each other. To me it seems that I could have safely gone with either Silver Sport or Hurst Drivelines and had received the proper trans and kit parts and service at a fair price.

Hurst won me because I am an old fart and know they have been around as long as I can remember. Knowing that made me feel more secure in dolling out my hard earned cash. However part of me really wanted to give Silver Sport the business, they seem like a decent company and I want them to succeed. It is hard to get going and I respect that.

To comment on my experience with Hurst. It has been very good. They got me exactly what I wanted and everything looks wonderful. Due to my car now getting a completely new rear suspension it is on hold so I can't comment on performance yet. That of course is mostly up to the people at Tremec building the transmission well...pretty safe bet.

Hope this helps your decision.

Cheers, Brew

[gerno]

I'm curious who you bought from and why. I'm considering the same conversion. PM is fine if you dont want to make public. Your experience would be very helpful!

John

Hey John - I still have that bell housing setup ready for you. Pick up a T-56 and be done with it..... I'm in the garage all weekend if you want to come by and check out the parts.

Steve

[Johnjan]

Quick follow up - after comparing prices and quality of components between Hurst and SST, I purchased a TKO-600 from SST to replace the 700R4 in my Camaro. Equalizing the "optional" upgrades from Hurst versus the "standard" parts from SST, the pricing was so close that my decision was not based on price, but on completeness of the kit. With Hurst I would have had to buy a few things, with SST is was all from one vendor. So if I had any problems, it would have been one phone call to SST.

My install is not quite complete, I have a few loose ends to finish up before I can say how well the new transmission works. Other than a couple very minor issues, the kit was complete and well thought out. I've had to make no calls to SST so far...

...more to come after a road test!

[Johnjan]

Final follow up to my previous...

Love my new TKO-600 5 speed! After about 80 miles on the car I don't know why I labored so hard over making the decision to jettison the 700R4 and install a manual. My pal said it best last night after a short ride - "The car feels alive now! With the automatic is was cool to look at, but otherwise just ho-hum to ride in".

As far as the Silver Sport kit, no complaints. There were things to figure out (as with just about any aftermarket kit), and two minor things that could have been better - I ended up using the crossmember that I built for my 700R4. It was dimensionally equivalent as far as mounting points go, but the SST sourced crossmember did not provide enough clearance for my exhaust. Secondly, the assembled speedo cable did not allow a factory GM firewall bushing to be used since it needs to slip over the end of an unterminated cable housing. That may be an ongoing thing since after splitting the factory bushing to fit over the cable, its not as secure sealing the hole in the firewall. Both very minor, and considering the magnitude of problems that could be created with this sort of swap, I'd say SST did a great job on quality and completeness.

I've got a few more things to tweak, as always on a project like this. But for first time since the car hit the road over a year ago I'm super fired up to drive it and finish the few remaining details!

Thanks SST!