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View Full Version : American Powertrain - T56 purchase experience



heynow14
02-06-2013, 08:44 AM
Hi folks -
I've taken a ton away from this the P-T forums so I am trying to return the favor where and when I can. I have only very recently gotten my '69 Camaro back on the road after some extensive work including a Magnum T56 from American Powertrain. I've read literally hundreds of forums posts regarding the failings of a competitor in the manual trans space so I wanted to head in another direction - so I went with AP. For those of you who had positive experiences with them, congrats but as I read once (or twice) in grad school: "The measure of a business is not to be made when things go well, but rather, when things go not so well." Indeed...

I will not go into specifics here but I can assure you that should I need to be in the market for a trans again, I will assemble the necessary parts on my own. These 'trans specialists' offer nothing proprietary, no secret sauce. They sell an amalgamation of parts, nothing more. Their tech advice is where things went south for me, so if that's what they lean on, then good luck to you, the consumer. 24/7 'Customer First' help center? (...where's the 'LOL' button on my keyboard?)

After months of emails, calls and banging my head against the wall, it's finally squared away - thanks to McCleod here in SoCal. By the way, the trans is just awesome so if you're on the fence, just do it! ...but do it right...

Knowing what I know now, there is little reason to go get a "complete kit" from one of these guys. Just go through Summit or Jegs and buy it piecemeal...you'll be money and sanity ahead and have it all delivered in five days not 4 months as in my case and most others I've read about. Further and most importantly, YOU will dictate what brand parts you will get and you will not be forced to use whatever shows up in the 'magic kit'. With the knowledge base in this forum, you have all the info you could ever need to determine needed parts...period. After what I've gone through, I now include myself in the long list of folks educated and willing to assist you in any way I can.

If anyone wants further detail on what went on, please PM or email me and I'll go through it all. I feel I was 'done wrong' buy these guys and I'm now stuck with garbage third-party parts (ones their techs recommended and sold me) that I paid to replace after removing the trans twice. I gave up and went with McCleod and PROBLEM SOLVED INSTANTLY. I aim only to save any of you guys from a similar fate. https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/mad-1.gif

Burnouts for all!! https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/thumbsup-1.gif