Transmission rebuilder feedback?

[Joe P.]

I am interested in buying a T-10 from an advertiser in the Driveline.

Bill Saul is located just outside of Los Angeles, California..

He sounds reputable, but just wondering if anyone has had any dealings with buying a rebuilt transmission from him.

Thanks.

[Joe P.]

Re: Transmission rebuilder feedback?

Any feed back on Tom Ambrose for a T10 rebuild?

Any feedback on Eddie Wass?

I tried Larry at D&L and Ed Hartnett, both vey nice and professional but they didnt have the proper dates for my car..

Thanks.

[John H.]

Re: Transmission rebuilder feedback?

Based on seeing his wares for many years at Carlisle, I'd pass on "Rusty Eddie".

[Joel T.]

Re: Transmission rebuilder feedback?

Checkout Bob Bartlett; 4 Gear Trans just outside of Chicago. He has been building T10's and Muncies for over 40 years. I bought 2 from him and had him rebuild one. Extremely satisfied each time.

www.fourgeartrans.com

fourgeartrans@aol.com

Good luck,

Joel

[Joe P.]

Re: Transmission rebuilder feedback?

Checkout Bob Bartlett; 4 Gear Trans just outside of Chicago. He has been building T10's and Muncies for over 40 years. I bought 2 from him and had him rebuild one. Extremely satisfied each time.

www.fourgeartrans.com

fourgeartrans@aol.com

Good luck,

Joel

I had emailed Bob, very helpfull and professional.. He gave me 3 other names that i did contact but they all were not able to provide me a proper dated T-10..
Thanks.
Joe

[Ian G.]

Re: Transmission rebuilder feedback?

Can anyone comment if Tom Ambrose is a reputable rebuilder?
He advertises in the Restorer.
I'm considering buying a T-10 from him.

[Justin B.]

Re: Transmission rebuilder feedback?

Tom has helped me a couple of times before. I had good experiences both times with him. Once on a transmission and another on a rear end gears assembly.

[Marc K.]

Re: Transmission rebuilder feedback?

I will neither do business with Bill Saul again nor recommend him to anyone. My experience was negative. I wanted a correct M20 for my '67 so it would be ready prior to the Summer driving season. I saw Bill's ad in Driveline so I gave him a call. He had a correct case that was date stamped 5 days after my car was built. He told me that he has built a thousand transmissions so it would be done right. I told him to go ahead and build an M20 in that case. I paid him the full amount in advance for the transmission and shipping. This included him sending it off to get my VIN stamped on the case.

The transmission arrived nearly a month after the original commitment date. I received it in a box with a bunch of recycled junk like laundry detergent bottles that still had some detergent in them in an attempt to protect the transmission. The box was flimsy and about to break open. Luckily, the transmission was intact and undamaged. It looked beautiful. I got new hardware and a new shifter from Paragon and finally installed it and adjusted the shift rods.

I test drove it and all seemed fine at first and then it wouldn't go into third gear on an upshift or downshift. It would just let out a terrible grind. This didn't happen on every shift, but very often. I adjusted the rods a couple of times with the same results.

I called Bill and he said it was probably the shifter and blamed Paragon as he had many bad parts from them. I spent some more time on the car and decided to take it to my mechanic. He easily duplicated the problem even after he adjusted the rods. Unfortunately, he told me the transmission needed to come out. He asked what I wanted to do and I decided to let him take a look. I figured that I would lose most of the Summer driving season if I removed, replaced and sent it to Bill to fix. I also had some car shows in the near future that I was set to participate in. After my previous conversation with Bill, I didn't feel good about sending it back to him and I have no experience inside transmissions. Bill also commented that he remembered talking to me and liked me so he gave me the good parts. This implied that he uses various grades of parts.

Lots of metal shavings were present in the case. Third gear was in bad shape. My mechanic replaced a few other suspect parts while he was in there as he didn't want to take the transmission back out. He charged me $80 per hour labor for 6 hours to remove, replace and fix the transmission. Obviously, he charged me for parts with a typical markup. I thought this was reasonable.

I then sent a note to Bill explaining what I did and asked for some money back. He was upset that I didn't send the transmission back to him to fix. He told me he wasn't going to give me anything as he didn't do any of the work. He also stated that he would have paid for shipping both ways. I then asked for him to reimburse me on the shipping charges and his cost on parts. He couldn't believe how much I paid for labor and the parts. He said some negative things about my mechanic. He finally agreed to give me $160 for shipping and $100 for the parts if I sent them back to him. Even though I paid more than $100 for the parts, Bill agreed to $100 as he claimed this was his cost. He sent me a check for shipping and sent a note stating he would send another check for the parts once he received them. I immediately sent the parts back to him.

He received the parts and stated his feelings again about my mechanic and said his parts were much better. He also said that some of the parts were fine and shouldn't have been replaced. I responded stating that I upheld my end of the deal and asked for the $100 again. I told him to feel free to call my mechanic to debate labor rates and parts. I sent a couple more notes only to be ignored. As far as I am concerned, Bill stole my parts. I know this post is several years late, but wish I saw a similar response to this post.

[John F.]

Re: Transmission rebuilder feedback?

I have bought a 4-speed from Tom Ambrose and would do it again.

[Rob M.]

Re: Transmission rebuilder feedback?

Be aware the C1, C2 and C3 Registry has a Corvette (Service/Parts) Supplier evaluation section. E.g. at: http://www.c1registry.com/index.php?job=ShowSuppliers (also accessible via the Vendor Rating button on the menu panel of the selected registry). The content of this section is shared between the three registries...

[Brian M.]

Re: Transmission rebuilder feedback?

A couple years ago we saw him washing out a trans case with Pepsi.

[Paul J.]

Re: Transmission rebuilder feedback?

Be aware the C1, C2 and C3 Registry has a Corvette (Service/Parts) Supplier evaluation section. E.g. at: http://www.c1registry.com/index.php?job=ShowSuppliers (also accessible via the Vendor Rating button on the menu panel of the selected registry). The content of this section is shared between the three registries...

Rob, I looked at this list, and I'm surprised at how incomplete it is.

Paul

[Rob M.]

Re: Transmission rebuilder feedback?

Rob, I looked at this list, and I'm surprised at how incomplete it is.

Paul

Paul, it is up to the vistors to add vendors and add evaluations... I'm just facilitating.

I agree it could be used a bit more actively!!!

[Rick G.]

Re: Transmission rebuilder feedback?

Can anyone comment if Tom Ambrose is a reputable rebuilder?
He advertises in the Restorer.
I'm considering buying a T-10 from him.

Joe and Ian,

I have two transmissions I got from Tom Ambrose. I found him to be an honest and reputable man. I recommended him to a friend who has a 1959 who also had a pleasant experience with Tom. Tom was willing to work with myself and my friend on taking in some transmission pieces which I had to get more correct dates for my cars.

Best of luck,
Rick Gower

[Dan P.]

Re: Transmission rebuilder feedback?

I have know Tom Ambroes for 20 years . He is knows what he is doing . has a lot of NOS gears .You will not go wrong with anything you buy from him .