Marks Adapters Kit - My experience

[g35me]

I have just completed my 350chev conversion in the 80. Only have the wiring to complete now. I just thought I would share my experiences with the Marks Adapters kit now that I have finished.

Problems:
1. The first adapter that they gave me had a big hole in it where they had ground through the aluminium too far. They replaced it after telling me that I could have filled it with silicone.

2. The allen key bolts that they supply for bolting the adapter to the engine are 15mm to long, they bottom out before being done up completely. So I had to buy 6 new ones.

3. They tell you to use your existing Toyota bolts to bolt the adapter to the gear box, however the top 2 Toyota bolts have a different thread and the adapter has the same thread in all 6 bolt holes, so dont do that or you will strip the top 2 bolt hole threads.

4. Also with respect to using the existing bolts from the gearbox to the adapter, once again the Toyota bolts have 3 different lengths, the Marks adapter only allows one length which is the smallest of all the Toyota bolts, so once again they bottom out, I had to buy another 6 bolts.

5. How do you do up the bolts that join the flexplate to the torque converter once the engine and gearbox are bolted together? Well their
suggestion is to cut a hole in the bottom of the adapter about 1.5 matchboxes size so you can reach the bolts with a spanner. WTF. Why dont they mold that into the adapter in the first place and supply a cover with a couple of bolts (which would probably be the wrong size anyway)?

Otherwise everything else was good. Just some info if you are attempting to do it yourself.

[Flying Fossil]

Good advise thanx for the info .

Can you tell me how is the new fuel comsumption with the new engine compared to the old one standard engine, also is there weight diferences in the two engines ? this is just so I know if the old suspension is going to handle the extra weight diference if there is any .

Thanx again for the heads up

[jessie928]

I have just completed my 350chev conversion in the 80. Only have the wiring to complete now. I just thought I would share my experiences with the Marks Adapters kit now that I have finished.

Problems:
1. The first adapter that they gave me had a big hole in it where they had ground through the aluminium too far. They replaced it after telling me that I could have filled it with silicone.

2. The allen key bolts that they supply for bolting the adapter to the engine are 15mm to long, they bottom out before being done up completely. So I had to buy 6 new ones.

3. They tell you to use your existing Toyota bolts to bolt the adapter to the gear box, however the top 2 Toyota bolts have a different thread and the adapter has the same thread in all 6 bolt holes, so dont do that or you will strip the top 2 bolt hole threads.

4. Also with respect to using the existing bolts from the gearbox to the adapter, once again the Toyota bolts have 3 different lengths, the Marks adapter only allows one length which is the smallest of all the Toyota bolts, so once again they bottom out, I had to buy another 6 bolts.

5. How do you do up the bolts that join the flexplate to the torque converter once the engine and gearbox are bolted together? Well their
suggestion is to cut a hole in the bottom of the adapter about 1.5 matchboxes size so you can reach the bolts with a spanner. WTF. Why dont they mold that into the adapter in the first place and supply a cover with a couple of bolts (which would probably be the wrong size anyway)?

Otherwise everything else was good. Just some info if you are attempting to do it yourself.

its sad to see a reputable company fark up in so many area's on the one kit >!
i cant beleive they told you to use silicone, thats plain stupid!

People have tp realise the importance of CUSTOMER satisfaction in this day an age, because it only takes about 35 seconds to reach the computer screen pf thousands of people.

i have used a few of marks kits and they have been good, ( no toyota stuff) but in your case, it dont help you much.

Jes

[g35me]

I didnt notice any weight difference in the engines when looking at the ride height, although I have extra heavy duty springs. I havent got the wiring done yet so i cant comment on the fuel consumption although I would suggest that I would use alot less fuel because I wont have to rev the guts out of the engine to get anywhere.

Companies/people win business with customer service, you only get one crack at it am I am more than happy to tell the word if someone has legitametly stuffed up.

[DIRTY ROCK STAR]

I recently got a quote on an advanced adaptor thru Marks as the aussie distributor.
the price came in slightly higher then i expected. but i thought hmm fair enough Marks commision for trouble or whatever..
then old mate mentioned shipping..
1 adaptor 19pounds in weight so 9kg basically no worries...
by sea there was 6months wait as they just ordered. no probs im not in a rush, $250???
i said well how much by air, $350....

is it just me or does $250 for one small 9kg adaptor sound abit steep??

I wasnt impressed with their work...

[mattsluxtruck]

I bought my body lift kit for my 4runner thru marks because i thought a so called professional one would make lift easier at engineer time. I bought it , was charged more then advertised on his web page and fitted it. Two bolts were the wrong length in the kit. I went and got bolts to finish it off and called marks about the problem. They didnt care and wouldnt do anything to fix it.
Off to the engineers and when he was inspecting the kit he knocked it on having stainless bolts. These bolts came with the kit. I had to change all the bolts over to high tensile for it to be passed. I called Marks cause i didnt want to buy high tensile bolts after already paying good money for the kit. Reply was " not our problem if its no good either stop complaining and buy the bolts or go to another engineer"
I would not recommend them to anyone at all. In my opinion their stuff is overpriced junk and after sales service isnt even good enough to be called poor.

[75 cruser]

ive just finished putting a late model v8 commodore in to my 75 series landcruiser, ive had the same bolt issue but the thread was totaly diffrent to the standard toyota thread. i was told to buy a diffrent slave cylinder and then it turned out to be the same as the existing one, then the clutch i was told i had to use a early model clutch and fly wheel only diffrence the early model fly wheel is half a kilo lighter so i would have to rev the s#@$ out to get any where, you think a company that has been around as long as this would really have things togeather

but it all comes down to is

we all need more horse power

[mattsluxtruck]

Yes we all need more ponies but that doesnt excuse the fact that we are being ripped off by this place. Dont even mention trying to get warranty on one of his heavy duty gearboxes...........................to tell you the truth i am surprised he has been around this long

[80UTE]

Ive been useing "MARKS" stuff for years and have had the small little bugs you find as you go along but what needs to be concidered the Toyota make heaps of small insignificant little changes like bolt lenght, pitch changes, ETC as they manufacture and its these changes that can frustrait you when fitting. When ive come across these problems they have always helped fix the problem and have taken it on board to add to there data to make a better kit. You can go to Dellow or Hatfields and buy a bellhousing and thats about it as the bail out of a full conversion kit because of all these changes that Toyota make and thats too hard.
As for stainless bolts on the body lift hightensile Stainlees steel Fasteners are available and may be what Marks use, so if your engineer doesn't like stainless because he is just "out-of-date" of the latest tech. Marks cant be responsilble for that.
Every time i have been on the phone to Marks they have been most helpful and polite so i wonder how they were treated if they be so called "Rude" to you.
They make so much stuff for the 4WD industry so its bad to see them get canned as when things go well theres no recognition and the installer thinks he's done the good job and not the manufacturer.


Wally

[jessie928]

Ive been useing "MARKS" stuff for years and have had the small little bugs you find as you go along but what needs to be concidered the Toyota make heaps of small insignificant little changes like bolt lenght, pitch changes, ETC as they manufacture and its these changes that can frustrait you when fitting. When ive come across these problems they have always helped fix the problem and have taken it on board to add to there data to make a better kit. You can go to Dellow or Hatfields and buy a bellhousing and thats about it as the bail out of a full conversion kit because of all these changes that Toyota make and thats too hard.
As for stainless bolts on the body lift hightensile Stainlees steel Fasteners are available and may be what Marks use, so if your engineer doesn't like stainless because he is just "out-of-date" of the latest tech. Marks cant be responsilble for that.
Every time i have been on the phone to Marks they have been most helpful and polite so i wonder how they were treated if they be so called "Rude" to you.
They make so much stuff for the 4WD industry so its bad to see them get canned as when things go well theres no recognition and the installer thinks he's done the good job and not the manufacturer.


Wally

What hadfeild and dellow do are Quite OK, because they donot supply you with a full kit, you go in knowing there is components of the kit that you may have to fab or change, but with a Marks kit, ITS A KIT, you expect it to be a kit that caters for what you purchased it for, has an array of bolts to suit all.

Im not Marks bashing, like i said i have used their kits and find them excellent for patrols, but there are other vehciles kits that are not quite so " kitt"

Jes

[g35me]

Another thing that came up while putting the kit in that I forgot to mention in the original post was that when I bought the engine it had "Tall" rocker covers on which seem to be the prefered and more common cover. When I test fitted the engine the drivers side rocker cover was hitting the firewall and would definatetly need the firewall bashed in.

I consquently changed to a low profile "small" rocker cover and it fit fine. Now I realise that it is not Marks Adapters problem, but I little note in the instruction manual would have been great to advise people of this as I rang and spoke to Mark and he knew this fact.

Given I had to do the conversion again I would definately buy a Marks Adapters Conversion kit, but I have the benefit of previous experience and I know what changes would have to be made and I might even ask them to supply me with the different bolts up front.

However most people only do this once and as someone previously said, when you buy a kit you expect it to be a complete kit that bolts straight on or at least they supply each variation or have a disclaimer of some sort so you are aware in advance of any potential problems.

[HIKFRD]

ive used marks 4wd for some of the stuff neede dto drop the 308 in my 86 dual cab auto to t fer case adapter handbrake relocation kit both of which seem fine
it has rod hadfield engine mount adapters in it and the engineer failed them for to much flex so they needed a brace in them

over all i've found marks 4wd to be very helpful in all my dealings with them

just my opinion