Who here has used this adapter bellhousing to go from an LS to an H55F? Would you do it again or go NV4500?
Marks/advanced adapters LS bell housing
- Thread starter HemiAlex
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gregnash
Anal Retentive Analyst
Difference I have read about between the two is more on the gearing and overdrive side. Again just something I have read, not experienced or an expert on. But seems that either way most are happy with either, if I remember correctly the NV4500 has a deeper first and longer 5th, want to say that there is a comparison chart floating around here somewhere with the individual gear ratios of each.
HemiAlex,
I can't you out to much.......but here what I remember when doing a lot, a lot , a lot study on the whole adapters. The Marks adapters are from Australia and are made to bolt in the H42 (original Toyota four speed transmission) or the H55. The early years of the Marks adapters had some problems and were hit or miss as to weather they worked. But the basic design of the Marks keeps the Toyota transmission in the same point in space and allows for the use of the original Toyota transmission crossmember. The bell housing is oddly shaped in order to give the a four inch forward extension in order to place chosen chevy engine in the correct placement in the engine bay. I can't remember what the gust of the bell housing were as far Marks clutch and friction plate or stock Toyota stuff.
Advance adapters has a conversion kit for the V8 swap. This is the kit that I choose over the Marks adapter kit because I hear and read about to many failurs with Marks kit. I wanted some thing that was bomb proof. I went with advance adapter kit. When doing the price comparison I believe the advance adapters kit was more expensive by about 800 bucks. But the conversion and the NV4500 transmission I choose have given me about 25,000 miles of trouble free drive ability.
As far as the choice of transmission of the Toyota H42,H55 or the NV4500 depends on what you are looking for as far as gearing. I believe there a specs page o the web site that I found that give the gear ratios of the H42 and H55 transmissions. The H55 is the same as the H42 but with a 16% over drive for the fifth gear. Which is good for the stock differentials gearing of 3.73 : 1.
On the NV4500 the transmission the the NV4500 enjoyed a long production run. Both for Didge and Chevy. The Dodge top plate and shifter housing are square and the chevy are round. Bot the actual transmission body and gears are the same. Chevy and Dodge Input and out put shafts are spline differently. The Chevy are the easiest to use when you buy the AA kit because it came with a out put shaft spline for the stick Toyota transfer case. On mine NV4500 I was lucky and got the Chevy 1992-1994 NV4500 that has the lower first gear of 6.3 : 1. Its so low that even with the stock Toyota differential gears of 3.73 I started the truck at stop signs and stop light in second gear. First is just to low. But when it comes to crawling off road......first gear shines !!!! A couple of my friends,asked me a couple of roads "I bet you had it in four low to get through that section? " ..... I said "nope .....just two wheel with first gear granny gear.!"
Now I have changed the gear ratio in the front and rear differentials to a 4.56 : 1 and nor first is a super slow granny gear. Which is way lower then I need for the type light over landing and exploring I do.
So the real questions that will tell you what conversion kit to buy is ...
1) what type of four wheeling do I really do ?????
2) And how much low gearing do I need.?
3) do I want to take a chance on the Marks adapter kit???? (More research is need here)
4) have you looked a gear ratio calculator????
Just my crazy .2 cents. Jason
I can't you out to much.......but here what I remember when doing a lot, a lot , a lot study on the whole adapters. The Marks adapters are from Australia and are made to bolt in the H42 (original Toyota four speed transmission) or the H55. The early years of the Marks adapters had some problems and were hit or miss as to weather they worked. But the basic design of the Marks keeps the Toyota transmission in the same point in space and allows for the use of the original Toyota transmission crossmember. The bell housing is oddly shaped in order to give the a four inch forward extension in order to place chosen chevy engine in the correct placement in the engine bay. I can't remember what the gust of the bell housing were as far Marks clutch and friction plate or stock Toyota stuff.
Advance adapters has a conversion kit for the V8 swap. This is the kit that I choose over the Marks adapter kit because I hear and read about to many failurs with Marks kit. I wanted some thing that was bomb proof. I went with advance adapter kit. When doing the price comparison I believe the advance adapters kit was more expensive by about 800 bucks. But the conversion and the NV4500 transmission I choose have given me about 25,000 miles of trouble free drive ability.
As far as the choice of transmission of the Toyota H42,H55 or the NV4500 depends on what you are looking for as far as gearing. I believe there a specs page o the web site that I found that give the gear ratios of the H42 and H55 transmissions. The H55 is the same as the H42 but with a 16% over drive for the fifth gear. Which is good for the stock differentials gearing of 3.73 : 1.
On the NV4500 the transmission the the NV4500 enjoyed a long production run. Both for Didge and Chevy. The Dodge top plate and shifter housing are square and the chevy are round. Bot the actual transmission body and gears are the same. Chevy and Dodge Input and out put shafts are spline differently. The Chevy are the easiest to use when you buy the AA kit because it came with a out put shaft spline for the stick Toyota transfer case. On mine NV4500 I was lucky and got the Chevy 1992-1994 NV4500 that has the lower first gear of 6.3 : 1. Its so low that even with the stock Toyota differential gears of 3.73 I started the truck at stop signs and stop light in second gear. First is just to low. But when it comes to crawling off road......first gear shines !!!! A couple of my friends,asked me a couple of roads "I bet you had it in four low to get through that section? " ..... I said "nope .....just two wheel with first gear granny gear.!"
Now I have changed the gear ratio in the front and rear differentials to a 4.56 : 1 and nor first is a super slow granny gear. Which is way lower then I need for the type light over landing and exploring I do.
So the real questions that will tell you what conversion kit to buy is ...
1) what type of four wheeling do I really do ?????
2) And how much low gearing do I need.?
3) do I want to take a chance on the Marks adapter kit???? (More research is need here)
4) have you looked a gear ratio calculator????
Just my crazy .2 cents. Jason
NV4500 behind an LS, no looking back. The over drive in the Toyota was shallow because the 6 couldn't push a deep overdrive.
The difference between the ~15% overdrive in the Toyota and the 25% in the NV is big. Of course if you do zero highway miles
it won't matter. The LS will happily push that 25%. You couldn't use a 25% OD behind a six outside of central Texas or perhaps the I-94
in North Dakota
The difference between the ~15% overdrive in the Toyota and the 25% in the NV is big. Of course if you do zero highway miles
it won't matter. The LS will happily push that 25%. You couldn't use a 25% OD behind a six outside of central Texas or perhaps the I-94
in North Dakota
First I'll qualify that as a mechanic I run out of talent fairly quick. In 2015 I purchased an E-Rod LS3 crate motor for my 1985 FJ 40, installed this with the Totota H55 5 speed tranny using the Marks 4WD conversion purchased through Advanced Adapters. This vehicle was summer use only very little use at my place in Montana, I always had "hard" shifting/downshift issues, just enough to finally say enough and get this addressed.
In consulting with Advanced (I purchased , (all parts, clutch, adapter etc from Advanced) I was told you have the wrong clutch as the LS crank is .400 closer to the tranny. 900.00 later, installed same issue. Again consulted with Advanced and was told that there is an updated itnterior/exterior sliding spline shaft for the Mark's kit . 1,400.00 later received the "updated" shaft, same exact shaft, mind you I am having all this work done at a very reputable shop in Bozeman. Again consulted via conference call with the tranny shop and Advanced, questions from Advanced were "are you sure there is not a burr on the shaft" .....really. Mind you all this time I'm paying to pull this tranny and assembly all this time.
Time to punt, we installed an NV 4500 tranny and it could not be sweeter, ratios are awesome shifting is effortless. the install was not without it's issues but at the end of the day....very nice.
Overall in my unprofessional opinion, the Mark's kit may be made for the 350 GM application but it is NOT made for the LS conversions as the .400 measurement kept raising its head. I tried consulting with Advanced all the way through this process, at the end of the day they were more of a hinderance
which has not been my previous experience. This was not an inexpensive project to get sorted out but I was determined to get this sorted.
I do have a H55 5 Speed tranny with a complete Mark's 4WD conversion for sale....(not for a LS3, for 350 Chevrolet conversion)
In consulting with Advanced (I purchased , (all parts, clutch, adapter etc from Advanced) I was told you have the wrong clutch as the LS crank is .400 closer to the tranny. 900.00 later, installed same issue. Again consulted with Advanced and was told that there is an updated itnterior/exterior sliding spline shaft for the Mark's kit . 1,400.00 later received the "updated" shaft, same exact shaft, mind you I am having all this work done at a very reputable shop in Bozeman. Again consulted via conference call with the tranny shop and Advanced, questions from Advanced were "are you sure there is not a burr on the shaft" .....really. Mind you all this time I'm paying to pull this tranny and assembly all this time.
Time to punt, we installed an NV 4500 tranny and it could not be sweeter, ratios are awesome shifting is effortless. the install was not without it's issues but at the end of the day....very nice.
Overall in my unprofessional opinion, the Mark's kit may be made for the 350 GM application but it is NOT made for the LS conversions as the .400 measurement kept raising its head. I tried consulting with Advanced all the way through this process, at the end of the day they were more of a hinderance
which has not been my previous experience. This was not an inexpensive project to get sorted out but I was determined to get this sorted.
I do have a H55 5 Speed tranny with a complete Mark's 4WD conversion for sale....(not for a LS3, for 350 Chevrolet conversion)
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Sorry to hear you had a poor experience. Advance Adapters certainly has some good manufacuring resources but really poor tech support for some things.
This would have solved all your problems for $245 and an hour of shop labor. Unfortunately I had not came out with it yet. Since then we have installed several in house and shipped out to literally dozens who have had the same setup installed for years and just lived with it.
Wilwood Clutch Master Cylinder Kit For FJ60
Billet aluminum bolt-on bracket to install Wilwood Compact-Series master cylinders into 60 series Land Cruisers. Useful for GM and diesel conversions utilizing NV4500 or H42/H55f transmission. Includes custom clevis and mounting hardware. Recommended Master Cylinder Bore Sizes: If you have...
cruisermatts.com
