Strictly Foreign - [email protected]

[72Kafer]

Well i think mark is a good guy spoke to him today about my engine build and i am very happy with what he has to offer. He has my buisness.

[1sweet67]

well best of Luck with Mark I have found a San Diego shop that get's all of my business
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[bherder]

Glad I read this. Can anyone recommend any good rebuild shops in the Oregon/Washington state area?
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My bus resto thread:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=371654

Parts manual:
http://oacdp.org/

[The65ghia]

Has anyone heard from Strictly Foreign lately I have PM and emailed a couple times going back a couple weeks and he hasn't responded? Or is that just how he is? Thanks

[mick cassidy]

damm WELL I JUST ORDERED A 2110 MOTOR i havnt put it in the car yet
seemed a ok guy to deal with i did ask for cyl # 3 to be welded and it wasnt done but no big deal all the parts look new but building engines over the years law of averages says you will have a few bad ones ,
but if i have problems ill ship it back and he better take care of it and make good on his warranty
this weekend ill test drive it

[mick cassidy]

well after 100 miles on my sf motor my top pulley flew off i guess they forgot to tighten the nut i did notice a lot of the other bolts were not that tight (wtf ) they also used this brown crap to use as gasket sealant that is why i have a nice oil; pump leak and a alt stand leak oil pressure switch was finger tight and also leaking and i got a used case to top it all off
IM ALSO WONDERING IF I DID GET A 2110 MOTOR ???
as the jets to get this thing to run are really small !!! well
once i pull the heads to check and its not a 2110 its attorney general time

i will never do buisness with strictly foreign again 3800 hard earned dollars and i supplied him the carbs pulleys alt and ign sys i got the motor back with the carbs all way out of whack . next motor i will go to chico or brothers vw
what a rip off

[cfuller]

I've weighed the good comments against the bad and it appears Mark Wolter and shop straddles the fence. I'm here to tell you that I called and talked to Mark, had a wonderful conversation, and decided to move forward with ordering a new turnkey 2275. Some difference may be that pure low price wasn't my top concern. I'm more than willing to pay for the right parts and the right work to deliver a dependable engine. Porting, dynamic balancing, new specific parts... Consider what the top builders charge for an engine, shave off a little so the wife stays happy, then plan to pay for quality and I'm convinced that Mark will deliver. From our conversation and subsequent messages, I have nothing but positive communications to report. I have high expectations for the final product. I'll post again as time goes on. I'm also adding a 1 5/8" A-1 sidewinder exhaust with heater boxes. I hope it sounds half as good as youtube posts! That 2275 should really make my Intermeccanica Porsche wake up!

[TomWesty]

Hi,
I'm running a 1776 with dual 40 kads in my '71 bus that I bought from Mark. The only problems I have had are the ones I caused myself. Runs good, climbs the hills okay.
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If you haven't bled on them, you haven't worked on them.
Visit: www.tomcoryell.com and check out my music!

[dragsterman]

My grandfather purchased a 1915 from SF about 4-5 years ago...since he's located about a half hour away. It was about $3500. and supposed to be a pretty nice engine. Immediately after start up...it dropped a valve seat. SF repaired the head. Then the other head dropped a seat. They repaired it again. Then the heads dropped more seats. Keep in mind this engine had like hundreds of miles on it. My grandfather pulled the heads and brought them to another machine shop. They re machined them and put all new seats in them. Never had a problem again. Till the rear main bearing seized on it about a year later. I would say you get what you pay for. But I thought it was kind of expensive! I know things fail. Nothing is perfect in the automotive world. But it seems like they are using cheap parts or doing sloppy machine work. Do your research before you spend your hard earned money. Draw your own conclusion.

[mick cassidy]

seems sf has a lot of issues i got a 2110 and im getting ready to switch heads i wonder if it really is a 2110 ? if its not im calling the attorney general to file a complaint . he never did what i asked in my requests for my engine and spent 3800 and i sent him a bunch of parts carbs alt pulleys dist . dont trust him EVER

[mark wolter]

Hey Mick,Sorry to see that you are experiencing engine problems with the 2110 we built for you.You have not called me about any of this,yet you have a warranty that covers our heads and any other parts that you say are failing.I only found out that you are having issues on my feedback,but never a phone call from you.I did call you after your first negative feedback and you said everything was ok.So why now are you threatening me here instead of calling me and arranging for the engine to be sent back to us for repairs under your 12 month~12,000 mile warranty??
I have never refused to stand behind my 2110 turnkey we built for you,that's why I called and checked back with you about any issues,and all was ok.Now I'm here to help you again with your issues,but I can't do anything to remedy this if you don't contact me first.At least give me the benefit of standing behind my warranty before you throw us under the bus.We are not perfect 100% of the time,but we do stand behind our work.I purchase new heads from a couple of different suppliers,so if I know who's heads are not right,I can stop buying those heads.If the seats are falling out,I need to know so we don't keep using them.If you don't inform me directly about head problems,how would I know.We don't intentionally use faulty VW parts ever,so if my customers don't let me know that they are having issues like dropped seats,we can't warranty them,and send them back to my supplier.My supplier needs to be informed that their heads have issues as well.That's how everybody improves their final product.I want & need to know so we can continuously IMPROVE our services to our valued customers.
Call Me!! Mark (541) 862-7015

[cfuller]

I just wanted to add my comments to follow up on my August post when I decided to have Mark build my 2275 to replace a 1776. I could not be happier! First let me say that I now have 1000 miles on it, including a just completed 500 mile round trip highway jaunt. There are no leaks anywhere and everything was tight and fully ready to run on arrival. We had virtually no dial in to do... started right up and ran great from day one.

The engine has substantially more power in the band where I drive. Much was said on another board about cam choice, heads, etc... I didn't want a 6000rpm+ screamer. This engine sounds sweet, pulls strong to 5k and I haven't pushed beyond that point. Doubt I ever would in normal driving. 65mph at around 3000rpm in 4th and it will instantly respond to throttle to pass. Accelerates very quickly through the gears. Not much more I can ask of it! Bottom line is that it is plenty strong enough to put a big grin on my face!

I had my concerns about using a builder only "met" over the phone and a very long distance from me in Dallas... I read the posts on here as well and weighed the good/bad. As in anything, it is usually the very vocal small percentage of problems that post remarks. I wanted to be different!Mark has been terrific to work with. I would not hesitate to have him build another engine if ever needed and recommend him as a quality builder. My advice would be to have a good build session with Mark and tell him exactly how you plan to drive the car and what your expectations are.

Feel free to email me directly as I'm happy to stand behind my post chuck.fuller AT verizon.net

[DaKine]

I purchased a turn-key SS 1915 from Mark in December. We had a good conversation on the phone and he spent time with me discussing what I wanted and what would work best for me. The engine arrived, well packaged and strapped to a pallet at my local shipping hub. The build quality was even better than expected. He does clean work. I highly recommend Strictly Foriegn.

[Lakrum]

[mick cassidy]

my 2110 motor whicjhi got from strictly foreign last year is running like a diesel i took a compression test KEEP IN MIND THIS MOTOR HAS 10K MILES SINCE I BOUGHT IT cyls 1&2=40 psi
cyls 3&4= 50 psi i added a spoon of oil compression went to 60 psi and that tell me my rings are worn im pulling the motor out of the car tomorrow
this crook i think sold me a bunch of junk i think ill pull the heads off and see what is going on

[1sweet67]

Yuppppppp that right there is Quality NOTTTTTTTTTTTTT if you really want a great motor pm me there is a shop in Escondido Ca that I use now and he turn's out some Awesome stuff
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[mick cassidy]

well i pulled the heads noticed nothing out of the ordinary .Mark told me he received a batch of bad heads from his supplier Mark has stood behind his engine and will check it out Im going to put some cb heads on instead of the stock style I apologize for the bad things i did say, due to my quick temper. Summer is coming and look forward to putting some miles on my baja
mick

[mark wolter]

Hey Mick,
After the 2110 engine arrived, I pulled off the valve covers and rocker arm assemblies to inspect. I had to replace the #1 & #2 rocker stands and studs. Adjusted all the valves to .002" since they are steel push rods. Noticed that all the air bleed screws way out of adjustment, so I screwed them down to seats, and tightened jam nut. I also noticed that you installed taller 3" velocity stacks and they are only a 1/4" away from the air filter tops, so it is restricting tha air-flow capabilities, and would run way too rich and starve the 2110 stroker engine of air. I pulled the spark plugs and found wr 8a platinums gapped at .040". I've never had good luck with platinum plugs in an air-cooled engine. I checked compression after my valve adjustment with the throttle plates open and found the following...#1= 147, #2= 150, #3= 150, and #4= 145 lbs. So it looks like compression is awsome!! I then checked idle jets to find that they had alot of residue from moisture and additives that are now in our gas, so I cleaned out with a reamer to 60, and blew out the passages. Then I found the #4 mixture screw seat was stuck on the mixture screw itself not allowing a proper idle mixture adjustment. I installed with a very small dab of loc-tite so it will stay in carb body, and polished all the mixture screws. Then I noticed that the cross-bar linkage was also adjusted way too short, and the right carburetor was opening before the left carb. I adjusted out the cross bar ends to take up most of the side play, and adjusted the carb linkage so both carbs open at the same time. I haven't checked to see if the intake to head gaskets are sealed well at this time, but I put in fresh oil, and rotated engine over until I had good oil pressure. With my exhaust installed on the engine I started the 2110 and it ran great, so with all the corrections I made since you've had the engine in your VW, it runs great on our test stand. I will be taking a video for you-tube, so you and everyone else can see how well it runs, and how fast it rev's up.
It does not sound like a diesel engine, and obviously does not have low compression. I will install the CB Performance heads when you purchase and send them to us, but this is not a warranty situation. I will have to charge you our $45.00 hourly labor rate for any additional work you want, plus shipping both ways. Sorry that your engine problems were mis-diagnosed, and were due to improper tuning at your end, not ours.
I will be posting pictures of what I found and a video of the engine running and revving on our test & tune engine stand for everyone to view.

What are the fittings in the lower part of each manifold for? Are you running nitrous in this engine? If so, are you sure you are setting it up to run correctly with this set-up??
Mark

[shifted]

Mark I sent you an email.

Thanks

[mick cassidy]

Listen up everybody
i had a few issues with my 2110 motor most likley a result of a weber carb with a wonky jet it did make it sound like a diesel and some too tall velosity stacks inside my air cleaners. I sent the motor back to Mark and he resealed the cases (my wish)with ultraseal and replaced the heads with some cb heads got it back and truly the thing runs sweet .Mark is a fair and square dude and i did put him to the test. He stood behind his work 100%
Hey in todays world that is becoming increasingly hard to find.
well im here to say i have full confidence in Mark sf motors and when i drive the Piss out of this motor or GET BORED of it ill be getting another one of them BTW freight is CHEAP if you go pick it up at the dock of the truck co Thanks again Mark