Zume

I am getting seriously closer to getting my car running again and I have for years had a nagging question....

This is old news but ....

At SGP (2007) it got a built transmission and TC. Mark had sold him self as "THE" AT expert. When I picked up the car there was no paper work on the AT part of the job. And later Archie, the SGP employee who did most of the work, stated that Mark had actually farmed this out to another trans shop in Houston.

I drove the car a little during the next year and the AT seemed to be fine but in my years of de-constructing the work and re-doing I would like to know what I really have in my AT.

Does anyone have any info on what Mark actually did or who did it?

THX

mrg1981

iTrader: (2)

I may have some really bad news for you. My AT was supposed to have been done by Mark during that same time frame. On January 4th, 2009 (IIRC), the transmission had catastrophic failure, leaving my wife and I stranded outside Wickenburg, AZ. It turned out that the transmission was stock and nothing had been done to it at SGP. I had a shop repair and build it properly. At this point, SGP was out of business and had filed for bankruptcy protection. I did not pursue a lawsuit, since it was likely to be expensive and it was unlikely that I would recover anything.

There is a huge thread on here about SGP and my transmission discussion was a large part of that thread. My friend here had a similar situation during that same time as well.

I wish I could give you better news, but it is likely that your transmission is completely stock and was never upgraded by SGP or a third party shop.

RudeG_v2.0

iTrader: (1)

+1 to everything Marshall said. I got my 5AT "built" by SGP immediately after he did. Once Marshall's trans failed and it was discovered during teardown that he got ripped off, I had my trans torn down and inspected as well. I also got ripped off. I had the OEM number of clutch plates which were installed dry with zero fluid soaking. My trans would have failed immediately if I had attempted to use it at any power level. So like Marshall, I had to get my trans rebuilt a second time by someone else (same guy that rebuilt Marshall's trans).

I highly recommend that you have your trans torn down and inspected. If your power goals are above 550whp, cut your losses and ditch the Nissan 5AT all together for a GM auto trans swap or a 6MT swap.

mrg1981

iTrader: (2)

Or see if Eric (RudeG_v2.0) will sell you his. He has never used it, so it has 0 miles on it. It is one of only 2 like it ever built (mine is the other one). I think he decided to go for 1000+ WHP and go with a GM drag racing trans. This trans has amazing performance on the track, while still being very street friendly (unlike Eric's GM). If you decided to go that route and his is still available for sale, you could come for a ride in my Z to see what you think. I have been very happy with it and have broken several world records with only 1 attempt in poor conditions. You won't find many transmissions that will let you drive to the track, run low 11's or 10's all day long, then drive it home.

Zume

Thanks for this.

When I got my car back in November of 07 I drove it (mildly) for a year and oddly my AT felt OK and did not fail (Yet). I'm only at 410 whp.

However, after that year I came to the conclusion that the quality of work was so bad that I parked the car and have been on a research and repair mission ever since.

Also, during this time I have chosen to tweak and modify many things.

Yes I am interested in Rude's AT. May be you could enlighten me as to the specs...who and where was the work done...price.... here or PM.

And I do recall mrg1981's fail story.

More of Mark's work..... this has leaked day 1 and continues to leak in my shop now...I will be ordering a new pan/gasket this week.




Seems hard to believe Mark never did a trans correctly. I actually flew out to visit has shop before sending my car there. He sold himself as the Performance AT guy with proprietary secrets and proprietary AT shop!

Zume

Jeeez I stayed at his house for a few days when I picked up the car.

He had the car 5 or so months. On my drive back to GA the wheel balance was so bad I had to make an unscheduled stop to have them balanced.

I was really naive....I left with basically no receipts and when I got home there were parts missing. I had spent I recall well north of $10K maybe even $20K. Long time ago.

This and the well known "Atlanta (Marietta) bubble shop" fueled my burn (anger) to tear apart and redo myself.

Sorry I know this is all old news.

mrg1981

iTrader: (2)

It's not "old news" when you're dealing with the issues today! I am sorry for your issues and can certainly relate and empathize. It sucks to have issues and it sucks to not have the shop/people responsible willing to make it right.

Take it from me, it's not worth suing someone that can't pay the judgment you get against them. I have 2 judgments that I can't collect on. I feel like I just spent $30,000 in legal fees and almost an entire year of lawsuits for nothing! Mark doesn't have anything worth seizing, to my knowledge and it is very expensive to pursue from another state.

Don't blame yourself for trusting someone and getting burned. 1. It's their fault, not yours. 2. You are a trustING person, because you are a trustWORTHY person. 3. Just learn to protect your interests better next time and it's a life lesson, not a disaster (an expensive lesson, as it may be). 4. Everyone was trusting him and at the time we all started our build with him, there was no reason not to trust him.

Rude has documentation on his AT. I know it was built by a Nissan Master Technician that does Trans builds on the side. I know it was built the same as mine. I just don't have the details handy. Like I said, if you go that route, come take a ride in mine. You'll crap your pants and then buy his trans!