Thread: Marsh Tuning and Morfius Performance

This is going to take a while to load everything into this thread. Present all the evidence in the way of texts, photos, video and first hand accounts. I'll get it all in here and posted as quick as I can and try to keep it reasonably organized.

You can look at my build thread, the last dozen or so pages here:

http://www.sr20-forum.com/members-rides/12127-93-classic-restoration-power-2015-a-27.html

My Members Rides thread covers my initial spending spree on parts and the outline of my upgrade plans.

This is my experience with Marsh Tuning and Morfius Performance.

December 2014. I've been talking to Mark Merliss and Jamie Marsh of Marsh Tuning about hot-rodding my SE-R for the last few (several?) years. Finally decided on turbo and came into some spending cash.

I called Mark in December, we talked extensively about a reliable, OEM+, factory clean turbo system for my existing DE. GT2560R, gtir manifold, S15 injectors, etc. Everything installed correctly and professionally. Clean up any ugliness as you go. I spoke about test driving it for a couple of weeks, several hundred miles, before I arrived to pick it up.

Justin St. Pierre from Morfius Performance was brought on board by Mark as a "great mechanic" whom Mark would "trust to work on his own car." Morfius is based out of the same warehouse space with Jamie and Mark subletting (?) from Justin. So Mark organizes, interfaces with the client (me) and orders parts, Justin turns wrenches, and Jamie is to pick out a programmable ECU and tune the whole thing. Sounded like a great plan, my two good friends and a third guy working under their direction. Awesome.

Our budget discussion settled on 8 grand'ish or so. Not including any shipping (1.5K'ish including my Classic), an unexpected new VE motor, nor the 3K worth of parts that I would be shipping to Marsh. My shipping to include a Koyo R1977, S15 injectors, GTiR manifold, Forge Motorsports bling reseviours, 370z seats, an oil relocation and cooler kit, all the VDO gauges (from Chriscar) and center cluster. (Nor did these numbers include my new wheels, tires, and front and rear Sunny bumpers.) The numbers were left loose because they had not inspected and assessed my car, they could firm the numbers up when the car arrived.

March 16. Via text to Mark, the subject came up. Shawn: "I don't mind folks making money. I just want to be treated fairly and vice versa." "I want Marsh Tuning to be profitable. So you're still around to service my vehicle 5 years from now." About as plain as I can make it.

March 18. I ship my car to Mark, he received it on March 21, 2015. We had previously agreed upon Marsh Tuning and Morfius Performance having my car ready for the Convention. I was to fly in, pick up the car, drive it to the Convention in the caravan, then drive it home. That gives them the last 10-days of March, all of April, May, and half of June to transform my car. Mark assured me they could do this entire job in 2-weeks if they had to. Plenty of time.

April 13. Mark determines the DE motor has rod knock. We change plans to a VE with a GT2860R, everything else to remain the same. 250-300whp, ultra reliable, OEM+, fully sorted, professionally built. This the only time Mark asked for more money, a grand or so. IIRC, I added in another 100 bucks for lunch and gas money. Paypal, money sent a couple hours later. Wife said she was glad it happened in my friends shop so they could replace the motor for me.

I don't hear much from Mark for the rest of April and May. I don't contact him because I had a very scary heart attack in January. I was going to cardio rehab, running my farm, and was shaken to the core by the heart attack.

Good thing my buddies are working on my turbo car. It's gonna be awesome. Raise my spirits to see my friends and pick up my baby.

June 2. VE motor installed. I am quietly concerned about the time frame. How are they going to sort the car that quickly?

June 2. Gauges from Chris Scarpulla arrive at Marsh/Morfius. A bit behind, but still two weeks from the Convention.

June 5. Mark and I texting. Shawn: "Whatever is wrong with the air con, shimmy in wheel, please fix it all." Mark: "The air conditioner o-ring is bad in the high pressure line." Shawn: "Fix anything wrong. You know I'll pay you with a thank you. Put it all right."

June 9. Text from Mark. The motor pictured in the car. Mark: "I will have to take out but it's been in." One week until I fly in.

June 15. Leaving bank with thick wad of cash to pay the balance. Final grand total of 9k (3,800 to Morphius, 5,200 to Marsh Tuning). I did not even blink at the amount. I text Mark. Mention I still have not recieved an invoice or paperwork of any kind. Shawn: "How's it run? How was the dyno? Is everything sorted?" (*no reply*).

June 16. Arrived for pick-up and then on to the Convention. Car has had a "rough street tune." No dyno yet. No passenger seat in the car.

June 17. Still working on my car. No AC. No seat belt clasps (which are now P10 clasps). Dirty. Full of cut cable ties and wiring mess. We get the car onto the dyno. It makes 274whp, 250'ish (?) lb feet of torque. Stock ignition settings. 10 psi of boost. We also did about 5-minutes of street tuning as I drove up and back down the road for 6-blocks in the industrial park.

June 18. Paid Mark and Morfius in full (my mistake, but I'm dealing with my good buddies and there's no way on earth they'd fuck me over). Mark has had me as a house guest. I've known these guys for several years, online for over a decade, we go to Conventions together. I'm working with friends to build my ultimate SE-R. Trusting these dudes to do it right is why I shipped the damn car 1,900 miles to get it turbo'd.

Drove down to the Convention. No AC, they never got it working even with Justin pulling an "all nighter" and working on my car in a sleepless, last minute frenzy. No USB port. No built-in radar detector cabling. High initial idle. Stuttering on deceleration. Filthy car in and out. But it's turbo and I can see the greatness under the unfinished and unrefined hot mess I'm driving. I arrive at the Hotel with a sweat-bib down to my belly button.

June 19, 20, 21. The Convention does not go well.

I am dodging a thousand questions about my car. Put on a happy face in public. I had a healthy budget, trusted these guys, and they're running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Not finished, let alone sorted and tested. Mark coming to me to tell me how upset he is about the whole thing, he's a nervous wreck. How he'll do anything, whatever it takes to get it fixed. He and Randy under my hood in the parking lot. Mark recharges the Ac system, and discovers the low pressure line was left too close to the exhaust manifold. No AC for you. Crappy tune. No QC or shake-down time, which was emphasized, over and over, because I am not a mechanical guy. I don't like breakdowns. I build my cars OEM+ and demand OEM reliability out of my modifications. I report to Mark that the water temp is too low. Never ever goes above 180 degrees. It's blazing hot outside, I get stuck in traffic, with a turbo car, and 180 degrees (!) on my new gauge. On the freeway it runs at 110 degrees. Who knows what else is going to fall off the car, not work properly, or quit working in the next hundred miles?

Jamie and I are supposed to "street tune" the car at the Convention. It never happens. I'm around. I have a cell phone. Hello?

Randy Cresci is helping the guys with my car at both the shop and the Convention. He quietly identifies himself as a part owner in Marsh Tuning. Tells me he cannot be in the shop much, but has money in the company. He's appalled at my car and will take an active role in sortig it out. He'll do some QC before I see it again. He's not happy about all the details they missed, nor the timeframe, or un-finished product. OK. Sounds great to me. Thank you Randy my friend for having my back. I appreciate it.

Mark comes up with a plan to "fix it" that will cost Marsh Tuning/Morfius a couple thousand bucks. "Anything to make it right..." I counter with a fix it plan that will cost them $800.00. These are my friends. I'm upset that they might lose some money on my job. M/M flies me home from the Convention. I fly back up to pick up my car in a month or two on M/M's dime. I drive home as I would have from the Convention. Boom. Two one-way plane tickets. Done. Problem solved.

Mark, Jamie and Shawn, unbeknownst to each other all leave the Convention early on Sunday. Missed the picnic.

June 22. I send a text to Randy listing my concerns.....paste texts.... 7-items. Re-assurance. QC by Randy.

July 29. Mark texts. Car is "done." 1800 idle is "normal." Stuttering is pilot error. No USB port. No paperwork.

July 31. Texts with Randy to be posted....

Aug 7. Texts that firm up travel plans. Chris and Shawn to fly up in 3-weeks.

Aug 31. Chris and Shawn pick up the car at the airport in CT. Chris drives, Shawn has gout. Chris spots issues in airport parking lot. Doesn't want to hurt Shawn's feelings. We stop the first night at Cody Ace's place. Matt Ostlund's the second night. Mark Shoenholtz hosted us the third night, with Tim accompanying us to dinner. Every one of these OG's in their respective driveway by flashlight playing spot the mistakes.

Sept 4. Arrive home. Discover raw AC compressor wire. I'm proud of myself for finding an issue everyone else missed.

Sept 6. Send angry email to Mark with laundry list of grievances. (See full email and replies from Mark and Justin in separate posts below).

Sept 6. Text Randy about QC he promised. None done on his end. Never even called Mark nor spoke to him after we texted on June 22. He's busy with family matters and can talk in about a week.

Sept 6. Jamie calls me on the phone. Feels horrible. Denies any real involvement in the project, all Marks show. Will do everything he can to make it right.

Sept 9. Text to Chris S. AC dead, blowing warm air. Cody Ace spotted that leak in his driveway. See pic of firewall bung leak and green goo.

Sept 10. Text to Randy that he needs to speak with Jamie. Get caught up on current events.

Sept 11. Paste text from Randy. Never involved, distanced himself, yada, yada. Will call me back next weekend (Sept 19/20).

Sept 12. Not attributable to M/M, my AC compressor seizes up and the (old dry) belt snaps. Jamie steps up to try to help me locate a new compressor. No go on pre-owned, but I find the exact one I need at Rock Auto for $327.00.

Sept 23. Still have not heard back from my good friend Randy who's lookin' out for me.

Sept (8-)23. Shawn orders the correct temp sensor $28 (with 16 shipping, in a bubble envelope, lol), needs to order correct sized 22-dollar coupler (2.5" to 3"), Amazon Prime with free shipping. Received oil catch can and now need to sort out the PCV system and plug the big holes in my valve cover. Will order black radiator hoses (as requested multiple times) and some t-bolt clamps. Waiting on new compressor, put it all back together, get AC charged, then get with Jamie on remote viewing tuning issues.

Jamie also wants me to ship him back my factory ECU because he thinks it may be bad. I sent Jamie plenty of video's of the car running like ass, he agrees 100% there is a problem of some sort with the tuning/ECU.

I'll get the car sorted out myself. Still don't understand why Mark never asked for more budget beyond the necessary VE. For a full days labor (at discounted rate of $51/hr) and $400.00 bucks worth of materials (temp sensor, zip ties, heat shrink, coupler, black silicone radiator hoses, t-bolt clamps), totaling a $900.00 dollar change order on a 9-thousand dollar job (not including the VE, shipping, owner provided parts, etc...) M/M could have done this job 100%. Mark set the budget. I just sent money and or delivered it in person. Why no phone call or text? "Shawn we found more ugly shit than we expected, and it cost an extra full days labor and $400 in material to clean it all up. That's including those black radiator hoses you wanted. All stuff we just could not have anticipated." My answer would be, without any question or hesitation "No problems amigo, do it. Fix that shit." That's exactly why I sent the car to Nissan experts and friends of mine on the other side of the country.

What I believe happened is Mark got his feelings hurt at the Convention when I (righteously) told him I did not want to be mad at him and Jamie, but I was disappointed. Take it home and fix it. He said something about it on Pat Klutch's FB wall.



Gee, I wonder what Mark was referring to?

Nobody checked on Justin St. Pierres work prior to the Convention, nor prior to the second pick-up. Not Mark, Jamie, nor Randy. I know this because there is no way to miss the missing PCV stuff on the valve cover (my wife spotted them). The missing nuts on the fuse box, the tangled, dangling, melting wires, the unsecured alarm horn and wiring, wires loose enough to touch the exhaust mani.... Justin is a lazy, sloppy, hack, cunt of a mechanic. And nobody else did any QC whatsoever when he was done with his shoddy, incompetent and half-assed work.

Marsh Tuning is not a cohesive company. The three (3) known owners all have issues with the other two, the least of which is zero communication amongst themselves. They are not a team, and in no way, shape, or form are they capable of pulling off a project the size of mine as outlined. I wish one of them would have been friend enough to tell me that in advance.

Mark Merliss did a poor, last-minute, rushed job the first time around and delivered a disappointing, unfinished product. When called on it, he did the bare minimum he could get away with, then threw up his hands and quit. Couldn't handle a 10K build professionally. How sad.

Randy Cresci is still getting back to me.

Jamie Marsh at least apologized for his part in this cluster-fuck. He's upset this happened and is pro-actively trying to help me. The tune on the car is not right, and his continued help is appreciated. Straight up, he needs to cut ties and do his own thing.

Pics, videos, texts and emails to follow.

This is the pissed off email I sent to Mark on Sept 6. Justin St. Pierre of Morfius was the first person from Marsh/Morfius to respond.

I did not and have not responded (in red) till right now.


From: "Justin St.Pierre"
To: [email]shawnb1@hughes.net[/email]
Cc: "mark Merliss"
Sent: Sunday, September 6, 2015 11:30:11 PM
Subject: RE Issues with your Nissan Sentra

Good evening Shawn,

I have read your emails and it appears to me that there are some items that I need to go over with you to help you and your OG Nissan friends better understand the process and implimentation of a complete non oem build. I have pasted your concers below with answers to why things were done the way they are. I hope that you will gain a better understanding of the piece of equipment you now have in your posession.


Mark, Jamie, Randy, and Justin,

The following are the issues, and documentation on the issues, that I have been left with after hiring you gentlemen to do a turn-key turbo project (plus plenty of incidentals both planned and unexpected) to my '93 classic.

1. My gauge lights on the 3-din panel are constantly on from the moment I start the car. These lights should have been wired to follow the main cluster dimmer switch like all the stock gauges. I explained many times I want parts installed like "Nissan would have done it." (Video to be provided).

Nissan would have used a heavy duty dimmer switch. Adding the three gauges to the dimmer would have ultimately overloaded the dimmer and caused it to fail. At which point you would have been inclined to say that we, Marsh/Morfius, were responsible for destroying your dimmer switch. Due to the fact that the gauges you purchaced did not have LED lighting in them to reduce current, we had to wire them to an ignition source so as not to add excessive draw to the dimmer. The boost gauge and the extra wiring for the boost gauge added enough to it already.

Shawn: Then why in the fuck was a heavy duty dimmer not installed? Why wasn't I called, texted or emailed? Why not order the LED's? No one else has "overloaded" the dimmer and plenty of folks have copied Chriscars write-up.

2. The A/F ratio drops to 10:1 or richer, and stays there, under pretty much any load that kicks in the turbo. 10:1 is as far as the gauge reads. As a few friends put it "this thing is running pig-rich on acceleration." Tuning it to run leaner and still be safe is Tuning 101. (Video to be provided).

I cannot speak for the tune itself however I do know that the base map was constructed by the owner and founder of nismotronic. The rest was painstakingly tuned by Jamie and the car was subsiquently road tested. There is plenty of video to prove this. The car also made more power than you had been expecting. I will let Jamie or Mark explain the rest of the tuning aspects of this car.

Shawn: Complete bullshit. Jamie won't even agree that the car was "painstakingly" tuned. You have video? So do I. And both Chris S. and Jamie. Jamie has seen my videos and agrees 100% there is something wrong with the tune/ECU. Dumbass.

3. My water temp gauge reads from 110 to 180 degrees under any and all conditions. This is too cool, I noticed it and mentioned it to you after the Convention. You told me it was probably the Koyo and left it as is. It is not the Koyo, you put the wrong sender on the gauge. The sender is 150c (0-300f), the gauge is 0-250f. An enthusiast friend of mine, agreeing with me that the operating temp was ridiculous, figured this out in about 5 minutes. |

You provided the gauges and all of the accessories for them. You provided two senders one was 0-300f and the other was 0-200f. There was no other option with what was provided. Also the gauges were not shipped to me until two days before the car was supposed to be done. There was 0 time to hunt down a new VDO sending unit that was the correct temp in the two weekend days that I was given due to your shipping so late. Also the sender is in a location on the front of the engine in the water neck. This is due to the simple fact that there is no other available space to put a sender of that size. Had there been more time with the gauges this would not have been an issue. This was explained to you by myself the day you arrived.

Shawn: Why was this not discovered and fixed no matter what was customer provided? When I pointed out it was too cool, it was still just left as is and not even diagnosed, despite being back to CT for you guys to fix the AC. The AC that failed due to the low pressure line hitting the manifold. You had two weeks with the gauges before I arrived for the Convention, then you had another 2-months after the Convention. How much time do you need?!?

4. The two PCV ports on my valve cover are open to atmosphere. No proper plugs, hoses, catch-can, nothing. Just open, one of which is dripping oil. As I understand it, the PCV hole on the back of the VC is for the stock PCV valve, that and the open dripping bung should have been plumbed to the (owner provided) Forge Motorsports oil catch can. An expensive, matching, catch can that I am requesting you ship back to me immediately, so I can have it installed correctly.

Ok I will bite the bullet on this one. There is no physical room in the bay for the catch can. Never the less there should have been filters installed.

Shawn: You're a fucking clown.

5. The stuttering upon deceleration that I reported, and you declared "driver error" or a pre-existing condition (which you were either unable or unwilling to fix) was neither. It is most likely, almost certainly, related to "no decel fuel cut." A number of my knowledgeable enthusiast friends all came to this conclusion nearly immediately. One of them sent me the following link: http://www.sr20-forum.com/nismotronic/68682-soften-deceleration-fuel-cut-low-rpms.html

As far as this goes both myself and Mark road tested this car. During Mark's 500 mile trip from virginia he did not expirience this issue. When the car arrived here I road tested and found no issue either.

Shawn: Except Shawn, Chriscar, Kyle (at the Convention, coming home from Waffle Hut) and half a dozen other OGs witnessed the cars behavior. I'll get it on video when I get the car running again. Mark was NOT running the AC during that trip home, because it did not work. Regardless, Jamie Marsh has videos and knows full well that the car is running like ass.

Chris suggested to Mark Merliss over the phone, before even SEEING the car, that the bucking may be because fuel cut overrun was not activated. (Video to be provided).

6. The idle is hunting, dipping, stuttering, and doing the herky-jerk. Depends on temp, heat, AC on or off, but it is almost never steady and is annoying as hell. Tuning 101, steady idle. (Video to be provided).

Shawn: Jamie Marsh has the videos, right now. Enough to make him ask me to stop sending him videos. Perhaps he'll post the for us. I'm not real good at posting vids.

7. You ordered the wrong Vibrant coupler to go from the intake pipe to the throttle body. So you doubled up the hose part on the throttle body end, and clamped the doubled-up hose and left it that way. Were you too lazy or too cheap to order the proper sized coupler and fix it correctly?

Aside from what everyone may tell you, there is no proper size coupler for that throttle body. The are all too large or too small. The next size down can be used but in the past they have led to torn boots and several other issues. What has always been done here is what you see there. The stress is relieved and the two pieces of couple mold together perfectly.

Shawn: Bullshit and lies to cover laziness and sloppy work. The outer diameter of the stock intake is 2.83", the intake pipe is 2.45". Here is the coupler.

Amazon.com: Vibrant 2772 4 Ply Reinforced Silicone Reducer Coupling: Automotive

8. You went to Home Depot Racing for a number of splitters under my hood. Held them on with zip ties. Why you did not buy a 60-dollar vacuum distribution block or even the plastic t-fittings (from an actual auto parts store) is a mystery.

Ok this one really made me wonder how much knowledge you and your OG car guys have. Plastic T fittings break almost daily. With the heat generated by a turbo car those are a big no no. Secondly a vac block heat soaks and causes all sorts of odd issues. Not to mention all of the vac lines needing to be longer to reach the block. Brass fittings were used (and no they are not from home depot) for strength, longevity, and overall routing to keep lines as short as possible. Oh I almost forgot, check nearly every turbo build on the internet and locally. They all use zip ties to secure vac lines as an added measure of safety. However if you don’t like them, feel free to cut them off. Im sure a loose vac line on the fuel pressure regulator wont be that big of a deal.

Shawn: I'll let other folks handle this one. I guess AN fittings and vacuum blocks are worthless fancy-stuff for race cars only?

9. You left an unused heater hose attached to my firewall at one end, the other end just dangling in the bay.

Ahhh yes the hose that was so tangled in the previous mess of firewall artifacts.

Shawn: The motor was always going to come out. Mark knows the car has been to several different mechanics over the year. Dozens of specialists. You guys should have fully expected what you got and known in advance you should clean it up as you go. Which I told Mark to do. "Fix anything wrong to OEM spec or better." "Call me if it is a major change." A major change is an expense worthy of note. You should have removed correctly all the artifacts. More sloppy, lazy work ethic on display.

Further, I heard nothing out of you but praise for how OEM correct it was. How the right fasteners were in the right place.

10. You must have used all your zip ties on the plumbing fixtures, because in numerous places you left wires loose, unrestrained, and messy where a few zip ties and common sense would have gone a very long way towards a tidy and professional installation.

Perhaps the vehicle that came to us was switched in the middle of the night. The vehicle that was delivered was full of wiring nightmares. From the oddly placed grounds to the horrid stereo wiring done by an obvious ameture. Stereo wiring that could have been done better at your local walmart and lets not even mention the bare fuse under the hood. These were all issues that we were not "hired" to repair. These were exsisting issues caused by either the current owner or a previous owner. Either way the electrical that was installed was loomed, protected, and secured better than the original oem harness which was no where near secured properly

Shawn: Expected. It speaks volumes for the difficulty in finding competent mechanics and professionals to work on a car. It's not like I don't mind paying the bills to the best folks I can find in any given market or area of expertise. You were hired to repair "any issues to OEM spec or better." I said that statement to Mark three dozen times or more. Change orders. Call me if we way over shoot the budget somewhere. Bill from Exxon called me just before I shipped the car. "Shawn we're replacing that water pump, the front seal is bad, you want us to fix it?" "Of course I do Bill." "Will do Shawn." And that was that.


11. In at least two places, as pictured, you bent rubber vacuum lines at too great of an angle. They will get warm or hot and likely collapse in those areas. This is easily, quickly fixed by simply changing out the hoses to ones that are the correct length and routed properly.

The crank case breather line is a molded line and with the turbo setup that is its ultimate location. Nothing can be done to rectify the fact that the hose is bent 3* more than it should be. That hose will never collapse. Second is the brake booster line. This line is looped and is certified for fuel/vac. It is designed not to collapse.

Shawn: I'll let others answer this one. You can argue with Mark S.

12. The fuse box that is located on the side of the stock battery tray is not held in place by any nuts. Just gravity and luck keeps it in place.

This fuse box was not mounted correctly to begin with. The harness was tugging on it so hard it had broken one of the mounting tabs. We actually rerouted the harness to give it a bit more play.

Shawn: The excuse is that it was missing the nuts to begin with? You hack. Why not loosen up the harness, then find two correct nuts. See above: Fix it s you go along. Any issues. OEM or better. Call me if it gets expensive. Thanks. No calls, no texts, no nothing.

13. The threaded battery tie down hardware is not equal length. One side is 2" longer than the other.

I have no idea where that tie down came from.

Shawn: You installed the new battery Justin.


14. There is a soldered together wire down low under the passenger side front of the bay, that is not heat shrunk, wrapped, or protected in any way. Twisted, soldered and left exposed.

That is the ac compressor clutch wire. Not sure who messed with that car between here and virginia but both that wire and the ac line that burned were set perfectly.

Shawn: I was in sight of folks the entire time, except for an hour or two when I got lost. You think I got under there and stripped my own wire?!? Magic gnomes did it just to make your sloppy ass look bad?

See copious photos attached. Video will be provided as well and is forthcoming.

Other than a rough dyno tune, this car is not tuned. No way is it tuned. Certainly not by someone who cares about his reputation as a tuner.

This car was not street tested. Certainly not by someone who would care to look at the gauges, and notice the water temp was nowhere near normal. Unless it was just around the block so you assume it wasn't up to operating temp, and never through traffic or with the AC on.

For anyone to even THINK about saying this car was the best their shop could do, is ludicrous. Unless everything else coming out of that shop is only meant to be backed off a trailer, and run down the track at wide open throttle.

Some of these are minor, some of these are major, but when you add it all up it speaks volumes about the ability of your shop(s) to do a thorough, detail oriented, professional quality job for your client(s).

Five well respected, OG members of the SE-R community checked out the car on my ride down south, and to the man, they are all amazed at the lack of detail, and novice level of workmanship. More than one told me they wish I could just leave my car with them so they could rip the engine out and start over again.

I don't know what you could possibly do to rectify these copious issues, or how you could make it right. But with a heavy heart, I am giving you another 48-hours to come up with an acceptable solution and contact me. After that, I will go public and both outline and fully document my experience with your shop(s).

You have no idea how upset I am that you gentlemen, folks I considered friends, put me in this position.

Shawn B

Shawn, to be totally honest with you, we were warned by most of the folks you call OG nissan friends. We were warned not to take on your project for exaclty these reasons. We were told over and over again that we could turn your sentra into a ferrari and you would still find something wrong with it. Apparently they were all correct. We are entrusted on a daily basis with some of the most high dollar cars in exsistance. We have built and tuned well over 500+ cars and have never had the level of issues that you seem to have with your sentra. We treated your car like it was gold due to all the warnings we received. We even gave you a heavy discount on parts and labor to keep your build reasonable. The one thing I don't think you are understanding at this point is that you had a "stock" 93 sentra. You now have a turbo, intercooled, VE powered vehicle with an aftermarket programmable ECU and several other one off custom parts. It is impossible to make this a 100% year round turn key solution. A car of that caliber is always going to need tweaking and tuning. That is just the nature of owning a custom high performance car. If you weren't prepared for the upkeep and the minor setbacks, you should have washed and waxed it and called it a day.

Shawn, as far as going public with your issues…….Please do! Please give your full and honest opinion. Please include this correspondance when you go public. And please send me the link when you do. We always welcome critisism if it is justified.

Thank you

Justin

Shawn: Just a bunch of condescending and snide insults from a childish douche mechanic numb-nuts with non-existent customer service skills.


So that was my angry email to Mark (Jamie and Justin) after picking up the car for the second time. Justins replies, and for the first time ever, my answers to Justin.

Here's Marks response to my angry email of Sept 6.

Once again, I did not bother to reply. This is the first time I have answered this sorry ass reply from Mark.




From: "Mark"
To: [email]shawnb1@hughes.net[/email]
Sent: Tuesday, September 8, 2015 7:14:58 PM
Subject: Fwd: Marsh Tuning/Morpheus issues. Nine attached photos.



Mark
Marsh Tuning

Begin forwarded message:

From: mark Merliss
Date: September 8, 2015 at 7:50:25 PM EDT
To: Mark
Subject: Re: Fwd: Marsh Tuning/Morpheus issues. Nine attached photos.
Reply-To: mark Merliss

Shawn,

I want to explain something that seems very odd coming from my position. You drove your vehicle for 480 miles in june, your issues at that time were the radar detector not being installed and the air conditioning not working. I have bent over backwards to make that right with the situation at hand, we dont have junkyards that have 91-94 Nissan Sentra SE-R's sitting there with Air conditioning high pressure lines so I searched high and low to get you parts that are discontinued from NISSAN. I drove 2-1/2 hours to get your equipment and paid for it out of pocket then drove back 2-1/2 hours. Then got your Air Conditioner working. Your Radar Detector was installed. The Studerring under deceleration I tried to replicate and could not. I then had justin who built your car replicate this problem and he could not. I have 30 minutes of driving video at 3 different times and days with still no problem with deceleration. I have deceleration, acceleration, a/c on and off , in traffic driving, highway driving video to make sure that you were not taking a car on a 2000 mile trip from our location to your home and wherever in between with any issues. I sent that video to Chris so he could see what he was getting into. The car drove beautifully, starts right up correctly, drives at the correct operating temperature, makes 270whp that you saw with your own eyes in person getting dyno tuned(which your accusations of not ever being tuned is appalling since you were present at those times), and also exceeding what your goals were.

1) I was supposed to fully diagnose all the issues with my car, during a stressed out trip to a Convention, where you were running around like a chicken with your head cut off trying to repair my unfinished car on the fly and in a parking lot? While telling me, the client, that you were about to have a nervous breakdown and you were popping Xanax. So I should have gone on a mission at that time and place, with gout post heart attack, to find all of the Marsh/Morfius issues? While in front of the entire forum, in a parking lot, in mid June.....

2) The AC did not work during the Convention at all. The line hitting the exhaust manifold and melting was ALL you guys at M/M.

3) "Drives at the correct operating temperature"? Are you in complete denial? It runs between 110-180 degrees no matter what. I purchased and sent the wrong sender, then you guys never discovered the problem, even when I pointed it out. You told me it was normal with the Koyo. A friend found the issue in 5 minutes. Yes, YOU should have caught and fixed a grossly inaccurate temp gauge no matter who made the initial mistake ordering parts. Charging me for the time and materials to make the proper changes.

4) Jamie and I were supposed to do the road-tuning. It never happened. He was too busy sorting out Fizels car. The car got dyno tuned only to my knowledge. Those comments about the tune are direct quotes from Chris. He drove the car the entire time to Dallas. I never drove it even once, my gout was flaring up. I was the co-pilot.

5) It did NOT "exceed my goals." It met my goals perfectly, don't pat yourself on the back. The parts I chose were predictably the correct parts to meed my goal. It's not magic, and certainly not something for you to congratulate yourself on.

Now From the point where we left the convention I drove your vehicle 480 miles back to have the items that were a problem to you attended too, (Mind you I left my truck in someone elses hands to take you to the airport then tow back another vehicle). Your vehicle then was driven another 75 miles to ensure that everything was correct. Everything checked out and you flew in on August 31 to make your trip home(where I left you a washed, vacuumed, full tank of gas to start your trip home)From the point when I dropped off the vehicle at 11am on Monday august 31 at Bradley international airport till Sunday when you sent this email I have not heard one word from you nor your passenger on the trip aka chris scarpulla. You drove 2000 miles home, these issues your stating were not brought up to us until you got home. For someone to have this many issues with there vehicle and not bring it back to us from the airport is where I am confused. These issues should have happened within the first few miles of the trip, the things that you have pictured would be in the eye site of you.

6) It was YOUR responsibility to drive my car home, you were not doing me a favor.

7) "Everything checked out." You did not "check out" anything, nor did Jamie or Randy. You know it, and I know it. Or you would have quickly started discovering issue after issue after issue.

8) These issues were discovered in Cody's, Marks, and Matt's driveways. So sorry I could not thoroughly check your work in the airport parking lot. Why did someone not meet us, a 9K client, at the airport with the car? YOU did not catch the issues in 5 1/2 months, but I was supposed to catch them at the airport? Chris did catch a bunch of them, he did not mention them because he was afraid of hurting my feelings.

So My questions are below:

1) why didnt you contact me when all of these issues came about?

9) You could not meet us at the airport, nor could your partners. Was I under some obligation to keep your informed of all your mistakes as I found them? I found the last one, the raw exposed wire, in my driveway at my house. Sorry I did not catch your mistakes earlier and promptly notify you sir.

2) why didnt you come to our shop directly from the airport to address these issues so you can tell us exactly how you feel and maybe we could have come to a solution for these problems you had.

10) Why didn't you meet me at the airport? Who was even at the shop? You had 5 1/2 months to find and solve the issues, now you expect Chris and I, on a schedule, to bring you the car for a third time and point out all your errors to you?!?

3) why are you threatening in 48 hours your going to have to go public then stating that with a heavy heart you feel that we put you in a position to make you threaten us. You should have called me at that moment when all of this happened, we are peaceful people and want whats right for our customers as we want nothing but the best as you and many other customers/friends represent us and we treat people as we would like to be treated.

11. Because I am tired of this Mark. You've had plenty of money, could have EASILY had more if you'd asked, and plenty of time.

If you wanna say " you motherfuckers wouldnt talk to me like this in person" when I didnt say a word to you in response to this email you sent me then it means your the one being out of line and we need to get back on course to what can/could be a solution and where I feel we are is a place that you will never be satisfied.

12. Have YOU read what your lovely partner Justin wrote to me? Exactly. You did not say a word, apparently you let Justin (the motherfucker in question) run his insulting mouth to your friend (?) and client.

Now with those questions being stated, I want to address what I feel we did/or did not do in your eyes that is wrong with your numbered concerns as I do feel that "some" of your concerns have merritt... Some are extremely minor.

1) The water temperature sender was provided by you through Chris. This was installed per your request.

13. YOU and Jamie and Randy should have caught and corrected this. NO fucking excuses. One phone call to order the correct part, 30 minutes to install it. Turbo SR20's do NOT run between 110-180 degrees. That is ridiculous. A friend found this in 5-minutes.


2) The gauges being lit as soon as the key is in the on position... sorry this is a problem

14. They do not follow the dimmer, and the new gauges have a much brighter light than the stock gauges. It looks half-assed and sloppy. One phone call or order for matching bulbs. And BTW ALL the gauges can and do run just fine on the OEM dimmer in both Sentra's and Miata's. And they run that way in the Chriscar gauge write-up in the Technical Library. "Will melt the dimmer" my ass.


3) The heater hose being left in the engine bay: That is something that I dont agree with nor did I personally see. I feel that should have been removed, must say I would not want that there.

15. Justin claiming he was not hired to remove old hoses. YES, he was. "Fix it to OEM spec or better, call me if it gets too expensive...yada, yada", how many times did I say that to you? Justin's a lazy, sloppy, shoddy-working son-of-a-bitch.


4) The spark plug wires not being in the holder, you have an obd1 wire set that is installed on a valve cover meant for coil packs, going into a obd1 distributor, not being in the 4 prong holder that is from the factory sr20ve may be why it doesnt look correct or may not be in that holder. i hope this is very minor to you

16. It is very minor. But when you add them all up, it paints a very clear picture of zero pride of worksmanship, a half-hazard and lazy work ethic.

5) The vibrant coupler for the throttle body, I was told what to order and I did that. I apologize for not noticing this but it is in working condition and I would have to have Justin answer the concern about that if he hasnt already.

17. Yet Justin claimed, in writing that that coupler size does not exist. He flat out lied, inferred I was stupid and sent it to me. Brilliant. You clowns should get your stories together before you answer a customer.

6) You do need to know that the vacuum fittings used are better than plastic T's, Plastic T's will not hold up to what your doing with your vehicle and would possibly break at any time. I did not want anything installed on your vehicle that would have any possibility to break. So when you do try and attack us with statements like this please take the time to gain the knowledge on the subject.

18. Those comments were from one of the OG's, pretty much verbatim. Why were anodized AN fittings not utilized? Why no proper $60.00 machined vacuum distro block?

7) Wires being loose and messy I cant say I disagree, I do not like messy wiring nor things just hanging around. I did not notice any of these wires you are pointing out to be a problem with your vehicle at the time of delivery. They seemed to be tidy and neat, some of them you have pictured are not problems in my opinion. Now with that being said: In My opinion some of the wires pictured are a problem with neatness. For example: The stereo wire was tucked behind the battery where it was when we received the car. That is for your stereo and we did not do anything with your stereo equipment but make sure you couldnt see that wire by the battery. The area near the a/c hose i am trying to see what the problem is with that?? I cant tell what your trying to take a picture of because it looks good. The fan connector I also dont see the problem unless your talking about the small area of exposed wire.

19. It's messy and sloppy and nothing neat about it. The wire that hangs down from the radiator support has two melt points on the outer sheath. Just like the AC hose, it got too close to the manifold. I'll re-take the picture, it's kind of hard to see in my first photo. One tie-wrap would have fixed the problem, cost about 5-cents and take one minute. It's just lazy and sloppy to leave the bay they way it is.


8) The fuse box next to the battery may or may not have had the 10 mm bolts in it, I was not the one who did or did not install them but will take the blame even if they were loose enough to fall off. It did not move and should not move, after 2000 miles or 1000 miles or 2 miles idk they may have loosened and fallen off or just were never there. I wouldnt know but I will take blame.

20. Just say "we fucked up." Instead of all that mumbling, fumbling, bullshit.

9) The vacuum hoses, those are made purposely not to bend into a position that will crimp. Also those hoses are the proper hoses and made to be durable for many many years to come. Those were ran properly and work perfectly.

21. Mark Shoenholtz disagrees with you.


10)The threaded battery tie down: That was something that was installed but not attended too so it would look good. It is function and not look and I can say that honestly. The front stud is cut to fit underneath the hood without hitting the hood. The rear one did not need to be cut because it wasnt hitting the hood. That does not look good so I understand what you mean by your concern. Function is not the concern, aesthetically it is not as nice as it could be. admitted

22. Add it all up, all the minor mistakes. Lazy, sloppy, no quality control (Randy, where you at homie?).


11) The wire thats soldered but not connected to anything I never seen that wire nor what its for so I would have to ask about that one if you have not been answered on this.

23. Yeah it's the AC clutch wire. Raw, exposed wire. Justin tried to insinuate that "someone" messed with or in some insidious way sabotaged them. Like in a spy movie with cut brake lines. No. Nobody double checked my car. Not you, Randy, nor Jamie. And you used a lazy, sloppy, unprofessional mechanic. I could have found one of those right here in Louisiana.

When it comes to the tuning side of this car, rough idle, hunting idle, rich conditions etc that you are stating in this email I nor any of us has experienced these. Jamie would have more of a educated insight on this subject but I will tell you this: The ECU decision was on me and I chose what would work best for your setup with the parameters of the stock ecu. The nismotronic ecu with map sensor works great for the setup that you wanted and makes everything space friendly to run a clean air to water setup. You go over 30mpg in your words on the way to the convention and drove the car for 480 miles with what you felt were deceleration concerns but everything else ran great (In your words). For someone to have these amount of issues but still drive 2000 miles home and not contact us until you get home shows concerns on what the problems really are(meaning Minor or Major), I drove your car with no issues whatsoever. But on a technical basis inside ecu tuning and your car I cant answer. Having Jamie tune the car and being the one who organized this build and putting him in a position like this and having the accusations that he " never tuned the car or did tune it but doesnt care about his reputation" is not what he has done nor would ever do to anyone. I put my reputation on that as you can obviously see. I have video to prove this as well, This video was going to be used to promote what people would dream to want as a daily driven extremely fun sr20 but now its probably going to have to be used to prove our side of your issues.

24. I never checked any mileage, ever. I never have in any car, ever. You're mistaken, period. I made fun of Vadim on the forum for his gas mileage madness.

YOU were told, point blank and in writing by the client, that JAMIE was to pick whatever ECU he wants. Not you.

Outside the tuning issue, most of these problems could have been found, parts ordered, and fixed with about $200.00 and half a dozen labor hours. All of which I would have GLADLY paid for if I was ever given the opportunity. Change Order: "Shawn we discovered this bullshit, it's ugly, and it will cost $XXX to fix it, do we proceed?" "Fuck. Yes, Mark, fix it to OEM or better....." Done and car at 100%.

Mark, I spent a grand total of 17K on my car this year. You think I would have balked at 18.5K to have it 100% correct?!?

You really should check with Jamie on your tuning story. He has, right now, videos of the car running like ass. So many, he asked me to quit sending them. There IS multiple drivability issues, and Jamie is well aware of it and will support ME on this issue.

Now onto the conclusion: What is it that you want to rectify these issues you have meaning minor and major. I dont know what will make you happy, I dont know what wont make you happy. I dont know what I am willing to do or not do with the way your email is portraying your feelings as I am noticing that what I/we did to make your car right with the manifold you provided burning your a/c line that was not a 93 a/c line but I bit the bullet and took money out of my own pocket to fix it. I honestly did not make a dime on this, It cost me money.

25. The gauges you provided, the manifold you provided.....Holy fuck Mark, take personal responsibility. I provided some parts, this does NOT alleviate you of your responsibility to make it ALL work 100% harmoniously. WTF are you thinking with this bullshit? Yeah, my AC line hit my manifold, when YOU guys put it all together. The temp gauge did not work when YOU guys put it all together. It does NOT matter where it came from, what matters is you make it work, and call the client if you discover you need a new temp sender (that the client pays for, including labor to swap them out) or YOU allow the existing AC line to hit the new exhaust manifold. This disturbs me more than anything else you have stated. By far, it means you are in utter denial on your responsibility to your clients.

On a business side that is not good to keep a business going but it is not your problem its mine, im just letting you know what happened. My feelings are such that you will never be satisfied, I feel what you and I spoke about in the beginning before your car came up here was something that could not be delivered. I feel that the original plan was altered (motor rod knock and picking a used engine) and we adapted to it properly with staying on the plan and getting what you wanted: But that obviously didnt happen.

26. My feelings are that you had 9K, 3-4 grand worth of high quality owner provided parts, and 5 1/2 months and made well over a dozen amateur mistakes. You had but to ask for more money along the way, you never approached the subject. If what we spoke about could not be delivered by your shop, you should have passed on the job.

What is unheard of is driving the car 480 miles and complimenting it then having all these issues after driving it 2000 miles when i drove it back 480 miles then 75 miles more but not contacting us on that ride home. Something must have happened because that is not the car that was delivered to you at the airport and I have proof of that.

27. It's the same car. Sorry I did not discover all your mistakes, jumping in the car and driving it south in the Convention caravan. Nor at the hotel, with gout and still recovering from a heart attack. "Something must have happened"? Paranoia is a killer Mark, nobody sabotaged my car except for Justin. OG's just kept discovering more and more and more fuck-ups as we went along. The more we looked, by flashlight, in driveways along the route, the more mistakes we found. Nothing mysterious or nefarious about it. I was keeping a list as we went. So I could call you with ALL the mistakes at once. You know there is probably more mistakes right now, but I have not been under the car yet to check. And I KNOW none of you guys (Randy, Jamie...) checked.


What I feel is going to happen is your going to expose what you went through with our business(s) and show your side of the story and we are going to have to show our side of the story to the public and I wish it didnt have to go that way but I have a feeling it will. I have so much time into your car that I am trying to wrap my head around all of this. I am up in arms with trying to figure out a solution. I am open ears to suggestions from you but I cant say I will agree with them(not saying I will disagree). If you were closer this would be much easier because of obvious reasons but you are not so this does make it difficult.

28. I'm just gonna tell the truth. Nothing more, nothing less. Just like I always do. I've been dodging questions, and avoiding the forum and FB on purpose because I don't know what to tell folks. "How's the car Shawn?" Uh.......*silence*. I don't want to ruin my friends(?) reputations, but feel like I am backed into a corner by their ongoing incompetence.

Now on a personal note: I feel as though I lost a friend and I have what you call a "heavy heart" about this as well. I wish I could tell the future because if I knew this is the way it was going to be I would have never taken on the job respectfully not because of the ability but because of saving a friendship. I will take responsibility for taking the opportunity that you presented and in my opinion delivering but in your opinion not even coming close to delivering. It was not worth losing a friendship over and I have learned from this on a personal level to not do again.

29. If I knew Justins character and work ethic, I NEVER would have hired you. If I knew how badly you and Jamie and Randy communicate, and how much tension is between you guys, I never would have hired you. If, if, if.... Yeah, I am mourning our friendship and hoping to salvage my friendship with Jamie and Randy.

Thanks for reading this and like you said I hope we can figure out something to rectify these issues but the way it is looking I am not counting on that happening.

30. I'm not counting on anything from Marsh Tuning or Morfius. That way I won't be disappointed.



Mark
Marsh Tuning
203-494-4455




At that point, I was done with Mark and his excuses, finger pointing, whining, pity-party, and denial. I did not reply to him till right now.

Some of these are NOT included in my Angry Email, because I had not discovered them all at the time.



AC compressor wire.
[img][URL=http://s499.photobucket.com/user/ShawnB1/media/Marsh%20Tuning%20Issues/More%20%20Marsh%20%20Tuning%20Morfius%20mess%20001_zps9cgytd5e.jpg.html][IMG]http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr354/ShawnB1/Marsh%20Tuning%20Issues/More%20%20Marsh%20%20Tuning%20Morfius%20mess%20001_zps9cgytd5e.jpg[/img][/URL][/IMG]


Hard to see, but main panel no lights, while the Chriscar Gauge Cluster is lit. Brilliant.


I suppose the ballast (?) for the fogs could have been held down with a tie wrap at least?



Greenish AC goo leaking at the firewall. Cody Ace caught this one the first night.



Melted fan wire sheath. Too much slack. Hit the exhaust manifold. Fixed by me with tie wrap.





They did a nice job of re-locating my alarm horn.



0-250 Gauge. 0-150 temp sender. Didn't figure it out when I pointed it out. I'll try to get a pic of the "150" stamped on that sender.



"They don't make the right coupler." Derp derp.


Two for one. Nice work on that plastic loom for the plug wires that are right next to the open, silver, thumb-sized bung on the valve cover which is leaking oil.



Loose wires and electrical doohickies under the air to water silver box thing....
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Fuse box held in by gravity and luck.



Tie wrap and tuck under console? No? OK.


Loose and sloppy wiring.


Hose gonna collapse.


Hose gonna collapse.


PCV what? Open hole blows a nice stream of air from the valve cover. It's to cool the fuel injectors.




Extra hose. We're saving it for later.


When you see it.....


Awesome.


We don't need no AN fittings and fancy anodized parts.



I don't remember Chris and/or I hitting anything with the oil pan, but we theoretically could have. I do have a Loco Performance underbody skid plate on order. Seems I probably need a new oil pan.

I'll be posting slightly edited versions of Randy's and my communications via Text. I have no idea how to post to a forum or even FB from my phone.

Basically Randy is an owner, but was not involved. Immediately after the Convention, he promised to do major, picky, Quality Control. Then he did nothing but pile on some more platitudes. Then he never called me back. Hooray.

I've also got plenty of video of my car running like ass. Chris and Jamie both have copies on their phones. (Jamie does not dispute an issue with the ECU/tuning or both AND is working with me to resolve). Do I need to mention that I do not know how to send a video to a forum from my phone? I'll try and figure it out.

one more for chuckles

Bookmarking this!

in....

wow, this sucks. i thought me waiting 3 years for parts was bad. this takes it to a whole new level.

After reading what has been posted so far, I have two small things to contribute.
However, I'm going to wait until Shawn is finished before I make a real reply in case there is more.