Posted 22 March 2013 - 10:41 PM

I’ve debated posting this, but after recent interaction with Titan (which brought to light the fact that they were charging me to replace a piece on my car that was damaged when the car was at their shop) came to the conclusion that it should be out there for GT-R Life members to see and know. I didn’t commence a business relationship with Titan under the presumption that they would fail at providing me with a product that met my expectations. Rather, despite my reservations that they had limited experience with GT-R’s, I was “sold” on the idea of Titan being local and having the knowledge and capabilities to complete it. Hopefully, it will make Titan look closely at what they are doing and improve. I will never do business with them again.

My experiences with Titan Motorports in Orlando, FL

Dec. 12th: Titan quoted HRE wheel and tire package.

Dec. 13th: Received “Performance Quote” from Titan Motorsports. During discussions I am told it can be completed in “one week” once parts are in-hand. We discussed some adjustments to the parts list to include AMS DP’s and midpipe.

Dec. 14th: Paid Titan $10,017.18 for HRE wheels. Received “Performance Quote V2” from Titan. It included: catted AMS midpipe, AMS downpipes, TMS Intercooler Race, Custom Dyno Tune (valet, 93 oct, Shell URT tunes), TMS700 turbo kit w/wastegate upgrade – GTX2871 (billet wheel), twin fuel pump upgrade, Speed Density conversion, installation. I already had a Cobb, ID1000’s, intakes.

Dec. 18th: Paid Titan $5,000 deposit for Performance Package, with Nero to provide date to bring in car for work to be done. I clearly informed Nero verbally that I wanted to have the car done for the January 27th PBIR event. I am told this is “no problem”.

Dec. 21st: Went to Titan to have HRE wheels mounted on car. On the way (or perhaps even earlier in the day), Nero informed me that their TPMS programmer was not available. Nonetheless, they mounted the tires, drove the car around the block and proclaimed it was “good”. Halfway home the TPMS light on the dash illuminated. I took the car to Discount Tire and had the TPMS programmed in 5-minutes and $20 to the tech. Not sure why Titan wouldn't offer to do this. During this trip, I had a very detailed conversation about who will tune the car. I expressed concern that their tuner had not tuned many GT-R’s, and they countered that they had confidence in his abilities (he is a well-respected tuner in the Supra and Evo world, I believe).

Dec. 24th: Credit of $4,262 applied to Titan account from sale of one of my sets of BE wheels and tires to TomC. Titan was helpful in shipping parts I sold that they were holding. Still not given a date from Titan as to when my car will be started.

Jan 2nd: Inquire with Nero via text, “So what is the plan for my car to be done”. His response, “I will look at the dates and parts, should be real soon”.

Jan 3rd: Informed by Nero via text, “We are thinking 16th, and if needed we can get the car from your house. You going on 27th to pbir”.

Jan 15th: Conversation with Nero during which I informed him that I would not be in town on January 16th. He requested that I bring the car to Titan on January 17th, as I am not comfortable with Titan picking up my car from the house without me being present.

Jan 17th: Car dropped at Titan at approximately 12:30 pm. I once again clearly communicated my intention to race at PBIR on January 27th. I had initially been told this would be a ~1 week install, but that Titan could do it within a few days, and that it was likely the car would be done the following Tuesday or Wednesday so that I could at least drive and test the car prior to PBIR.

Jan 21st: I go to Titan and witness very little progress on car. Hoses, exhaust, etc. are disconnected, engine is still in car. But I saw the “TMS700 turbo kit w/wastegate upgrade”:

Jan 22nd: Goonthree and I go to Titan. The engine is sitting on the shop floor. It is clear it will not be done by the 23rd (Wednesday).

Jan 24th: Car was supposed to be tuned, Titan informs me that the tuner couldn’t come to tune it because “his kid is sick”. I later find out from a third party that Titan informed tuner not to come to Titan because car was not ready.

Jan 25th: After two days of wondering what was up with car, get text from Nero at 8:42 pm, “642HP, they are going to do more tuning first thing at 8am. Had small hurdles, but its coming together really good. I’ll call you tomorrow, unless you up late”. I inquired back, “What hurdles?” His response, “Fuel pump, its fixed already”. I replied, “What was wrong with fuel pumps? I am a bit worried because this is cutting it close to Sunday now.” Nero’s response, “Why are you worried? The problem is fixed. Time flies, bit you are set, just going to check a few things and deliver. When you do fly in”. There are a number of other texts in which I express continued concern. This is fuel pump install failure #1.

Jan 26th: Nero texts me at 11:05 am, “Car is set, boost at 15, 16, 17, 19, race fuel 100. Launches good and all. Pickup at the shop setup with Christian”. He also texts, “Better average power, but not more peak. 630”. I question why the car is making substantially less power than the recent FB cars with same turbos on pump gas. A number of other texts from Nero with the basic idea that I need to put on an HKS catback to make more power and that “I bet its 30 or more” <whp>. A discussion with Marty reveals that the custom intercooler was not installed, as their fabricator “took more time making the jig instead of just custom fabbing your intercooler”.

I pick up the car at around 9:30 pm. The tech is kind enough to take time out of his evening to meet me at the shop and go over dyno graphs, etc. with me. He tells me that they road tested the car and used LC to ensure it was still working well. I looked under the car and noticed that the midpipe looked strangely just like the HKS resonated midpipe the car had, and not the $2300 AMS catted midpipe I purchased through Titan and commented to the tech. He was coming into the project late and just back from vacation and just shrugged as he was not aware of what was supposed to be installed on the car. The tech also informs me that the “TMS Custom Street Intercooler” that was supposed to be installed has not been installed. (Note: to date, I have no information on this intercooler other than what Titan charged me for it and a cellphone pic sent by Nero on January 29th despite being told in an email “we will have test data before yours would be installed. What's more I will gaurantee you are happy with the performance of the IC we make, or we will switch out to whatever IC you prefer to purchase and labor will be covered by us on the switch”. I am hoping it works as represented.). He also informs me that the Full-Blown fuel pumps that were installed were removed and the stock pumps were installed because the FB pumps would not hold pressure. This is more detail on what I was told by Nero on January 25th. Titan later claims they got a bad batch of pumps from Full-Blown. The $1200 steering wheel that Titan sold me and installed in the car is crooked (Nero later asks me if I noticed it was crooked and then offers to have it straightened, lol). I notice that the passenger side upper corner of the bumper cover is sticking out ~1/4” (which is puzzling, because they didn’t even install the intercooler. This is later fixed).

A few friends and I take out the cars and do some 60-130 pulls. I’m less than happy with 7.2-.3 pulls out of the new setup. The car seems to be stumbling a bit starting at low speeds, but nothing to keep me from going to PBIR.

Jan 27th: I back the car out of the garage in the morning and do a quick walkaround, as the car was picked up from Titan at night and I didn’t look that closely at it. I notice that the driver’s side NACA duct is damaged with four evenly spaced deep scratches on it. There is also a scratch on the hood. (I point this damage out to Nero when he arrives at PBIR later.) Drive the car to PBIR without incident. The car won’t even get down the track for a clean pass. It shuts down just after launch, then again halfway down the track, completely pulling power then coming back on again, sometimes twice. I make a few embarrassing high-11 and 12-second passes. Clearly, something is not right. I text Nero, “All kinds of problems. Car is shutting down, laying over and barely getting down track. Something is not right.”. His response is, “Got to use the more aggressive launches, in the Cobb”. Uhhh…okay. At 10:25 am, he states, “I’ll be they in 30 min” and asks if “DSC is off?”. He tells me to “Try without launching it”. Basically a number of other suggestions and recommendations that did nothing to solve the problem.

The damaged NACA duct:

There are also matching scratches further down on the hood. Nero claims during a conversation that this “looked like a rock” did it.

Nero asks me if it is okay for Jack from HP Logic to look at the car. I agree. Jack spends ~30 minutes with the car. He informs me that there were a number of issues with the tune, specifically mentions “torque tables” and we take the car for a spin to the other side of the pit area to test launching the car. It launches great, I go out and run a 10.5 @ 131 mph. Jack plays a bit with the tune, I went out and ran another 10.5 at 17 psi. Jack comments that the car will run much better and is running quite rich. I decide to call it a day and drive the car back to Orlando. The car has to go back to Titan to have the intercooler installed and for Jack to tune it on the dyno. After being unable to coordinate this for the evening of the 27th, I suggest that Titan can pick up the car from my house on Monday morning. I fly back to New Jersey very thankful that Jack was at the track and to a great degree, saved the day.

Jan 28th: Titan picks up car from my house. Nero informs me that they will “credit me for the fuel pumps that were not installed”. He claims that they got “a bad batch of fuel pumps from Full-Blown”. He gives me price on replacement NACA duct and I inform him that “I want it fixed this week”. Nero later claims that I agreed to pay for a new NACA duct.

Jan 29th: Nero texts and emails me a single picture of the TMS Custom Street Intercooler. I respond, “You know I’m not going to be the only one to say it looks like the ETS street IC.”, lol.

st: I pick up car from Titan. Jack details how tuning went later that evening and I am pleased. Steering wheel is still crooked, NACA duct is still scratched. But car seems to be running well. After I leave, I call Nero as I forgot to get a pic of the HKS resonated midpipe that came off my car. I had told Feb 1: I pick up car from Titan. Jack details how tuning went later that evening and I am pleased. Steering wheel is still crooked, NACA duct is still scratched. But car seems to be running well. After I leave, I call Nero as I forgot to get a pic of the HKS resonated midpipe that came off my car. I had told [email protected] that I had one from my car and he wanted to buy it. Of note, the car was filthy, even though I had washed it after getting back from PBIR on 1/27. There were greasy fingerprints on the fender and hood, soot all over the back bumper and exhaust lots of brake dust. They did put their “Titan Motorsports” decals on the quarter windows.

Feb 4th: I asked Nero to shoot me a text with a pic of my HKS resonated midpipe that was removed from the car (replaced stock DP’s and HKS with catless AMS DP’s and catted AMS midpipe).

Feb 5th: Marty from Titan calls to inform me that they know where my HKS resonated midpipe is. I reply, “Please don’t tell me it went into Titan’s dumpster”. He responds, “No, it’s still on your car!”. Titan forgot to install a part I purchased on the car both times the car was in the shop. I discuss with Marty timing to bring the car back (for a third time) to have the steering wheel straightened and the AMS midpipe installed. He informs me that the “alignment guy” at Universal Nissan is on vacation for a few weeks. We decide on a date.

Feb 11th: I send Nero a detailed email in which I tell him that I want to upgrade the injectors and fuel pumps (because the stock pumps are still in my car) to run conservative E85 map at the track. He emails me a proposal with Walbro 485 pumps, ID2000 injectors and fuel rails installed. I agree. Of note, in the nine (9) emails received from Nero in response to my email inquiry regarding upgrading to be able to run E85 and the proposal provided by Titan, not once was the AAM R-line fuel system (nor any other fuel system) mentioned, nor was it discussed during any verbal communications.

Feb 13th. Since my wife and I are going to Vegas for Valentine’s Day, Nero suggests that I drop the car off on the way to the airport so that Titan can get it done while I’m gone and I can pick up when I return.

Feb 14th: Car dropped at Titan at around 3 pm.

Feb 19th: After being informed that Jack from HP Logic will be tuning the car, Marty tells me that Jack will be starting around 2 pm. At around 4 pm I arrive at Titan and park back by the dyno. My car is strapped down and when I approach I hear Jack telling the tech that the fuel pumps “aren’t holding pressure”. He then tells me that he can’t get the fuel he needs out of the injectors because the pumps are not working properly. He did some drivability tuning, but can’t do any WOT tuning. I inquire why this is happening with a set of Walbro 485’s, as they should support far more horsepower than the car is making on pump gas. The tech states, “Those aren’t the pumps that are in the car”. Now, quite agitated, I ask “why”. He continues, stating that he “just got on the car yesterday” and that “there wasn’t enough time” to put in the 485’s. Jack states that he is basically can’t do anything more with the car. This is fuel pump upgrade failure #2. I find Marty in the shop and basically questioned the entire process…clearly frustrated. Marty, Jack, the tech and I talk and Jack expresses that he would really like to see me put a better fuel system in the car than the twin-485’s. We decide that since my plan is to do a built 3.8 and Shep Stage III down the road than the AAM R-line will be used. Marty calls AAM and is told the system will ship “next Tuesday” (Feb. 26th), and that the reason is that AAM told him there are a “few fittings” that they need to get. We discuss the possibility of Titan sourcing those fittings. Jack expresses that they may be a very specialized fitting. Marty tells me he will have Nero call on Wednesday to see what can be arranged to possibly facilitate it shipping earlier. I agree to this option. (But never hear any update after Nero is to speak to AAM about shipping the system sooner.) A basic timeline is discussed and potential delays are anticipated. We all agree that the fuel system probably won’t be in the car until the end of the week of March 1st, to which I agree.

Feb 20th: A number of emails are exchanged between Nero and I (because I’m still not quite sold on exactly why I need a 1200 hp, $4700 fuel system to make ~700 whp on E85), where basically IMO he somewhat blames me for apparently not deciding what I’m doing with the car...

“At some point you need to decide what your doing on the car, all we're doing is doing small mod's and then re-tuning it. Its fine with us if you want to go this route, but your about to start wasting a lot of money, time, and parts. I would just go with a fuel system that will handle what you think your needs this year is. If you want a twin pump change that's fine, if not then go the AAM and your good with E85 up to 1200hp. I remember not even 1 month ago you told me it was dumb to run E85 and never would do that. Now look at us.”

Titan and I had been talking about a built 3.8 since I got the car back from PBIR. Titan spec’d out the Walbro 485’s in the proposal dated February 11th. Now, the 485’s are not sufficient and I have to buy a $4700 AAM fuel system (which was just discussed the previous day).

Feb 22nd: I email Nero asking him for some update on when they expect the AAM system to be in-hand. I also ask him (again) for pricing on the system, as Khoi PM’d me that GTR-Life members get a 5% discount on their parts, something that Titan was not offering.

Feb 23rd-27th: Various emails between myself and Nero discussing the GB IC pipe kit and Tial BOV’s I ordered from Dave, wheels, etc..

Mar 4th: I email Nero stating, “An update on my car would be nice”. Hadn’t heard anything from he or Marty regarding the ETA for the AAM fuel system since I decided to go with it on February 19th. Marty had informed me the previous week that it was to go out on March 1st.

Mar 5th: Email from Nero stating the AAM system had not shipped yet. My car has, of course, been at Titan since February 14th for a fuel pump and injector upgrade and retune.

Mar 6th: I dropped off the GB parts to Titan and clearly expressed my disappointment with all aspects of the work done and being done to my car to Nero, mentioning everything from the tuning debacle to them forgetting to install parts on my car. Nero wants to start with a clean slate and ensures me that “when you do the built motor and trans, we’ll have everything ready to go”. He tells me that he will “oversee” the remainder of the work.

At approximately 4:45 I received a phone call from Marty at Titan telling me that he just heard from Bill at AAM. A vendor used a “non fuel safe” connector in the system that AAM had been telling Titan was going to ship for about a week. They estimated “a week delay”. Based on the fact that the car had been down since February 14th, I told Marty and Nero to cancel the AAM R-line fuel system and install the originally specified 485’s. These would be the same 485’s that weren’t installed the first time around when Jack was tuning the car on February 19th.

Mar 7th: Receive an email from Nero confirming that we are going with his original proposal to put Walbro 485’s in the car. At 4:54 pm Marty emails me pictures of the IC pipes and BOV’s I dropped the previous day and the Walbro 485 pumps, stating, “Ryan is pulling the car apart now. Just wanted u to know we have started. Thanks”.

Mar 11th: Marty at Titan texts that they will be “Ready to tune by end of day and schedule to tune tomorrow mid day”. Actually, they didn’t bring Jack from HP Logic to the shop to tune until Wednesday. He sends a picture of the basket assemble with the fuel pumps sitting in it. At the time, I noticed no zip ties in this picture:





Mar 13th: Jack from HP Logic and I speak via cell at 12:30 and he is en route to Titan to tune car. At nearly 5 pm, he doesn’t answer his cell (find out later he is on the dyno, understandable). I call Marty and leave a voicemail. Marty texts back that “car and Jack are on the dyno” and “Think all is going well now”. I was confused about what “now” meant.



Mar 14th: Nero sends me the invoice for work done on the car. Of note, I am charged $875 to install GB upper and lower intake pipes and the new GB catch can setup. I remind Nero about the $489 credit on my account from the sale of my HKS midpipe. He replies, "I haven't, we got a few little open things to worry about next week, E85, etc.". At the time, I did not realize that Titan was going to be billing me for replacing the NACA duct that they damaged.



Mar 15th: I pick up the car from Titan around 9:30. They have had it washed and cleaned and all looks good. I open the hood and see that neither bracket for the GB intake pipes is bolted to the car. The passenger side intake pipe is not bolted to the bracket for the power steering fluid reservoir. The driver’s side is not bolted to the bolt/stud holding the coolant expansion tank. I question this (because I know when the car originally went to Titan these were properly installed by another shop) and was told that “they won’t reach”. Well…they did reach, because they brought out there tech to fix them. A spacer was used on the passenger side (I would suggest that Dave start including such a spacer with his kit, but since the intakes fit perfectly when installed by the tech that originally did the work on the car, I won’t bother). The car has less than 1/8th of a tank of E85 for my ~35 mile ride home.



I drove the car to the doctor’s office for my son’s 6-month checkup, then home and parked it. My wife and I had a full day of errands to run and I was hoping to fill it up with E85. Around 7 pm, after we were done for the day, I resigned myself to filling it up with pump gas. I ran it more and got the fuel level very low then filled it up with 17.7x gallons of Mobil 93 octane. I went to the liquor store, then to the grocery store. When leaving the grocery store, the car would not start. It cranked and cranked and made a horrible wheezing sound. I tried this three more times, as people watched the fancy sports car making lots of racket. It finally wheezed to life. I pulled the car out, and headed the few miles back home. The car seemed to be running okay, but I wasn’t pushing it in the least. About a mile or two from my house the car started shutting down. It slowly downshifted as it unwilling slowed, then suddenly died in the middle of the road. I pushed it off to the side with the flashers on and tried to start it several times. It cranked and cranked and wouldn’t start. I called my wife, because I couldn’t get in touch with anybody local and convenient. She came out and sat on the side of the road with my 6-month old sleeping in the back seat as I waited for my brother-in-law to come and take me back to the house to get what I needed to tow the car home (after watching AAA tow another GTR-Life member’s car, I wasn’t calling them for a 1-1.5 mile tow). I got what I needed and towed the car home using a tow strap and my brother-in-law’s Expedition. We pulled it into the garage using my quad.

I had a lengthy conversation with Jack from HP Logic (apparently after Nero called him subsequent to me answering his “How is the car?” text earlier in the day with a picture of it broken down on the side of the road) who agreed that it seemed like a certain fuel pump issue. He is not supportive of using the 485’s because of how they fit into the basket (especially when they are secured using plastic zip ties in a car that will be running E85).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS9D5hKTD-c&feature=youtu.be

Mar 17th: I arrange for a Nissan trained and employed GT-R master tech to look at the car at 9 am.

Upon removing the basket (and giving a cursory glance at the rest of the car), the following is found:

1. The hat assembly to tank grommet/O-ring (blue) has been cut. The cut portion is faced toward the front of the car (the high point on the ridge of the tank where the opening is located), apparently to prevent fuel from seeping out. The Nissan-certified GT-R master tech states that it is common for these to “stretch” and that it’s good practice to replace these rather than cut and shorten them.

2. The pumps were secured using black, plastic zip ties. The zip ties were loose. Five in total were used, with four of them being cut shorter and used to create a longer single zip tie. I’m not sure if such zip ties are fuel or ethanol safe.

3. With some replacement pumps, the outlet is shorter than the stock pump and does not extend the entire way into the hat. It is apparently common practice to “stack” O-rings in the portion of the hat where the pump outlet inserts. However, there still is a sealing O-ring on the top of the pump outlet. The sealing O-rings (closest to the pump body) on both pumps were smeared out of the hat. They appeared to be too large for the outlet diameter and were very deformed when they were removed. It was obvious that fuel was leaking around these O-rings. (the O-rings should not be visible at the base of the pump outlets…the fact that they are means that they are stretched ~1/2” down the pump outlet). Obviously, this is fuel pump upgrade failure #3.













4. The driver’s side upper intercooler pipe was rubbing against the windshield washer reservoir bracket and “composite carbon fiber” header.











5. The midpipe to catback gasket is leaking. Gasket material is blowing out and there are soot stains on the garage floor and driveway.





In summary:

1. Titan did not program the TPMS for a wheel/tire install they did on my car. At the time, I willingly had this done on my own.

2. Titan did not complete the initial full build when they stated they would. I was told one week from when “parts are available”. That turned into 10-days, then another 5-days to finish because the IC was not installed and the car needed to be tuned properly by an outside tuner.

3. Titan damaged the NACA duct and hood on my car (five evenly spaced, deep gouges on duct, scratches on hood), replaced the NACA duct, then invoiced ME $376.25 to replace it (this balance was subtracted from a credit balance for the midpipe that [email protected] purchased from me through Titan).

4. Titan failed to properly tune the car for me to race it at PBIR on 1/27. The car could barely get down the track. Jack at HP Logic saved the day when he was at PBIR and fixed the issue with the tune from Titan and subsequently followed up by re-tuning the car at Titan.

5. Titan neglected to properly install and zero a $1200 steering wheel. Finally resolving it the third time the car was at the shop.

6. Titan failed to install upgraded fuel pumps on the car not once, not twice but three times. Two of these attempts involved “drop in” Full Blown pumps (which Titan blamed on a “bad batch of pumps”). Then, Nero tried shifting blame to me for not agreeing to continue to wait at least an additional 1-2 weeks to have a $4700 fuel system installed on a ~700 whp E85, stock motor, stock tranny, stock manifold turbo car

7. Titan didn’t provide any information on an intercooler despite stating “we will have test data before yours would be installed”. I don’t even have a decent picture of it, but I sure hope it works, lol.

8. Titan forgot (or overlooked?) to install a $2300 AMS midpipe on my car, only realizing their mistake after I was trying to track down the HKS that was on the car to sell to [email protected] The day after getting the car home, I noticed the midpipe gasket is blown out.

9. Titan, in my opinion, did not effectively communicate the status of the E85 upgrade over a three week period.

10. Titan failed to deliver on their promise of building a combo that would be “better then <sic> the other packages” I was considering. After ~$28k spent, I have a car with a nice steering wheel and a differential brace that broke down on the side of the road and had to be fixed by a competent tech and tuner.

I would guess more issues will be found in the coming weeks. I am obviously extremely disappointed. For money that far exceeds what I would have spent to have a reputable shop like Switzer, T1 Racing, Top Speed or others, I basically have a car that over 2 ½ months has made two 10.5 passes, and is now sitting in my garage after spending over 6-weeks at Titan since the beginning of the year. The tune needs to be revised since it was tuned with what was likely a fuel leak inside the tank, which was resolved by a Nissan master certified GT-R tech and I am currently planning on taking the car to Jack on Monday morning to hopefully fine tune things.

Titan has offered to refund a small portion of my last invoice ($900), but IMO such a small gesture is really sort of worse than no gesture at all, especially when I’ve spent over $28k on this build and also bought a set of HRE’s and tires from them for over $10k more. To be fair, I think Nero and Marty are decent guys. The shop is impressive and one would certainly think that everything would be wired tight, but IMO, they aren’t anywhere close.