My Experience and Review with Harrison Performance & Tuning – Tucson, AZ.

The Weapon

Car: 2009 370Z (45k miles)
Turbo Kit: Boosted Performance V2 Oil-less Turbo
Clutch: ZSpeed Stage 4 Clutch
Fuel: CJ Fuel Return/ID1050x
Tune: ECUTek Flex Fuel

I visited several shops in Tucson looking for a place to install mid-mount single turbo in my 370z. After receiving estimates I decided to go with Harrison Performance. Their shop was clean and organized, Richard was very responsive, and they were close to my home.

My first purchase from Richard was fuel injectors. I had purchased most of my parts online and Richard convinced me to buy the injectors from him so I did. After waiting about a month I never received a response or call that the injectors were in. I stop by out of the blue and it turns out he had the wrong injectors. He said he would drop ship them to me. Another 3-4 weeks pass and still no injectors. For whatever reason they ended up not showing up my house but in his shop. Ok…Fine. They have them and they are the correct injectors. This should have been my warning flare but I ignored.
Drop off day – this kit is quoted for about 10-12 hours maximum for install online and other shops in Tucson. I drop off my car on Dec 4th with hopes in having it ready by December 23. I receive a call about 2 days before I’m supposed to pick up and my car won’t start.

HPT didn’t know why, they thought it was my key, battery drained and lost sync with key, clutch pedal switch, steering wheel lock, NATs system was activated etc.. So I’m stuck waiting and now it’s after New Year and still nothing. They sent my car to Nissan and still not having any answers they said they found a way to fix it. They said they deactivated the NATS but the NATS appears to be very active so this makes no sense to me. I have my suspicions it had to do with cut wire I found on my ECM (Pin 126) which I think they cut this wire thinking it was an evap sensor wire which caused my car to not start.

Finally I receive my car back and go to my first fill up with E85 and the car starts freaking out. I limp it home and Richard tows it from my house back to his shop. While the car was waiting over the weekend to get towed I looked over the install and found some obvious issues.

1) My fuel return was rubbing against the engine block cover in fact it was wearing down the hose in just that short drive. It was also unnecessarily transferring heat to the fuel line.
2) My Wastegate vacuum lines were zip tied so tight they were causing flow restrictions.
3) The coolant line to the turbo was smashed against the header
4) The clutch pedal was not adjusted for the new clutch assembly and not bled properly.
5) The shift plate was not adjusted correctly causing issues shifting into 5th/6th.
6) Install instructions were missed that provided clearance for the charge pipes
7) Harnesses were left hanging down past the subframe
8) Wastegates lines were plumbed too close to throttle bodies. They should have been plumbed to a pressure only source not vac/pressure. They pulled off the Purge Valve hose and used that as boost reference.
9) Another head scratcher was my car was originally tuned with 60psi fuel pressure while at idle. I told him it was a bit too high and stock was 52psi. They assured me the fuel pressure didn’t matter as it’s taken into account during the fuel injector scaling/tuning. When I received my car back its down to about 40-42psi at idle. And well I’ll let this message thread speak for itself:



My biggest concern was the lean issues after putting E85 in the car. Richard’s team said it was an issue with an Ethanol sensor wire not being seated properly into the ECM. I honestly don’t know what to believe but I’m not buying it.

The car stayed at their shop until Feb 7th. I got tired of waiting and decided I would take matters in my own hands to finish the install correctly. When I received the car back it ran well, I would say about 95%. Some of the fuel trims are little weird around 2500 rpms but WOT seems to be operating safely. Starting the car is a bit of an annoyance and it takes several starts and priming the fuel pump for it to stay on without stalling.

Richard did attempt to fix everything on my list but as I drive the car more I find more issues with bolts not being tight, loose v-clamps, exhaust leaks, cables lines not secure and moving around too close to exhaust parts. It’s just little things that I didn’t want to worry about that can cause big problems and now I am fixing myself anyways. And I shouldn’t have to continuously be taking it back for them to fix things that are not installed properly.

I wish I had nothing but good things to say about HPT but I could not in good conscience recommend them to anyone. I had to explain every detail on how to install the turbo, how to adjust the clutch pedal, how to install and run the fuel lines. I lacked the confidence in doing it myself but now I lack the confidence in the shop’s work and wish I had completed the install myself.

Over the last couple weekends I’ve been going over the car again and my new found issues after the 3rd time being at HPT are:

1) Clear detailed instruction regarding relocating the transmission wiring harness were not followed causing the lines to be exposed too much heat near exhaust piping.
2) One of the wastegate v-clams was missing a bolt.
3) Bolts on the turbo housing were loose.
4) Coolant was leaking due to the lines being loose.
5) I received my car back with extremely low coolant levels.
6) My Heatshield for the air filter is completely missing. It was installed before they worked on my clutch and now it’s gone.

After nearly 3 months I barely received my Deskey on Feb 15th.
HPT sent me a flex fuel calibration file that I cannot be certain is the file on my ECU. I asked for the base stock file to keep for my records and was told to pull it off the ECM myself. That a copy remains saved in the ECU. However when I open the software while connected to my car’s ECU I only have the option to do an EcuTek Rom Dump. A couple other master tuners have told me a copy doesn’t remain saved on the ECU. I also get a notification stating my ECU is not supported. So I cannot retrieve any files. So no clue what’s going on with that.

I also learned my deskey says it’s supported by Visconti Tuning. Which I have no idea why they would get one from Visconti?

Unfortunately I hope my experience will help others in the future. When I started looking for shops in Tucson there’s limited information available online and I gave HPT the benefit of the doubt. Now I feel like like every other thing I’ve been told was half-truths and lies.

Since receiving the tune file and submitting my rom dump to ECUTek I have learned the NATs is fully activated. I’ve also had 2 very well-known reputable master tuners confirm as well. So whatever they did to cause my car not to start and fix is not by deactivating the NATS as they claimed.

I could have saved myself the install money, purchased a quick jack and probably be much happier.

Update 2/28/2019 -
I filled up my tank with 91 since I supposedly have "flex fuel tune" and my car would not start. I tried priming the fuel pump to make sure my sensor had a good reading of E% Content and was able to finally start my car only for it to lean out and stall. Towed it back to my home and pretty much had a dead car I could not start.

While the last 3 gallons of Ethanol mixed with the 91 my E-Content was jumping around a bit and HPT's tune seemed to not know what to do.

I spoke with Seb at Specialty Z and he sent me a base map and boom! Car starts right up. It's running better than it ever ran with "HPT's Final Tune" Cold Starts, Hot Starts, AFRs, fuel trims are all spot on and I'm just getting started with Seb. With Seb's base tune my car ran better even with the E-Content still jumping around while the gas mixed.

Seb asked me to go through the entire install and ensure there were no issues before we start logging so that is what I've been doing.

I Found some charge pipes misaligned before the intercooler and rubbing wearing down metal against the frame. I pretty much had to pull everything out and realign. I suspect there was a boost leak because now that everything is aligned and fitting in properly the turbo spool is crazy fast. So fast i have to watch it until Seb finishes the tune.

While i had everything out I installed the new heat shield HPT made me since they lost the one provided by Sasha and of course the piece of trash didn't fit. I ended up having to modify it to make it work.

Anyhow this whole thing has really discouraged me but after working with Seb on the first new flash I'm excited again. I just can't believe how much Seb's base tune is spot on compared the crap they were trying to pass for the final tune i had.

HPT was suppose to call me in to fix some start up issues after they received help from ECUTek. I haven't heard back from them once, which is fine with me but it just goes to show the follow up they have.





Best Regards
-The Weapon

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Boosted Performance Comp Turbo - Tuner- CJM Fuel Return- Modified Berk CBE- ZSpeed Stage 4 Clutch - Southbend Flywheel - Tuned by Seb ~650whp - HKS Coilovers - SPL - Focal Audio 4 way Active - Audiocontrol DSP - Work CR 2P

ZontheRocks

Stinks that you had to go through that. Hopefully nothing detrimental long term.

What other builds does the shop have under their belt? Had they done anything like a power adder on a Nissan V6 before?

wideglideleon

I live in Tucson , you need to talk with Nick at (Turning Ratchets Garage). He is a Nissan and infinity specialist. He is on the east side. Look him up you'll be happy.
You need to join AZVQ on Facebook he is known in the VQ community here.
(I updated the name of Nick's shop sorry auto correct is a Bi##%.)

The Weapon

I was under the impression they have completed some large builds. The owner said he and his team built his 2000hp GTR. Although as i learn more about it, it doesn't seem it was even tuned at his shop.

I always see tons of nice gtr's all different years, 90s versions to present. But then I realized they all seem to be the same cars going in and out.

__________________
Boosted Performance Comp Turbo - Tuner- CJM Fuel Return- Modified Berk CBE- ZSpeed Stage 4 Clutch - Southbend Flywheel - Tuned by Seb ~650whp - HKS Coilovers - SPL - Focal Audio 4 way Active - Audiocontrol DSP - Work CR 2P

The Weapon

Yes i'm pending my request to join but haven't had a response.

__________________
Boosted Performance Comp Turbo - Tuner- CJM Fuel Return- Modified Berk CBE- ZSpeed Stage 4 Clutch - Southbend Flywheel - Tuned by Seb ~650whp - HKS Coilovers - SPL - Focal Audio 4 way Active - Audiocontrol DSP - Work CR 2P

Driverxxx7

I have only this to say.
Harrison is a hack.
He will troll the crap out of you and say what ever you need to hear to get you as a customer and then you will forever regret it.
There are more horror stories about Harrison Performance out there, do your self a favor and don’t become one of them.
Of course this is my opinion.