Back from a brief appearance...
Back from a brief appearance at the 2005 TTC, she's armed with Bushwacker fender flares, 33-inch Nitto Mud Grapplers, a set of 18-inch Teflon-coated American Racing Mojave wheels, and a stunning graphic treatment from the creative minds at Ape Wraps.
If you've followed the buildup of our Top Truck Challenge-inspired Mega Titan, you already know how far we at Four Wheeler are willing to go to make Nissan's fullsize work well off pavement. And though our Mega Titan has received a great deal of praise from critics and readers alike, we've also found that some people have absolutely no interest in modifying a late-model pickup to that extent. Nor do all readers subscribe to the TTC style of four-wheeling. In fact, it's almost impossible for the majority of our readership to justify taking a perfectly good-not to mention expensive-pickup truck and changing it so heavily that it can't be driven legally on public roads. This is what sets our two Titan projects apart. We showed you our wild side with the first truck. Now, with the Everyday Titan, we're going for real-world appeal.
To help differentiate between our Titan twosomes, we want to identify the activities we plan to use our second Titan for.
Just as the name implies, the Everyday Titan will serve as a daily driver, a tow rig, a fun hauler, and a weekend trail rig. As such, we plan to highlight products that increase comfort, safety, performance, and utility. When all is said and done, we want this Titan to comfortably navigate thick L.A. traffic all week long, and then come Friday afternoon, hitch up an ATV trailer or toy hauler with all the necessities for a weekend away from it all. After all, that's why most Americans buy pickups, isn't it?
Here is our Everyday Titan's...
Here is our Everyday Titan's dyno data. We were surprised to learn we gained 118 hp and 82 lb-ft of torque in street mode.
In this segment, we're going to address the Everyday Titan's need for additional horses under the hood. Now don't get us wrong-the Titan's stock 5.6L V-8 does a terrific job smoking the P265/70R18 tires. It's just when you add 60-plus pounds of steel and rubber at each corner and ask for the same performance, it's not going to happen. So we took a few steps to see how much we could increase our truck's performance. First, we started with a cold-air intake from NISMO. Next, we salvaged the Banks Monster after-cat exhaust system we removed from our Mega Titan (see Nov. '05) shortly before the SEMA show last year. Finally, we went to Stillen of Costa Mesa, California, for a brand-new supercharger. Stillen spent 13 months developing its Supercharger kit for the Titan, Armada, and Infiniti QX56. The system was engineered for daily drivers who want a reliable increase in performance for towing and street applications. The kit uses an Eaton positive-displacement twin-rotor compressor to develop 6 psi of manifold pressure. We were very impressed with this kit's completeness. It's also worth mentioning the system's CARB-approval certification.
 This cold-air intake can be...  This cold-air intake can be purchased from any North American Nissan dealership. We like it because it creates a wicked sound and provides a noticeable increase in throttle response across the entire rpm range. Easy to install, this intake makes for a great weekend modification. We spent about 2 hours installing it in our driveway, and had no problems or issues to speak of. Nissan claims this kit adds up to 12 hp on all Titan and Armada applications. |  This supercharger is designed...  This supercharger is designed to be consumer-friendly and work right out of the box. However, we feel compelled to warn you that if you don't have a good understanding of mechanical things, it's going to be a challenge. We recommend a good understanding of basic wiring too. If you decide to do the install yourself, know that Stillen has a great customer service network standing by to help guide you through the process. Here you can see several superchargers lined up in Stillen's facility ready to be packaged and shipped. All complex assembly is handled in-house to simplify things for the customer. |  This is the Stillen Stage...  This is the Stillen Stage II supercharger kit in its entirety. Note that the kit includes an aluminum intercooler to help lower post-compression air temperatures. This stand-alone air-to-liquid intercooler system is comprised of two individual coolers: A coolant pump and a molded plastic coolant reservoir. This intercooler system, along with an additional 1 psi of boost pressure, is the primary difference between Stillen's Stage I and Stage II supercharger kits. We picked the higher-powered, more expensive kit because we know how important intake air temperatures are to high-performance engines, especially when towing. The Stage I kit costs about $1,000 less than the Stage II kit, but you also have to sacrifice 35 hp at the wheels. We like that the intercooled system is CARB-approved and is also available with a 3-year/36,000-mile engine warranty. |