UNDER CONSTRUCTION
One word: spectacular. There are many ways to build a car, and there’s never really a right or wrong scenario in our books, just varying degrees of cool. Matt Gaskin’s VK56-powered R32 Skyline hits the top of that scale and further cements its place there with every update we receive. For those of you unaware, the 5.6-litre is a Nissan-produced, American-built V8 engine that is more commonly known for its exploits in the V8 Supercars series and in speedway superstocks, though Nismo also uses the VK56DE for FIA GT1. Originally found inside a Nissan Titan pickup in the States, or a Nissan Patrol on this side of the world, it was based on the VQ series of V6 engines rather than the VH series of V8s used in previous models.
In Matt’s car, the VK has been hopped up beyond imagination by the engineering and fabrication wizards at Hartley Engines and Motorsports, now featuring a billet ITB intake with huge K&N square filter for a super-tough look, and a Peterson dry-sump system. What’s inside remains a mystery to us at this stage, but judging by what has gone on outside, there’s no doubt about a trick rotating assembly. A TTi GTO five-speed sequential gearbox is bolted to the rear, thanks to a bellhousing designed and built by Nelson Hartley. The engine loom and electrical side of things has been taken care of by Chris at Prestige Tuning & Motorsport, who will also be tasked with the dyno work once the combo is fired into life — we’re also told that he is chucking in a few trick pieces, such as the Link G4+ Xtreme–controlled e-throttle, as well as setting up launch control and a speed limiter for Targa use. To keep everything fed with fresh E85 at all times, new -8 alloy fuel lines have been run inside the cabin, which are fed by twin Bosch 044 fuel pumps, and a return line brings unused corn juice back to the surge tank. Inside the cabin, the car is sporting a pair of new Racetech seats that are based on the V8 Supercar designs, and are mounted to the roll cage for added safety if things happen to go pear-shaped — fingers crossed they don’t!
As for the outside, Matty Rule whipped up a carbon-fibre front splitter that is said to be super strong and lightweight, with the idea that it can be removed with ease to load the car in and out of the trailer, while Zac from Carboglass also constructed a rear splitter.
But, lest we forget that the main star of the build — besides the engine itself — is all the killer fabrication work being carried out by the guys at Kaizen Works. They have tickled what seems to be nearly every aspect of the build, cutting and reshaping the tunnel to accept the gearbox, fabbing up the gnarly four-into-two-into-one stepped-diameter headers designed by Hartley Engines and Motorsports, a rowdy side-exit exhaust, and the engine and box mounts, right through to little things like driveshaft hoops and plumbing up all the fluid lines. The car appears to be nearing completion shortly and we’ll be making sure to follow it up once it’s out on the track.