BEAST FROM THE EAST
CHASING FOUR-DIGIT POWER FIGURES AND SINGLE-DIGIT QUARTER-MILES, ALL IN THE NAME OF BECOMING THE ULTIMATE GODZILLA
There is no fictional character in history that has inspired more fear and panic in the public’s hearts than Godzilla. First broadcast to the world in the 1950s, Japanese folklore told of an enormous, destructive, and all-powerful beast from a foreign land mercilessly wiping out all that stood before it. Having struck fear into audiences for the better part of six decades, it was only natural that when the Group A Nissan R32 GT-R began decimating any and all competition in the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC), claiming three back-to-back titles and two Bathurst wins running under the Gibson Motorsport banner, that the local journalists had but one name for this monster: Godzilla.
It’s a name that has stuck with the model since its arrival in the West, and one that would eventually mark the turning point in John Perez’s car-ownership history, sparking a nine-year — and counting — pursuit to build the most fearsome Godzilla to have ever attacked on New Zealand shores. At the time, John was modifying a GTi-R Pulsar, and friends had nicknamed him ‘Baby G’, but John couldn’t work out why until a friend explained the story of the foreign invader that had cleaned up across the ditch — the ‘Godzilla’ GT-R — and he knew instantly what his next car would be.
The only hitch was that, back then, buying a GT-R would have cost you a small mortgage, so John settled for an R32 Type M instead. A couple of years later, nearing the end of his apprenticeship, John received both good and bad news. On one hand, the prices of GT-Rs in Japan had dropped significantly; on the other, this was partly due to countries blacklisting them due to emissions. So, in the hopes of capitalizing on the pricing then, with intentions to later register it under our own 20-year rule, a close friend was tasked with importing a solid example to be stored away.
“When it arrived, into the shed it went for two years, until a very knowledgeable compliance inspector from VTNZ [Vehicle Testing New Zealand] told me that if I applied for a special interest vehicle permit to the NZTA [NZ Transport Agency], I could have the car exempt from the emissions and frontal-impact laws for compliance,” explains John. “He was right, and my permit was accepted. The GT-R was road legal years before I ever expected it to be, and from then I was on a mission.”
The process started with a simple respray, one that would prove to involve three months of prep alone, as John wanted to get things right the first time, as he wasn’t too trusting after a few previous horror experiences. Glenn at Barry Allen Spray Painters was entrusted to lay down the custom two-stage 2K gold pearl, which it still wears today. Attention was then turned to the underneath, where it was stripped
back, cavity waxed, undersealed, and fitted with a gaggle of HKS Kansai underbody bracing pieces mixed with Whiteline sway bars. The factory struts weren’t cutting it either, so they were quickly slam dunked into the bin following a visit to Redline Performance. Redline sorted John out with a set of HKS Hipermax III Sport coilovers — which, at the time, had just been released after testing on the HKS CT230R Evo that was cleaning up Time Attack racing.
It wasn’t long before more power was the focus. The first incarnation would see the factory twin-turbos retained and HKS intake and exhaust kits fitted, before being sent off to ST Hi-tec for a fresh tune. The stock injectors were maxing out early, so, while upgrading these, one thing led to another, and soon John was forking out a serious amount of hard-earned dosh to obtain the last HKS T51R kit available in the country: “The kit was super awesome, including everything required for the single conversion: hoses, brackets, manifold, wastegate, etc.,” says John. “Soichi [Tate of ST Hi-tec] worked his magic, and we managed to squeeze over 500kW but decided to dial it back, as we weren’t running an N1 block, settling on 1.2bar [17.4psi of] boost to produce just over 400kW.”
That’s a gnarly big jump in power from what the GT-R had initially packed; however, John admits that he quickly learned the downside of running such a large turbo: lag. With nothing below 4500rpm, it had to be driven high in the rev range to achieve any kind of result. While John planned a rebuild to correct this in his head, the car was driven, raced, and enjoyed for a good four years before things were put on hold to pay attention to the more serious things in life. It wouldn’t be until 2017 that life would be
settled enough to start rolling out that well-thought-out refresh of the motor to achieve the power levels he desired. John had set an ambitious-yet-simple goal to run a seven-second pass in complete street-legal trim. But how do the goalposts shift from a already solid power-making streeter to a full drag-spec R.I.P.S motor?
“I remember being about 15 and watching Robbie [Ward] race,” says John. “As the years went on, the R.I.P.S Racing name got bigger and bigger, and, back in the early to mid 2000s, he was pulling 10-second runs in a GTS-4, which was like seeing a sevensecond flat pass these days. So, fast forward to the refresh, and it was those memories combined with his international reputation that made the decision to have him build me a monster engine an easy one.”
Robbie isn’t the type to beat around the bush. So, when calling to enquire about the ‘MGAWOT III’ set-up, Robbie assured John that he could put together the right motor for the job. Based on a R.I.P.S-prepared RB30E block, capacity was stroked to 3.2 litres courtesy of a Nitto stroker kit that sees the bottom end packed with a billet crank, billet pistons, and billet rods. Robbie has tied all this together using one of his signature billet crank girdles, along with billet main caps and custom ARP main studs. It’s similar to the engine that can be found in Robbie’s own MGAWOT III example. The oil pickup has been modified to accept a R.I.P.S high-volume baffled four-wheel-drive sump, as John wanted to retain power at all fours, and a Nitto oversized oil pump ensures fresh lubricant is where it needs to be. Up top is a CNC-ported RB26DETT head that has been crammed with a Kelford custom-specification 290-degree exhaust cam and a staggered intake cam, with valve collets and solid lifters to suit. Ferrea Comp Plus valves, dual-valve springs, and titanium retainers take over from the factory units, while a Nitto DBS Drag Series metal head gasket seals things to the block.
John has retained the T51R and V-band manifold on the hot side for now, with boost feeding through a R.I.P.S MGAWOT V2 intake plenum and 90mm throttle body combo that makes use of the HKS intercooler system carried over from the initial build. With plans to be running as much as 60psi of boost once the turbo is upgraded to something in the vein of a Precision Pro Mod 85, the factory fuel setup was not going to cut it, either. So six Siemens 2200cc big-boy injectors are fed 98-octane pump gas via an Aeromotive A1000 main pump, with a Sinco surge tank and twin Walbro lift pumps ensuring the package never leans out.
While the engine was in the works over at R.I.P.S — taking
roughly six months due to the limited availability of the Nitto kit, which John accredits to “all the CRD, Matouks, and JEM boys in Oz buying them all” — he was busy planning how to protect such a substantial investment. The decision was made to retire the historic HKS F-CON Pro Version 3.3 that was in charge in favour of Ross Racing cam and crank-trigger systems, and Haltech 2500 ECU with premium wiring harness and all new plugs sourced out of the US pieced together by Anthony (aka Boomer) at ST Hi-tec: “The last thing I wanted to do was cut the old, brittle plugs from the factory loom and connect them to a brand-new harness only to be plagued by issues.”
Mated to the back is a holy grail OS Giken OS-88 six-speed sequential four-wheel-drive dogbox — chosen to eliminate the weak point that would have been an RB26DETT example — with Ogura Racing Clutch (ORC) triple-plate clutch. The pairing was selected for its ability to deliver power through to the Cusco MZ 1.5-way front limited-slip differential (LSD) and V-Spec R33 GT-R rear LSD, while the factory axles have been heat treated and strengthened to accept the inevitable 1500-plus-horsepower power levels.
With plans in place to start testing the brand-new package soon, John admits that there is still a long road to go to running sevens. However, he has now laid the foundations with some seriously solid bones. With the main hurdles now really just seat time and getting everything dialled, we suspect that it’s only a matter of time before this beast from the east is playing its part to further bolster the legend that is Godzilla. Sadly the car was only just being run in as this mag went to print, meaning we weren’t able to include the final power figures, but by the time the mag is in your hands and you’re reading this, you will be able to be find a video of the runs on our ’gram: @nzpcmagazine.