- There's no doubt the Nissan Skyline platform is one of the most popular
out there for modifications.
And particularly the popular RB26 and RB30 make a great option if you want to
make a lot of power while retaining drivability.
However one thing we haven't seen to date is a Ford Barra swapped into a Nissan
Skyline GTS-T.
So we're here with Dennis from Grim Performance to talk about that swap.
So Dennis for a start, let's just talk about the actual chassis here, so while it looks
all the part for an R32 GT-R, it actually is a GTS-T but can you tell us what you've
done there to make it into a GT-R.
- Yeah so it is a GTS-T, we just cut the rear quarters off.
GT-R rear quarters, GT-R seals, GT-R front panels, just yeah make it look like a GT-R,
get bigger tyres under it.
- And on that note, it is also just rear wheel drive, it's not a four wheel drive?
- Yeah correct just rear wheel drive.
- Alright let's get into that engine because the Barra probably wouldn't be the go to
option when there's so much knowledge around in terms of RB26, 28, 30, et cetera,
everyone knows what to do in those combinations to make lots of power so
what was the impetus behind that Barra swap?
- It was actually a customer's car originally, he was really adamant to put the Barra
in it just to be something different.
Unfortunately he ran into some financial difficulties and we took over the build
and finished it off.
- And different it certainly is and definitely is a talking point.
One of the most obvious aspects there, the Barra engine, it's a very strong engine,
it's been well proven to be able to produce huge amounts of power.
But physically it is a massive engine so what sort of challenges did you have in
physically fitting that into the Skyline engine bay?
- It wasn't too bad, we had to modify the cross member a bit, so like a horizontal
mount setup in it, then I do tunnel again with the bigger gearbox, just a bit of
massaging but it actually, it sits quite low as you saw from looking under the front
before but it fits in there kind of snug.
- There's not a lot of spare room in the engine bay, that's for sure.
Now you just mentioned, so I'll just come back to the transmission there.
So what are you running behind the Barra?
- So it's a factory Ford T56 like out of a Falcon so motor and blocks came out
of a factory Falcon.
It's just got the S1 shifter on it and apart from that, stock gearbox.
- So the S1 shifter converts, it's still a synchromesh box but converts it from
H pattern to sequential?
- Yeah correct.
- Now coming back to the fitment in the engine bay there so yeah I looked under
the car, very very close to the ground in terms of the sump location and then of course
in the engine bay we can see the rocker cover there is really right up to the top
of the engine bay as well so not a lot of vertical room.
But it also appears that at least in terms of the inlet manifold there, using a Plasmaman
by the looks of it, is that just their standard off the shelf Falcon, Barra plenum
or is there some customisation to fit?
- No so it's their standard original plenum, so runs the standard Barra lower half
manifold, matches the top half but it fits, had to massage the structure a little bit to get
a bit more clearance but it just fits.
- And on the exhaust side is this all custom or again can you use some of the off the
shelf parts for the Falcon?
- So the 6Boost manifold is just the stock standard off the shelf manifold and then
I repositioned the gates to get them out of the way.
But then yeah everything else is made up just to suit, like downpipes,
all that sort of stuff.
- Now at a glance, one thing that struck me is the turbo visually looks like it's pretty
small for a four litre engine, what are you running there?
- So it's a 6766 with a 1.0 rear.
We only put kind of put that on to run the motor in on originally but then as I said
after the original customer sort of couldn't finish the build, it's kind of just stuck on
there, it works, sort of.
- So 6766, it probably is a relatively small sized turbo for the four litre.
Is that limiting you and whereabouts are you in terms of power at the moment?
- Yeah so the rear housing does limit it power and RPM wise.
It just really chokes up top.
It's sort of all over by 6400, 6500.
That said it has made 975 on 28 pound but at the moment we've taken it down
to 23 pound, just making about 850 just to make it a bit more user friendly.
- And you'd find a problem with that with a, what is still a relatively modest sized
turbo on that engine, that the car is, or engine's quite aggressive in the way it
comes up on boost?
- Yeah it's quite aggressive and because it's still a clutch shifted box, like synchro box
that you shift with the clutch and such a short rev range, trying to sort of,
just every gear change it sort of comes on a bit too strong and we'll turn tyres and it
just makes it a bit difficult so eventually we'd like to put bigger rear housing or like a
6870 with a 1.15 in the back and try and just make it a bit more friendly.
- OK so in terms of these engines, they're pretty well known as being a pretty
stout performer in stock form but, 975 wheel horsepower, probably not going
to get that through stock internals so what's been done to the engine to support that?
- To be honest with you, I do not know what is in the bottom end.
So Mick's Motorsport built the motor.
it was built between him and a customer so I actually had nothing to do with that.
But yeah apart from having forged internals, that's all that's really known about it.
- Probably just a fair point to stop and say that your involvement here primarily was
with the fabrication of the car so that's the involvement there between your customer
and Mick's Motorsport on the engine build so that's why you're not maybe up to
speed on that specifically?
- Yeah correct.
- Alright so let's talk about the rest of the car there, in terms of the drive train,
you've mentioned you've got that T56 gearbox in.
One of the obvious choices would be to try and retain the GT-R four wheel
drive mechanism where possible.
Can you tell us why that wasn't an option here?
- So yeah unfortunately just due to how tall the motor was and the fact that
the turbo is on the driver's side, trying to fit it all in, we did look at it just heightwise
and trying it on a front shaft, like a front tail shaft through the transfer
to the diff and the sump and exhaust and steering, it just wasn't going to work.
- And the problem there being that the GT-R, R32 GT-R transmission runs that
driveshaft forward from the transfer case down that driver's side so now because
everything's swapped around compared to the normal R32 setup, you've got the
exhaust and the wastegates down that side as well and of course the R32 GT-R
engine has that front diff in the sump.
So understandable might be a little bit of a stretch there to fit all of that in.
Can you talk to us a little bit about the electronics package, what have you got
actually controlling this setup?
- So computer's a Haltech Elite 2500.
It's got mostly like Bosch pressure sensors in it, Deka 2400 injectors.
It does have flex fuel but unfortunately I haven't had time to set the flex fuel up yet.
Nothing too flash, it's all pretty basic.
- In terms of getting that power to the ground, even with it slightly detuned,
I'm guessing you'd probably struggle to get that to the ground in first gear.
Are you running anything like gear or speed dependant boost on the car?
- Yeah so it's got boost by gear.
So first and second are gate pressure and then third is 16 pound and fourth is 23 pound.
And then fifth, sixth is again 23 pound.
- So here at the Flying 500, what sort of trap speeds are you seeing?
So today we unfortunately went into limp mode on both runs due to fuel pressure
tripping which was just a setup issue with the new sensors we put on this week.
Last year we have done 228 I think it was, so we've fixed up that setup problem now
and hopefully tomorrow we can get back up to 228.
- Fingers crossed for a clean day tomorrow.
Now out of interest, does it run on the quarter at any time?
- No haven't run it.
- Alright Dennis, great to get some insight into that car, thanks for the chat there
and hopefully your fuel pressure issues are behind you, look forward to seeing
you do some clean runs tomorrow, cheers.
- Thanks.
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