They’re talking about car culture in Australia, and how the local community connects people through cars like the Skyline. The guest’s history is used to set up the rest of the discussion.
The Nissan Skyline is a famous Japanese performance car. People associate it with big power and racing history, which is why it has a legendary reputation.
JDM means “Japanese Domestic Market.” It’s used by car fans to talk about Japanese cars and parts that were made for Japan (and the whole scene around them).
HKS is a well-known company that makes performance parts for turbo cars. The host is saying that in Australia, there was a shop closely tied to HKS that did a lot of tuning and racing work. It’s basically shorthand for “serious turbo performance parts.”
CRD is referenced as a major Australian tuning shop in the early 2000s GT-R scene. The host also notes it used to be called “Cordon Auto Sports,” tying the brand identity to a specific local workshop history. This matters because the episode is about who supported and built the RB26/GT-R ecosystem locally.
“Single turbo” means there’s just one turbocharger on the engine. It still helps the engine make more power by pushing extra air in. The host is saying even single-turbo cars were already making huge numbers back then.
“Twin turbo” means the engine uses two turbochargers instead of one. Turbos force more air into the engine, which helps it make more power. The host is comparing different turbo setups people were running back then.
Car
SR20
SR20 is Nissan’s 2.0-liter engine family. The speaker is saying they worked on cars using that engine a lot before focusing on GT-R tuning.
PowerFC is an aftermarket computer for the engine. It helps tuners adjust how the car runs so they can make more power and drive better than with the factory settings.
Airflow meters are sensors that tell the engine computer how much air is going into the engine. The computer uses that info to decide how much fuel to inject.
Here, “safeties” means the built-in protections that keep the engine from getting damaged. Without them, the car may run, but you can’t push it as hard because there’s less protection if something goes wrong.
“Stand-alones” are aftermarket engine computers that let you tune the engine more directly than the stock system. The episode is saying that these upgrades help, but they don’t magically remove every limit when you chase big power.
Octane is how resistant the fuel is to engine knocking when the engine is under heavy boost or load. Saying “98 octane” means they weren’t using race fuel—just a higher-grade pump gas—yet the cars were still extremely quick.
They mean the car was so fast it was almost like a drag-racing car. It’s a way of saying the acceleration was on a level that felt extreme for street driving at the time.
A “show car scene” is a group of car people who build cars mainly to look great at car shows. They spend time making the interior and engine area look clean and impressive, not just making the car fast.
An “auto salon” is basically a big car show where people bring their cars to be seen and sometimes judged. The host is saying it was a huge event for the kind of car builders he was into.
An “engine bay” is the compartment under the hood where the engine and related components sit. In show-car culture, engine bays are often heavily detailed—clean wiring, tidy component placement, and a “minimalist” look—because they’re part of what judges and visitors can see.
A “minimalist engine bay” means the engine compartment looks very clean and not crowded. Show-car builders try to hide clutter and make everything look tidy so the engine area looks simple and well-finished.
A “fully shaved engine bay” means the area under the hood is cleaned up by removing or hiding a lot of the stock parts and clutter. It’s mostly done to make the engine compartment look neat and custom.
Putting the brake booster under the dash means the power-assist part for the brakes was moved from the usual spot. It’s a custom layout change that can help fit everything else, but it has to be done carefully so the brakes still work correctly.
Term
flat firewall motor
A “flat firewall” setup means the wall behind the engine bay has been reshaped to look cleaner and fit the build better. It’s part of the same kind of custom fabrication as a shaved engine bay.
“Underbodies” refers to the underside/bodywork of the car, often including aero panels, diffusers, and other undercarriage components. Work done here can look great and improve aerodynamic behavior, but it can also make the car harder to drive because the underside is more exposed to damage.
A “rotisserie” is a special stand that holds the car so you can rotate it. Restorers use it so they can reach the underside and do the work more easily.
Powder coating is a tough, baked-on paint finish used to protect metal parts from rust and wear. It’s common in restorations because it lasts a long time.
Stone guard is a protective coating that helps stop small rocks from damaging the underside of the car. They’re describing the specific look/finish they’re using.
Bushes are rubber parts in the suspension that help the car ride smoothly and control movement. Replacing them can make the handling feel tighter and reduce wear.
Jacking points are the reinforced spots on the car meant for lifting it with a jack. If someone lifts it in the wrong place, it can get bent and then water can get in and cause rust.
Strut towers are strong mounting points where the suspension attaches to the car’s body. If water gets trapped there, rust can spread from the inside first, and later it may need major repair like replacing the whole tower.
ABS is the system that helps prevent the wheels from locking up when you brake hard. In this segment, they’re pointing out that rust can show up near where ABS-related parts sit in the back corners.
“Rockers” are the metal panels along the bottom sides of the car. They’re the parts that get scraped or dented easily, so if they’re damaged, replacement pieces can be hard to find. That’s why some shops end up repairing or making them.
Term
front shazzy rails
“Front … rails” are the strong metal beams that form part of the car’s frame. If they get bent in a crash, the car’s alignment and safety can be affected. Sometimes you can’t buy replacements, so shops have to repair or make them.
“Engine building” means taking an engine and putting it together (or rebuilding it) with parts chosen for a purpose. For enthusiasts, it often means making it stronger or tuned for more power than stock.
Concept
road car style
“Road car style” just means the build is meant for normal street driving, not only for racing. It usually includes things like a full interior and features that make it pleasant to live with day to day.
They’re talking about keeping the car livable for street use by including climate control. It’s the kind of feature you’d expect in a normal car, not just a race car.
They’re saying they don’t want every customer’s car to come out looking and feeling identical. Instead, they try to make each build match what that specific owner wants.
They mean they don’t just sell a ready-made “kit” that fits everyone. Their point is that pre-made packages limit how much they can customize each car for the owner.
“Two point eight” means they’re talking about engine size—about 2.8 liters. People in the community debate which displacement sounds best and feels right.
Term
three later
“Three later” means later people want a bigger engine size—around three liters. It’s part of the same tuning conversation about what feels and sounds best.
The “head” is the top part of the engine where the valves and combustion happen. Using a “26 head” means you’re combining parts from the RB26 to shape how the engine breathes and runs.
RB26 is a famous Nissan engine used in the Skyline GT-R. People like it because it can be tuned a lot and it’s known for making a great high-rev sound.
Crank, rods, and pistons are the engine’s moving parts inside the block. Saying “factory” suggests he’s using original-spec parts, which can be a safer route than going fully aftermarket.
Here “availability” means whether the exact parts you need are easy to find. The speaker is saying that back then, it was harder to get the right parts, so builds took more effort.
A machine shop is a place that does precision work on metal parts. The speaker is saying that in the past, you couldn’t just hand over an engine block and expect them to know exactly what to do for an RB build.
This means it’s easier now to find instructions and proven tips for engine builds. The speaker is saying that back then you often had to teach or guide the shop, but now there’s lots of shared experience to rely on.
“Standard bottom end” means the engine’s internal lower parts are still the factory ones, not upgraded. The question is whether those stock parts can handle the extra stress from making big power. They’re basically debating how much horsepower you can get without rebuilding the internals.
“GT35” refers to a type of turbocharger. A turbo helps the engine make more power by forcing more air in. They’re saying their setup with a GT35 made around 550 horsepower at the time.
Concept
real drive
“Real drive” here means it actually worked as a real, functioning drivetrain setup—not just a partial or gimmick arrangement. They’re confirming it wasn’t just for show. The reliability and drivability would depend on how complete the conversion really was.
An “adapter plate” is a custom metal bracket/plate used to make two parts fit together. In this case, they’re describing a thick plate bolted to the engine block so the rest of the setup can work. It’s basically a DIY “connector” piece for the build.
“Cast” means the part is made by pouring melted metal into a mold. It’s a common way to make parts more cheaply. For very high-power builds, some people switch to billet because it can handle stress better.
“High horsepower” here means the engine is making a lot of power. More power usually means more stress and heat inside the engine. That’s why builders may choose stronger parts when they’re chasing big numbers.
“Three liters” means the engine is built to be around a 3.0L size. Bigger displacement often helps with torque and how the engine feels. Here, the host connects that choice to getting clients and making a build that lasts.
“2.6s” means they built an engine around 2.6 liters. Changing displacement changes how the engine makes power and torque. They’re saying they did that setup too, not just the bigger one.
Term
complete 26
“Complete 26” sounds like buying a full RB26 engine setup instead of building from parts. The point they’re making is that it used to be expensive, so they looked for cheaper ways to get similar results. It’s about what’s affordable when you’re building an engine.
Term
RV 30
“RV 30” seems to be the speaker’s shorthand for a cheaper option than the full “26” engine. They’re saying it cost less back then, which helped motivate their approach. The exact engine/kit they mean isn’t 100% clear from this snippet.
These are tuning software add-ons for an aftermarket engine computer (ECU). They help you set up and adjust the car’s engine more easily than older, harder-to-work-with systems.
Term
strokeers
A “stroker” setup changes the engine’s crank so the pistons travel farther. That can make more power, but it usually requires the right parts and tuning to work reliably.
A factory crankshaft is the stock crankshaft that came with the engine. Keeping it can be a simpler, more straightforward build approach while still making big power with the rest of the setup.
“At the tire” means the power measured at the wheels. It’s usually less than the engine’s advertised power because some power gets lost through the drivetrain.
Concept
it lasts and lasts and lasts
They’re saying the car keeps working reliably for a long time, even with big power. It suggests the engine build and tuning are set up to avoid breaking parts repeatedly.
A tall deck block means the engine block is built with more space between the bottom and the top. That can help certain builds, but it can also make the engine harder to fit in the car.
Term
32
“32” is a shorthand for the Nissan Skyline GT-R R32. People talk about it because certain engine swaps can require extra body clearance in that car.
A subframe is like a supporting frame under the car that helps hold things like the suspension and sometimes the engine. If you’re installing a bigger engine, you may need to lower it to make everything fit.
A turbo variant is the factory version of an engine that has a turbocharger. People usually want those versions more because they’re better starting points for making power.
A short deck block means the engine’s internal “height” is shorter than usual. That can make it harder to build an engine that safely handles very high power. The speaker is saying the RB26 block avoids some of those problems.
“1,000 horsepower range” is a rough target for extremely high power. Reaching that number usually requires serious engine work and tuning. The speaker is comparing their typical builds to customers asking for even higher output.
A diesel block is the main engine “core” taken from a diesel engine. Some diesel engines are built to handle tough conditions, so builders sometimes use their blocks for very high-power projects. The host is saying they do that for the biggest horsepower requests.
Term
RD28
RD28 is a specific Nissan diesel engine code. The host is saying they use that diesel engine’s block as the starting point when they want to build something with massive power. It’s basically a “stronger base” for the project.
A head gasket is a thin part that sits between the engine block and the cylinder head. Its job is to keep hot combustion gases and fluids from leaking. If the seal isn’t strong enough, the engine can start leaking or losing compression.
Oil and water galleries are the internal pathways inside the engine that carry oil (for lubrication) and coolant (for cooling). If you change to a different block, those pathways may not line up the same way. That’s why the gasket and sealing details matter.
A conversion gasket is a special gasket that helps two parts fit together correctly when they weren’t originally designed as a pair. It helps seal oil and coolant passages so nothing leaks. Here, it’s used to make the block swap work properly.
A restrictor is a part that limits flow—usually to control how much air or fuel the engine can get. Where it’s placed can change how the setup works. In this conversation, they’re saying it’s built into the block rather than the gasket.
“Billet” means a part is cut from a solid chunk of metal. People use billet parts when they’re building an engine for very high power and want extra strength.
Car
RB30
RB30 is a Nissan inline-six engine that’s popular for making big power. The speaker is saying most people build RB30s now instead of the older RD28.
Crankshaft horsepower is the engine’s power number before it goes through the gearbox and drives the wheels. Wheel horsepower is what actually reaches the tires, so it’s usually lower.
“Turbo 400” is a specific automatic transmission model. People use it in high-power builds because it can handle a lot of torque better than many stock automatics.
Welsh plugs are small plugs in the engine block that help seal coolant passages. If they start popping out, it usually means the engine is under too much stress or the cooling passages aren’t staying sealed.
Roll racing is when you race while already moving, not from a stoplight. It stresses the car differently because the engine and drivetrain are under load for longer.
Bore is how wide each cylinder is inside the engine. If you make the bore bigger, you can increase power, but you also thin the cylinder walls, which can reduce strength.
A dry-sump system is a special way of storing and moving engine oil. It helps the engine keep oil pressure when the car is being driven hard on a track, especially during big cornering forces.
“RBs” refers to a Nissan engine family that includes the RB26. People talk about them a lot because they’re common in performance Skylines and get modified for big power.
Term
2J style car
“2J style” is slang for building a car around the Toyota 2JZ engine, which is popular for making a lot of power. Here it’s being used to describe a common build “look” or approach in the scene.
“Circuit race” means sustained track driving where the car repeatedly experiences high lateral and longitudinal loads. That kind of continuous stress is a key reason oil control upgrades like dry-sumps are recommended.
“Milkshake” means the oil gets mixed with air (and sometimes moisture), so it turns foamy instead of staying smooth. Foamy oil doesn’t protect the engine as well.
An external oil pump is an extra pump that helps push oil where it needs to go. It’s used in racing to keep oil pressure steady when the engine is working very hard.
“Single stage” means the pump has one main pumping step. That can be enough for some racing setups, depending on how the rest of the oil system is designed.
Cavitation is when the pump starts making tiny bubbles in the fluid. Those bubbles can mess up how well the oil gets where it needs to go, so the engine doesn’t get proper lubrication.
“Life of the engine” means how long it will last before it starts wearing out or failing. Here, they’re saying keeping RPM under control helps protect the engine.
Crazing means tiny crack-like damage on the surface of a bearing. It may look bad under inspection, but it doesn’t always immediately ruin how the bearing works.
Cavitation is when liquid forms tiny bubbles and then they collapse. In an engine, that can mess up the oil quality and contribute to wear on parts like bearings.
If the oil has air bubbles in it, it doesn’t lubricate as well as it should. The gauge might still show pressure, but the oil’s “quality” for protecting parts is worse.
Term
2J buckets
“Buckets” are parts inside the engine that help control how the valves open and close. They’re saying they used 2J-style parts in their RB setup to make it work reliably.
Shimless buckets are a way to adjust valve clearance using the shape/thickness of the part itself. It can make tuning and maintenance easier on built engines.
The S14 is a Nissan Silvia generation that a lot of enthusiasts build for track and street power. In this segment, they’re saying they installed a stronger billet engine setup into one.
Pro Mod is a drag racing category where cars are heavily modified to run extremely fast. The idea is that if you’re building for that kind of stress and speed, you may need stronger engine parts.
Concept
pedantic about how you run the engine
The speaker means that some extreme engine builds need you to be very careful with how you drive and how the engine is tuned. For a regular street car, that can be annoying because it’s easier to mess up and cause problems.
Bearing clearances are the tiny spaces inside the engine where moving metal parts spin. The right gap helps oil get where it needs to go; if it’s too tight, heat can make things expand and oil pressure can drop.
“1500 horsepower” is a very high power number. The point is that once you’re making that much power, the engine needs stronger, more specialized oiling and parts to keep everything alive.
These are Australia’s official rules that cars have to meet to be allowed on the road. If you modify a car too much, you may have to change it back so it meets those rules.
They mean brakes that aren’t strong enough for the car. If your car is making huge power, you need brakes that can safely slow it down, or inspectors may require changes.
ITBs means “individual throttle bodies.” It’s a setup where each cylinder gets its own throttle valve, which can make the engine respond more sharply when you press the gas.
A single throttle body is one “air gate” for the whole engine. The host feels it makes the engine less sharp when you press the gas and changes the sound/feel versus having multiple throttle valves.
Multi-throttles means the engine has more than one throttle valve controlling airflow. The idea is that it can make the car respond quicker to your foot and sound more exciting.
These are small motors that help the car keep a steady idle when you’re not touching the gas. If they leak air, the engine can start idling too high or behave inconsistently.
These valves let in extra air when the engine is cold so it can run smoothly. If they leak when they shouldn’t, the idle can be off even after the car warms up.
Drive-by-wire means the gas pedal doesn’t directly move the throttle with a cable. Instead, it sends an electronic signal that tells the engine what to do.
Here, “cable” means the gas pedal is connected to the throttle by a physical cable. When you press the pedal, the cable pulls to open the throttle.
Brand
Mtron
Mtron is mentioned as another company that makes engine control computers for modified cars. The idea is that these ECUs can manage throttle electronically.
An idle motor is a device that helps the engine stay running smoothly when you’re not pressing the gas. It controls extra airflow so the engine can idle.
Term
plum hoses
This means using tubes to move air around the throttle. The goal is to help the engine idle without relying on the throttle position.
Nitto is the company the speaker uses for custom engine parts. They’re talking about getting the key internal pieces made for their build so everything works together.
A “one-off” is a custom part made just for one person’s car. The speaker is saying they don’t want to ask a shop to do a single custom set unless it becomes a repeatable product.
“2.9 liters” is how big the engine is after they build it (its displacement). They’re debating why they didn’t just make it a full “3.0,” because the exact size depends on what parts and clearances can physically work together.
“7675” refers to a specific turbocharger size. Bigger turbos can move more air for more power, and here they’re saying that turbo helped the car make around 920 horsepower at the wheels, but it also ran into fuel-system limits.
“920 at the tyre” means the dyno measured about 920 horsepower at the wheels. That’s usually a bit lower than the engine’s raw rating because some power is lost through the drivetrain. They also say the car ran out of fuel, meaning the fuel system couldn’t keep up at that power level.
The “fuel system” is how the car gets enough fuel to the engine, especially when you’re boosting hard. When they say it “ran out of fuel system,” they mean the fuel delivery couldn’t supply enough fuel to support the power anymore.
Torque is the engine’s pulling force that helps the car accelerate. More torque usually means it feels stronger, especially when you’re not already at high speed.
“V cam” refers to a camshaft setup (cam timing/profile) that’s commonly used in performance engine builds to improve airflow and power across certain RPM ranges. In RB builds, cam choice is a major tuning lever for balancing street response versus peak power.
A sequential gearbox is a transmission where you shift in order, one gear at a time. A “six-speed sequential” just means it has six forward gears and is set up for quicker, more controlled shifting.
PPG is a company that makes performance gearboxes. Here they’re talking about PPG sequential transmissions as an option if you want the car to be quieter.
A “factory transmission” is the gearbox the car originally shipped with. It’s different from aftermarket racing-style gearboxes the host is discussing.
Term
H-pad and dog boxes
“Dog boxes” are race-focused gearboxes that grab gears very directly. The host is saying they don’t feel smooth and can make the car harder to drive day to day.
“8HP” is a type of automatic gearbox with 8 gears. They’re saying it can make a GT-R feel smoother and more modern to drive, especially compared with more race-focused setups.
Term
wolfing sheep's clothing
It’s an expression meaning “looks harmless, but is actually dangerous.” They’re describing a car that looks stock on the outside while having big performance underneath.
Before buying parts or building a car, you should decide what you want the car to do. If you know the goal, it’s easier to pick the right parts and set it up to match how you’ll drive.
The Toyota Supra is a sporty two-door car made for fast driving. People talk about it a lot because it’s known for performance and has a long history. It’s the kind of car that often gets mentioned when discussing what makes a sports car exciting.
A “short stroke crank” means the crankshaft has a shorter movement inside the engine. That changes the engine’s size and character, which is why they’re discussing whether it started as a 2.8.
Compression is how tightly the engine squeezes the fuel/air before it ignites. Diesels need a lot of squeeze to make the fuel ignite, so the engine’s cylinder walls have to be strong enough.
Paddle shifting means you change gears using buttons on the steering wheel. It’s often used with race-style transmissions because it can be faster than using a stick.
An inlet is the opening where air gets pulled into the turbo/intake system. A bigger inlet can help airflow, but it can also change how the car feels and how the parts fit.
They’re comparing a smaller inlet opening (four inches) to a larger one. The host thinks the larger size is better for both airflow and the visual look of the car.
DCT means dual-clutch transmission. It’s a type of automatic gearbox that can change gears fast because it’s ready with the next gear. They’re talking about trying it in a specific car so they can compare how it feels versus a different setup.
Garage Active is the brand name of the wide-body kit being discussed. The hosts talk about its pricing in Australia and whether the kit’s molds line up closely with the OEM quarter panel. This is relevant because wide-body kits vary a lot in fitment quality.
Here, “molds” means the forms used to shape the body-kit parts. If the molds are made from the right factory body shape, the kit will line up better and need less work to fit. They’re discussing how close the kit is to the OEM panel.
Term
RB
“RB” is Nissan’s engine family name. Skyline fans often care a lot about whether a car has the “RB” engine, because it’s part of what makes the GT-R/Skylines feel like the “real” ones to enthusiasts. The speaker is basically saying they only care about the RB-equipped cars.
Term
GDR
“GDR” here sounds like a label/badge the car has, but the speaker is saying it doesn’t actually have the RB engine. So they’re arguing that the name on the car doesn’t matter as much as what engine it really has.
“Group A” was a racing rule set that required race cars to be closely related to cars you could buy. Teams couldn’t just build anything—they had to base it on a production model. That’s why Group A cars are often seen as more “real” racing cars, not just custom race-only machines.
Advan is a tire brand that’s known for making high-performance tires used in racing. The speaker is basically saying that when you see a car with “real” racing brands like Advan, it looks and feels more legit. It’s one of those details enthusiasts notice right away.
The speaker is saying people often like certain cars because they remind them of their childhood or earlier memories. That emotional connection can make an older race car feel more special than a newer one with more power. It’s not just about numbers—it’s about what you grew up seeing.
That’s a number for how strong the engine is. They’re using it to compare how stable the car feels when it’s making extremely high power.
Term
N1 engine
“N1 engine” is a special version of Nissan’s RB engine that’s meant to be tougher for hard use. People bring it up because it’s associated with better durability than a basic stock engine.
The Audi R8 is a high-performance sports car with its engine mounted toward the middle of the car. In the context, the discussion is about buying an R8 and specifically mentions the V10 version. People talk about it because it’s meant to feel like a true supercar.
It’s the main screen on the dashboard that shows lots of different info. Instead of separate gauges and buttons for everything, the car uses one screen to control and display things.
Term
MFT
They’re talking about the dashboard screen that shows car info and settings. It’s basically the car’s “main display,” not something that makes the engine faster.
It means you’re paying extra mainly because it’s a famous brand or model, not because the car has better parts. The speaker is questioning whether the price matches the real value.
“Restorations” means bringing a car back to a better condition, often like it was when it was new or close to original. It can include fixing worn parts and refreshing the look.
“Track record” means their past results. In this context, it’s basically saying their engines have worked well before and they’ve built them successfully many times.
A turbo makes air hot when it’s compressed. An intercooler cools that air down before it goes into the engine, which helps the engine run better and safer.
Haltech R5 is a performance computer for the engine. It helps the tuner control how the engine runs so the car can make more power and stay consistent on track.
“Pro open class” means a race category with fewer restrictions than most classes. Teams can build cars more freely, which is why you often see very powerful track cars there.
doesn't affect the integrity of the bearing because it still works.
Right.
But that's from the cavitation.
Yeah.
Because the oil is full of air.
So you still got pressure on-
Right.
On your, your sensors still reading pressure.
Yeah.
But the quality of the oil is junk.
It's garbage.
Or dry sump, right?
That's basically the, the safety system for an RB.
Right.
Now on a 2J, you don't really have to worry about that kind of stuff, right?
Apparently.
I'm not sure if you had any experience with a 2J.
But there is heavy influence from the 2J platform into the RB in terms of parts, like
my setup, we're using 2J buckets, shimless buckets, and a few other things too.
So, you guys had to figure out how to make it something or how to make it work.
Yep.
And be reliable just like a 2J, right?
Now, it seems like the cast seems to be the weak point when you're in those higher horsepower
numbers, even with the dry sump, right?
So, do you do any billet stuff?
Like, do you, do you only stick to cast?
No, no, no.
We do billet as well.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like we've got, we've got an S14 that we've put a billet.
We're doing a billet engine in that.
Okay.
We've done, we've done another 3.2 billet in one of our sort of,
one of our, it's a shop car owned by, owned by a customer.
But yeah, he's like the one that's always racing.
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
So that, that car's got a billet now in it because that was the RD that was pushing the
Welsh plugs.
Yeah.
So we went to a billet in that because he wanted to put a pro mod on it and go fast and
all that stuff.
So, yeah.
So we do do billets as well.
Who would a billet block be for?
I mean, technically over here, you guys have all types of street car bills and crazy horsepower.
Yeah.
But let's say you're in the States, you have an RB30, you blow it up or whatever it is,
and you're looking for another one.
Does it really make sense to go to a billet?
What is your take on that?
In a road car, I don't like it.
In a road car?
I don't like it.
You can street drive them.
Yeah.
There's no question, but I don't like it because you have to be so pedantic about how you run
the engine.
You have to be so careful on all temperatures.
You have to be so careful on when you touch the throttle.
If it's cold and you start it and you touch the throttle,
the way we build the billets, the bearing clearances are tight.
Because when the oil gets hot, everything expands and you lose oil pressure.
Unless you have a big oil pump where you can cram pressure into it,
but it's not really the right way I like to do it.
So, 1500 horsepower and above, I recommend a billet.
Okay.
Yeah.
And I'll throw it dry some.
It's going to, yeah, definitely a dry some.
With a billet, you realistically should always be putting a dry sump in it,
unless it's a proper dedicated road car.
Yeah, yeah.
Now, 1500 seems to be the norm over here.
It's like you guys know.
So, at 1500 horsepower, what kind of car, like out here,
is this something that everybody just drives around with?
It's just normal or it's more car that's just sitting in the shop and they just take it to events?
Like, it's more like what's outside now in the street?
Guys will take them on the street, but not all the time.
It's not like you get it, go and go to the shops.
You're not going to the shops in a 1500 horsepower Giga.
You can, but it's not something you would do.
You know, like one, they're not comfortable.
You're not going to enjoy driving it.
You do it on the odd occasion just to show off or to go,
oh, my car's a street car, all that kind of stuff.
That's what you do.
But it's not a daily driver car, you know?
A 1000 horsepower, you can get away with it because it's still at the point where you can,
it resembles a kind of factory car, you know?
Apart from obviously turbo side and all that stuff and noise and all that.
But you can have your air conditioning, you can have all that stuff and it's comfortable
and you don't need a billet block and you don't need a dry sump and all that stuff.
So, it's more drivable.
But, you know, it's, I don't know.
Everyone thinks that 2000 horsepower street car is actually a street car and I don't know.
It's all.
You don't, so you don't think, honestly, I'm not going to lie to you, man.
Like being out here, it just seems normal.
Yeah, look, it's normal to make the power, yeah.
Yeah.
But you're not driving it.
Like on the street.
Like I said, you're not driving it as in a normal road car.
Going to the gym with it, going to work.
You're not doing that.
There's, in all honesty, that you're probably not going to last long on the street anyway
because of the police.
Oh, true.
That's true.
I've been hearing a lot about that.
Is it worth it?
Is it worth it to drive your 1500 horsepower, 2000 horsepower GTR to the gym, get pulled over,
put it on a tow truck, get it sent home, they block your vin.
You need to go through inspections or the garbage that goes along with it.
Is it really worth it just to say it's a street car?
I wouldn't do it.
Now, if you get inspection, right, you have to change your car basically to make it work.
It has to comply with the Australian design rules, the road rules.
And what are the rules?
What are they?
What are they?
You have to have a cat.
It has to pass emissions.
It has to, and an engineer has to go over the car essentially.
And say, okay, this car is safe.
So you're not putting 15 inch wheels with big balloon Mickey Thompson's on it.
You're not putting, you're not putting a noisy exhaust on it.
You're not putting little brakes on it when your car makes 2000 horsepower.
You're not doing any of that stuff.
So they check all of that stuff.
What about the engine bay?
Do they know what they're looking at?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The car goes on a dyno.
They check the emissions.
Oh, it goes on a dyno?
Yeah, yeah.
What?
When it's engineered, yeah, it goes on a dyno.
They check the emissions.
And the only way to get through all this garbage is to essentially,
realistically have the car engineered to say that it meets the Australian design rules.
And you have a report and it's lodged with Transport New South Wales or wherever you are.
And so if it gets blocked, right?
Now, are you still able to take it to the track and race it?
Yeah, yeah.
You just can't drive on the street.
Yeah, you can't register the car.
Is there any way around that?
You can register it in other states.
That's it.
Yeah.
And then you probably.
They'll catch on.
Yeah.
They'll catch on eventually.
Damn.
Nothing good lasts forever, right?
Is this something that's more recent though?
Or this is something that's like.
It's been happening the last couple of years.
Did anything spark that?
Because like in the States, we have takeovers.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's destroyed, completely destroyed the car scene in terms of racing and stuff.
There's been a couple of accidents.
There's been just things like that and people have gotten hurt or a girl died.
And yeah, it was not good.
Oh, so they started everything.
And then they really started pushing hard.
Like it's been going on for a long time, but whenever something happens,
there's always a crack down.
Right.
You know, they crack down on everything.
Damn.
It's not worth it.
Is that Australia wide or it's just Sydney?
As far as I know, that's that's Sydney.
I don't know what goes on in other States, but Sydney's.
Now, is Sydney basically the hub for performance cars like this?
Or is this just all over Australia?
It's pretty much just like a lot of performance shops.
It seems like Croydon's here too.
Yeah, you know, they're doing stuff, be to all these shops.
Like within an hour of each other.
But like what happens when you go outside of Sydney?
Is there anything out there?
There are shops in Victoria, in Melbourne.
There's shops in Queensland, not as many as in Sydney.
Okay.
Sydney seems to be the most saturated.
Right.
But there are other guys.
There's guys over in Perth in Western Australia doing it.
Yeah, I don't know exactly what those guys are doing.
But yeah, there are.
There are definitely big shops everywhere doing big cars.
Yeah.
You mentioned to me earlier about the ITBs, right?
Now, I have a hyper tune intake manifold.
It seems to be like the, like the top manifold to get in the States.
If you have one, it's like, all right.
And then some people are on eBay ones because the price.
And lead times and so on.
So on a high horsepower car in the States,
let me like a thousand horsepower or something like that.
You don't really see ITBs, right?
So even here, same.
Yeah, I'm so against single throttle bodies.
It's ridiculous.
I don't like a single throttle body on a GDR.
Yeah, they don't, they don't drive the same.
They don't sound the same.
They don't have that.
It's like part of the character of the engine is gone.
They're a bit doughy.
They're a bit, it's like, as soon as you crack that throttle a little bit,
it gets a gut full of air and it just doesn't sound the same.
With the, with the multi-throttles, it's got that real sharp,
like throttle response.
So you get, any of these bills don't have that?
Some do.
If, if, is it customer preference or something that you'd,
I, I, I steer, I try and steer them towards a multi-throttle
to six throttle bodies, the factory ones.
Yeah.
Because I just feel like they drive nicer.
They sound nicer.
They, they, just the way the engine reacts and responds to that,
to that throttle.
Sound of why is what, what does it sound like?
It's just really sharp.
The throttle response is really sharp.
It's like a, like a motorbike.
You know, a motorbike, when you rev it, it's just got that real,
real sharp throttle response.
Right, right.
Yeah.
That's, that's what the GDR should sound like.
Now, do you have any issues tuning them or anything like that?
It's probably more perfectly fine.
No, so we've gone
850, 852 at 160 mile an hour with multi-throttle.
So I do a 48 mil set for the cars over a thousand horsepower.
Okay.
I haven't actually seen the point where you need to go to a 48 mil throttle body.
Okay.
Instead of 48 mil throttles, I would say.
But most of the guys that want a thousand, they go,
I want to put bigger throttles.
Cool. We can do that.
It's not a problem.
Yeah.
So we have them, we machine them, we make the, the, the throttle plates
and all that stuff.
We do a drive by wire system for them to get rid of all the garbage
under the inlet manifold.
And then obviously you, by doing that, it's, you've got all your options.
So you've got cruise control and you got better idle control.
Cause that's another reason why guys take them off.
Because the system from factory was on the 80s, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's just a series of air leaks.
Okay.
You've got idle motors,
idle control motors that are leaking air past the throttle plates to bring the idle up.
You've got auxiliary air valves, also leaking air past for the cold start.
You've got all this garbage under there.
So you get rid of all that, throw it in the bin.
The ECU can control the idle.
Yeah.
Rock solid.
You can have different throttle maps, how the throttle reacts.
If it's too sharp, you can do it down a little bit.
If it's not sharp enough, you can increase it.
Right.
You can have different rev limiters.
You can have cruise control, all these modern options.
Yeah.
So, and it just, yeah.
I like it a lot better than one throttle body that makes the car feel a bit docile.
You know, it's just a bit, no.
I'm curious to feel what the difference is, because I honestly wouldn't know.
I only know, obviously drive by wires is a pretty popular option.
Cable seems to be something that some people use, but people, everybody just,
like the first thing is like, oh, you got to get a drive by wire because it's just,
I guess it's just better.
Over time, I'm not sure if the cable is as reliable.
I'm not sure if you experienced that.
It's, look, the cable lasts almost forever.
Yeah.
But you don't have all those extra features that all the late model ECUs,
you've got these, these awesome ECUs now.
That can do, yeah.
Haltech, Motec, Mtron, whatever other brands are out there.
Right.
That can use, utilize the benefits of drive by wire now.
And it's, it's reliable and it works.
And very rarely you have problems with them.
Right.
So why wouldn't you?
Why would you want to have an idle motor and then plum hoses to bypass air around the
throttle body so that it can idle and then you have to wire that in and set it up.
And it's just, yeah.
Then you can go the next level when you can talk manage through the throttle.
You can boost control through the throttle, all that kind of stuff as well.
So all these, we have the technology there.
So I believe when we're building these cars, we should use it because it benefits,
it benefits what we're doing.
It makes the product, the end product better.
Right.
So, yeah.
So it seems like your motto like, like is similar to a previous guess I had on,
you just street cars, functional street cars.
Why do you continue to stay true to that?
Do you ever get an itch to do some drag racing or crazy 2,500 horsepower car?
I used to.
Okay.
And I've sort of moved away from it a little bit because I find up to that thousand horsepower
road car, you have a lot more happy customers, guys use their car more, there's less breakages.
You build a 1500 horsepower car that goes racing all the time
and you're always fixing something.
It's always back in the shop.
You're always upgrading something because they're chasing the guy next to them.
Like when is enough enough?
And then they get frustrated because they're always spending and spending and spending.
Whereas the other guy, he'll get in his car, he'll drive it two hours away if he wants
with the air con on, he'll drive it back.
The thing still makes a thousand, it'll go and run a bottom nine second pass
and it looks mad and it sounds good and it just functions.
So we do like, I've got the the silver car, one of my good mates that we're doing silver 32 that
we've gone roll racing and we've gone drag racing, Kudamundra, all that stuff.
We used to do all that with the car.
We're going to do it again as more of a race car now
to go and chase like seven second passes because I think that's enough for me.
Yeah, I'm not interested in the other stuff.
You know, it's too much.
It's you need a team and you need to dedicate so much time to that,
which then lets my core customers down.
So yeah, I think we do that car.
That's cool.
I like the circuit stuff.
We got, we got pretty heavily involved in some circuit stuff over the years recently,
World Time Attack and some other guys that that go circuit racing.
I really like that scene.
So yeah, maybe a little bit more energy will go towards that.
But essentially at the end of the day, it's it's road cars for me.
That makes sense though.
I think you're, you want to be most efficient with your business and not have a lot of customers
waiting because they're working on like that one shop car that, you know, it's common in the States too.
Shop car be priority.
They go on racing for the weekend.
Customers are on hold.
So I have tunes waiting emails to catch up on.
Then when you come back, you're swamped and you can't catch up getting ready for the next event.
Yep, exactly.
So yeah, I, I, I hear you.
That's, that's a, that's a pretty solid and valid answer.
Yeah, I agree.
So I noticed that you've done a lot of different setups, different combinations, colors, cool things, right?
Now, if you were to build the RB26 or even a RB30, right?
What would be your go-to for parts and what would you do with it?
Because it seems like a lot of stuff you're posting is customer stuff, right?
Yeah, yeah.
So what would be your go-to for things?
So 90, like 99% of everything I do, it's got Nitto in it.
Nitto, Pistons, rods, crank, I don't, I don't use any other internals.
I'm doing a custom 2.9 thing experiment that I wanted to do for myself.
Using an OEM crank from another Nissan engine and custom rod and piston.
And if it works, then I would also get Nitto to build those parts for me.
Oh, wow.
But it's not a one-off, like I don't want to give them a one-off situation.
I got you.
It's not, it's not what they do.
So if I'm going to say to them, oh, can you build me a single set of Pistons?
I feel like I'm wasting their time that they could be doing something else.
So I'll try it with something else, someone that does one-off stuff, get it working.
And then if I decide to manufacture that kit, then get Nitto to make them for me.
Okay.
So the test mill will be what it is.
We've got one running at the moment.
So ends up being just over 2.9 liters in a RB26 block.
Why 2.9 though?
Why not just go three?
Like why?
You can't fit it in a three-letter.
So I was trying to do something in a short deck block
because everyone seems to want to keep the short deck block now all of a sudden.
Yeah.
It's just a thing.
Yeah.
So Herman's block will help that too.
Right, right.
So yeah, I thought, okay, I'm going to try it with my car.
Then one of my mates said, I want to do it as well.
So we ended up doing his first and mine can just sit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it worked really well.
So yeah, it was nice to put a 7675 on it.
Gen 2?
Yep, Gen 2 7675 made 920 at the tyre, ran out of fuel system at that point.
What about torque?
I think it was a while ago now.
It was almost 18 months ago when we tuned that.
It drove like an RB30, but it didn't sound like an RB30.
Oh, that sounds good, man.
I was surprised.
Yeah.
So it was like, okay, it's still a short deck block.
We don't have to cut the bonnet.
We don't have to drop the subframe.
Sounds good.
Sounds more 2.8-ish, but it's got the torque of a three-letter.
So with the 7675, it drove awesome.
Yeah.
And that's a good turbo because it seems like everything's 80 mil out here, right?
So a 7675, do you feel like that's the limit for a good responsive street car in that range?
It depends on the power goal.
You have to, the way I look at it, when guys say to me, oh, I want this much power,
but I want response, well, you need, it's all relative.
Right.
So you can have a responsive 1,000 horsepower street car,
but it's not going to be as responsive as a 600 horsepower street car.
Right, right.
That's what, that's the challenge with people.
You have to educate them on those things.
But 7675 on a three-liter, on a 3.2, I think it's okay on the road.
I like to put V cam on my engines.
I've been doing it for a while now.
I actually didn't even speak about it.
So that helps, too.
But yeah, 7675 is okay.
I found the 83-85 was a bit too big on a manual.
On a manual.
Yeah, on a manual.
Okay.
Yeah, I found it too big.
But again, it's all, it's all dependent on the customer.
Right.
On what they want, like what are they happy to live with?
What sacrifices are they willing to make when they do, when they build their car?
So that's, that's the, that's where you really need to sort of understand
the people you're dealing with.
Right.
And if you don't understand them, there's 90% of the time someone's going to be unhappy.
No, 100%.
Yeah.
Now, what are you doing for transmissions?
What are your go-to transmissions for your setups and your builds?
I do all sorts of things.
Okay.
So turbo 400s in guys that want to go role racing or drag racing.
We've started tinkering with the 8 HP.
Oh, okay.
So we've got two cars with 8 HPs in them now.
We've done a lot of Samsonas, six speed sequentials.
That's our go-to sequential where we're using a couple of PPG now, sequentials, the billet ones.
Okay.
So that's, I want to see how they go.
Because some guys like the noise, some guys don't.
Right.
So the older cars, you hear more, you tend to hear more of that noise.
So if you want a quiet sequential, you put a PPG in it.
If you don't care or you want it noisy, I put a Samsonas in it.
I heard it was loud, yeah.
Yeah, they are.
But they're a straight cut.
Look, you can't get away from that.
That's just, it is what it is.
They don't make it a helical cut?
No.
No.
Interesting.
So they're our go-tos, unless it's a factory transmission,
I don't like H-pad and dog boxes.
Oh, you don't?
No.
They just ruin, I feel like they make the car a chore to drive.
Now, 8HP, you said, right?
So it's more of a luxury.
Do you feel like that transmission is good for a GTR or something more,
I don't want to say luxury, but these cars are meant to rip, right?
Yeah, yeah.
8HP will do it.
However, it's a different feel when you're driving it.
And it's more of, it's a BMW, it's kind of like a BMW thing.
So when you're driving it, you're getting like luxurious feel, newer car, more modern.
Now, do you feel like a modern transmission works well with the GTR platform?
Depending on the build.
Okay.
Yeah.
If the car is something that is really nicely put together and kind of has that OEM plus kind of feel,
like we've got a Y32 outside that looks OEM from the outside.
You open the bonnet, it makes 900 at the tire.
Right.
So that's got an 8HP in it.
So it drives, it needs to, it can't drive like a race car.
It looks factory, it looks like a V-Spec 2.
V-Spec 2 wheels, Nismo interior, factory aero, everything's factory on the outside.
But you can't have, you can, but like I wouldn't put a sequential in that car.
It just takes away from that, that kind of wolfing sheep's clothing sort of feel to the car.
Where, and he takes his kids in the car, he drives everywhere, he wants to drive everywhere.
Right.
You know, so for that kind of car, once we get this 8HP stuff working to the point where I'm happy,
I think that'll be, that'll be really good.
We're still, still battling with it at the moment.
A sequential is more something that you're just going to take it out, and every time you take it
out, you're going to beat it.
No matter what.
You're going to hammer it every time you take it out.
Yeah.
Just, is it just because like, the way you're shifting, the way it feels, like no matter what.
You feel like you're driving a race car.
That's it.
That's you, you go out there and you're just going to hammer it everywhere you go.
It seems like no matter who I speak to on this podcast,
the, when you're building a car, the first thing you should ask yourself or anybody is,
what's the purpose of the car?
100%.
What are you doing with it?
100%.
Because that's going to dictate what parts you're going to use,
how it's going to feel when you drive it, what your goals are, everything.
Exactly.
It's, that's just what it is.
Yeah.
What, what are you doing with the car?
And then you can kind of figure out what you're going to do after that.
I've got three questions.
Anytime anyone asks me for an engine, they email me, I want an engine built.
Yeah.
What car?
What are you, what's the purpose of the car?
How much power?
They're the three questions.
You answer those, then I'll tell you something to suit.
All right.
So Supra.
Yeah.
RV 30.
I want to make 3000 horsepower.
You're putting a billet in it.
You're putting a billet in it and you're not driving it.
You're going to take it to the drags and you're going to,
you're going to pay more to drive less.
That's true.
That's funny.
That works.
So that's true.
So now what, what was like the rarest car you've ever worked on?
You have these, these, these all types of GTRs in here, right?
But you seem to, I don't want to say you're picky about what you, what you work with,
but you seem to have an eye for things.
You're very keen to certain things.
Um, rarest, rarest, rarest.
Because I'm sure there's customers that you've had come in here and.
I feel bad now because I'm going to say someone and I'm going to forget someone else.
Do you know what I mean?
It's going to be that situation.
That's how it always is.
We've had, we've got a v-spec tuner, the one behind you that we, that.
This is a nerf?
That's a v-spec tuner.
Oh wow.
Yeah, yeah.
You know what's funny?
For some reason, I always feel like those cars only come in millennium jade and,
oh, what was that other color?
What color is this?
Pearl white.
That one.
There's a, there's a champagne, a silica breath.
Yes.
Yeah.
I saw, which was at GTR festival.
Beautiful color, beautiful color.
But they come in white too.
Yeah, pearl white.
So what, what colors do they come in the end for them?
I'm pretty sure.
So v-spec tuner, I'm pretty sure they come blue as well.
Oh, they do?
That's odd.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm not a hundred percent sure on the others, but yeah.
So that's one of them.
It's got an RB30 in there, right?
32
That's, that's got a RD28 block.
That one.
Oh, it's an RD28.
Yeah.
RD28 block, Nitto 3.2.
Our VCAM system.
So yeah.
So it's an RD28 block.
Yep.
So it's a 2.8?
No.
Oh.
Originally, yes, because they ran a short stroke crank.
Hmm.
Okay.
And I remember I said to you, 85 mil bore.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Small bore, short stroke crank, but because they, they needed the, the wall thickness.
Right, right.
To deal with the compression of a diesel.
Yeah.
Okay.
So, so they're dimension wise, they're the same as an RB30.
Right.
So they got the extra inch and a half, 38 mil, whatever it is height.
Um, and everything else.
But it's, yeah, from factory, they ran a short stroke, shorter stroke crank than an RB30.
Yeah.
Okay.
So it's a 3.2 with the RD28.
Yep.
Block.
This is probably one of the rarest cars you've worked on.
Yeah, I think so.
What makes it just a, just a.
Just the numbers.
Like the numbers are, they're not a common car, I guess.
What does this go for?
What is this valued at?
Would you say?
Not with all the stuff you've done to it, but just.
Just as a normal car, I think that have to be probably $400,000 Australian.
That is insane.
Now, and also with this project.
So how much would you say is in this car right now in terms of the customer coming here and
working with you?
If, if we did this once, because this has had multiple different turbos, multiple different
transmissions.
Yeah.
If we did that once, I would say it'd cost them probably $200,000 Australian.
$200,000 Australian.
To do what that has.
Yeah. It's got Motec.
I wouldn't put the single throttle body on it.
It's got an 8 HP.
Oh, it has that.
That's one of the, that's one of the 8 HP cars.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
So yeah.
And all that's all the, all the gear.
So because it had a sequential at one point, had a Samsonas paddle shifted.
And yeah, he didn't like the noise after a while.
Go over it.
All right.
Let's try this 8 HP thing.
So yeah.
But if we did it once, I'd say, I'd say to do it properly.
You have to budget about $200,000.
$200,000.
So yeah, this car is probably, I don't even know what that is in the US, but it's up there.
Probably three or $400,000.
Roughly.
That is insane.
Now, would you do something like this for your personal car?
Maybe.
What would you do differently?
Because obviously there's customer expectations and what they want to do with the cars.
Yeah, for me, I'm with, when my car was not widebody and all that, it had 900 at the tyre.
Three litre, 26 head.
And it was nice.
It was just nice and drivable.
Had a get drag in it.
It was nice.
It was a nice drivable streetcar, you know, every day.
Like I used to drive it around all the time.
Right.
Saturday morning, come to work, drive around all weekend.
Yeah.
It was, it was a good car.
Now, probably, I'm still happy with that 900 horsepower mark.
I don't, I don't need any more than that.
I probably wouldn't even drive it on that.
Oh, so what do you, what would you drive it on?
Probably 700.
700 and that's fast enough.
That's good enough.
I feel like it is.
I don't race people.
I don't, I don't do that stuff.
I'm not too old.
I'm just, I think of the consequences too much.
I think that's what it is.
I don't carelessness that some people, I feel, I feel like you need to have a little bit of that,
that care, not carelessness, but sort of a, no sense of, of, of the consequence if something
goes wrong.
Right.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I'm just, the older I get, the, the slower I seem to drive.
Yeah.
You built, you built an empire.
You kind of just want to like keep that and you don't want to, you have things that you
don't want to leave behind.
Yeah.
I get it.
Yeah.
So I don't know.
I think that 900 horsepower mark is, is plenty.
I'd like to try a DCT in that car because now I've done the 8 HP.
So, so this is obviously your 32, right?
Now what, what transmissions in here?
Nothing at the moment.
Nothing.
So it's not, it's what motor, do you have a motor in it?
So that'll get the 2.9.
We're just waiting for the block to come back.
You're waiting.
Okay.
So it's going to go into this.
So it'll, it'll have the 2.9.
I'm waiting for turbo smart to release a new turbo.
Okay.
Because I've got this thing where I like the sportsman.
Yeah.
Star, five inch inlet.
It looks good.
I don't like a four inch inlet, especially on a, on something that is a bit showy.
Yeah.
So I'm waiting for that to come out.
Hopefully towards the end of the year that comes out and then we'll build everything around that.
But I would like to try DCT in that car because then I can say, I can, I can compare the two.
Right.
You know, it's not apples with apples, but I can compare.
Okay.
I like the DCT or I like the, the 8 HP.
It's easy for a customer because they can go, all right.
Well, what do you think?
And what's the benefits and all that kind of stuff?
So yeah, I would really like to try it in that car.
Now what, uh, this is, you said this is a wide body.
Yeah.
What, what kit is it?
Garage active.
Okay.
What are those kits go for?
Landed here about $18,000 Australian.
$18,000.
Yeah.
And when you get these kinds of kits that are expensive, do the molds fit perfectly?
Do you have to kind of?
They're very close.
They're very close.
It's, it's funny that that kit I've had it for, I think I bought it five years ago or something.
So you could see the indentations of where they took the mold off the OEM quarter.
So you could see where the OEM, yeah, spot weld marks were and things like that.
So the fit and finish was, was great.
It was pretty good.
Now what other modifications, um, aside from the wider body externally that you,
what hood is that?
The same thing?
Uh, virus, virus.
That's a, that's a virus.
Yeah.
So how much money have you put into this car so far?
You don't even know.
You don't even count.
I don't want to know.
I've built it that many times.
I've had that since 2012.
Oh, this is like, yeah.
This is like a, yeah.
But it looks, it looks like you wouldn't even know what year it's from.
Cause it looks a brand new, and this is on the rotisserie as well.
Not yet.
It's going on a rotisserie.
Oh, it is?
So we, we did it a bit backwards this car.
Yeah.
I wasn't going to do the underbody, but then it got to that point.
I looked at it and I said, I can't, I can't leave the underbody now.
Yeah.
It's old, right.
You know?
Yeah.
So, so unfortunately I'm going to have to protect everything I can.
Right.
Put it in a rotisserie, do the underneath, and then finish everything else.
This is a 32, of course.
Do you only have this car, Skyline?
No, I've got, I've got an R35.
That's a daily driver, early model.
Okay.
Yeah.
That's a daily, that's a nice, that's a nice daily driver.
That is, yeah.
You know, I hated them to begin with.
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
I was just like, no, it doesn't have an RB, and I don't want to know about it.
It's, it says GDR, but it's not an RB, so I don't care.
That's how people feel about the Supras too, man.
Well, the new ones, but I mean, that's a little way different, honestly.
But what is your favorite GTR or Skyline of all time?
32.
Why a 32?
Because it's a king.
That's Godzilla.
Okay.
It's the king.
I don't know, to me, you can't beat a Group A 32 GDR.
Like all this big horsepower stuff is cool.
Yeah.
But you see a Group A car, HKS, Advan, you know, all those cars,
they're like, you just look at it and go, wow.
Or the, you know, the Winfield cars from Australia,
give some motorsport, you look at those things,
and everyone just goes, yeah, they remember.
It's the nostalgia, I think, from when I grew up, kind of.
Now, that's just for, that's just for like your favorite, right?
But would that be the best one for you to drive?
No.
Okay.
It depends what you want to drive.
That's, I'll say that.
Okay.
If you want something where you have to battle the car,
and you have to fight the car, like a lot of people like that, right?
32.
Okay.
If you want something that's like driving a, I don't know, a couch, 33, 34.
Because you'll put 800 horsepower in a 34 GDR or a 33 GDR,
and it'll feel like just smooth and easy and effortless.
Right.
You put 800 and a 32 and it's squirming all over the place.
I've seen some videos of 32, it seems like it gets, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
That's a difference.
So it depends what you like.
If you want a car that's nice and stable and easy to drive, 33, 34.
Which one would you daily?
None.
I tried.
I tried.
You said none.
I honestly tried.
Even a bone stock one?
I tried my 32 when I got it.
Okay.
Twin turbo, 2.6, it had an N1 engine, big deal.
Okay.
You know, I drove it every day.
I hated the car by the end of it.
I hated it.
I, it lost the novelty.
What transmission?
Does it, it's a factory.
Factory.
It lost the novelty of, of being that car.
Like it was just a chore.
And, and I've got to go around picking stuff up,
dropping stuff off, seeing people, whatever.
So it's a pain to get in the car.
If you're driving it to somewhere,
leave it all day, get back in it, drive it in the afternoon.
It's probably okay.
Right, right.
But if you're driving around during a day in traffic and
in and out of the car all the time.
No, no.
It just become a chore to drive.
And the minute I stopped driving it every day.
Yeah.
I fell back in love with the car.
I used to look forward to Saturday morning.
Yeah.
You know, six, 37 o'clock, get in the car, drive to work.
That's, I enjoyed it.
Now have you ever, what about a 34?
I drove a 34.
It was actually really nice.
Yeah.
34 is nice to drive.
But where are you going to park it?
What do you mean?
Where are you going to park it?
You're going to park it in the shops
so someone can door bash it and put dings all in it
and run a trolley into it.
You know, like, you can't.
Like these cars were too much money now.
It's kind of sad.
Because when I was doing it in the early days,
they're worth nothing.
Yeah.
Nothing like 32 GTR, you could not give it away.
I paid 14 grand for mine, $14,000 Australian dollars
for my 32 in 2012.
$14,000 and the guy could not move it.
He tried asking 20, could not move it.
That's crazy.
30, I remember 34 was a couple sold for $30,000 Australian
around that time, 2012, 2013.
That is 40,000 was like high 40s was a dealership price.
That's crazy.
Yeah.
Because nobody was importing them at that time either.
I mean, there were some, there was like motor X
and they had that whole thing going on.
Yeah.
But whatever cars that were in there,
you would have to wait in the States
because we have a 25 year rule.
So I'm sure if the market opened up earlier,
then it'd probably be different.
Yeah.
But we had to wait.
Yeah.
And it just, when they were cheap, guys used them.
So I remember those days.
And when guys tell me now they're worth X amount,
it's like they're not really, not in my eyes.
I can't justify it.
I'd love a 34 in my, with the rest of my cars,
but I can't justify the cost because I know what they were worth.
100%.
It's like, no, it's not happening, man.
And I don't, yeah, I just don't like,
I don't like the fact that people hide them away now,
which sucks.
Like it really sucks.
Like these cars are meant to be driven.
They're meant to be out there.
Right.
They're meant to be used.
For people to just put them together and hide them.
Yeah.
Well, it doesn't seem like that here
because that's how I feel about the cars in the States.
Here it seems like, oh, maybe because it's GTR.
Yeah, that's probably why.
Okay.
A lot of those cars you won't see driving around.
Really?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I get guys call me all the time,
I bought a GTR as an investment.
Cool, man.
I'm not, I'm not helping you.
I'm not helping because you're not,
you're not an enthusiast.
You're not buying the car to use it
for what its intended purpose is.
You're buying the car from a monetary point of view.
Right.
Not interested.
If you're an enthusiast, you buy the car to use it
and you buy the car because you love the car
and you don't care how much money you spend on it
because you're not looking at the resale.
Right.
And these guys, they buy as an investment,
they go, I just want to do a couple of things tidy it up
so I can flip it.
No, no, thanks.
Taking advantage of the community.
That's the way I look at it.
Yeah, that's true.
I don't feel like they're worth,
not disrespect, but I'm not paying no 150 for no GTR.
I'm sorry.
It was never, like it's just crazy to me.
Like if I'm paying 150, I'm getting something
that's like of this, like of modern, you know, like right now.
Like you can buy an R8 for that.
You buy something or V10, you know?
You wouldn't have it 2000 horsepower, but still.
But I do understand that if it's your dream car,
you have other cars and you do want to purchase it
and spend $150,000 for a GTR or maybe 27 year,
300,000, then by all means go for it.
Yeah, if you can afford it, that's great.
But if you're buying it because you love it.
Because you love it.
That's different.
Right.
A lot different then.
If you're an enthusiast and that's what,
like you've grown up and you go, I've always wanted a GDR.
I've always wanted it.
Always wanted it.
Yeah.
And unfortunately, you're in a position
where you have to pay that to get your dream.
Yeah.
Cool.
That's, that's, that's fine.
I agree.
As long as you're a part of the community
and you're good to people and you want to be part of
those three letters.
Yeah.
It's great.
But the guys that want to do it just to flip and make quick cash.
No, thanks.
Yeah.
I mean, at least they got the money to do it.
They're just going 150.
It's crazy just to have and just, you know what it's like?
It's like, it's like watch.
It's like a watch to them.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's like, I'm just, I know it's a trophy.
It's a trophy.
But it's like, it gets to the point where it's like,
where's the limit?
Because nobody's going to want to, it's just too much money.
Yeah, I don't know.
There's not, there's nothing in these cars that is like,
like I know the GTR has like the, the, what is it called?
Like the display in there.
MFT.
Yeah.
Multi-function display.
That's like so old.
Like.
It's garbage.
It's old.
So like, what are you really, really paying for?
You're just paying for the name.
It's the novelty.
The novelty.
Yeah.
But not no 150.
No.
I am paying 150 for a novelty.
I'm telling you, I'm not doing it.
No way.
So what is the, what does the next few years look like for your business?
Like, what are your, what are your plans aside from obviously,
you have some projects coming up, but like, what is,
what does Doton look like in the next few years in Australia?
We're moving more into the R35 platform now.
Okay.
Yep.
Okay.
So not drag racing or any of the big stuff.
Like we just want to, you know, get involved in that and continue servicing that,
that market or enter that market, I should say.
Yeah.
You know, we'll, we'll try and see what we can do and build a couple of cool,
straight cars that make whatever, you know, we do, we've got a circuit,
2020 Nismo that we, we've built for the customer as a circuit car.
Okay.
And he just circuit races it flat out.
It's all he does.
Just goes, takes it, circuit races it, brings it back.
Wow.
That's it.
And I enjoy that because it's a challenge to get such a big car around a circuit.
You know, no weight reduction, nothing.
Just, yeah.
Just, and it doesn't have a big engine or any of that stuff, but it's fast.
Right.
So he gets to go out and chasing Porsches and all that kind of stuff,
which is cool.
Like, I like that.
And then we're doing mainly, like I said, mainly that the R35 is the new thing.
Okay.
Restorations, we sort of want to push more into the restoration stuff,
which we've done plenty, but maybe market it a little bit more.
Engines will always be engines.
We're always doing heaps of engines.
Yeah.
I believe we've got a good track record with our engines.
Okay.
So, and the way the product comes out, I believe is, is different to everyone else,
I would say.
Not going to say it's better.
I'm not going to say any of that, but I'm very conscious on when I build an engine.
Yeah.
I want you to have new everything.
Right.
Like, if I can get it new, you're getting it new.
I'm not putting any old bolts on it.
I'm not putting any old dipsticks on it.
Nothing old goes on that engine.
I want you to have a brand new, what looks like a brand new heart for your car.
Right.
So, yeah, the engine stuff is good.
But yeah, I think that's, we're trying to do more overseas as well.
Okay.
Yeah.
We've got a couple of overseas clients that we do from the UK and Hong Kong and
US.
We've got a couple of engines going to the US.
So, it's more, we're doing package, we're going to try and do it like a package situation.
So, we'll fab everything here, put it in a box, send it there.
You bolt it onto your car and it's done.
Yeah.
That should be fun.
But packages in not, not cookie cutter package.
Yeah, yeah.
Like, you tell me what you want.
I know you actually, yeah.
So, yeah, so you tell me what you want.
Okay.
I want this turbo, manifold, blah, blah, blah.
It's not like I want package A, B or C and that's it.
Right.
So, you want a 2.8, V cam, whatever turbo, Nismo inlet, drive by wire, whatever,
we'll make it Plasman intercooler.
We'll build it here and send it to you one off.
Yeah.
And then you also have a super in here.
Is that something that you work on too?
Or you don't do 2GS?
Not often.
Not often.
He's got a Skyline.
Oh, yeah, it's okay.
It's all right.
He's got a Skyline guys.
Don't worry.
It's all right.
Yeah.
So, he's got a Skyline and he asked us to wire the car for him and now it's turned
into wire the car and finish the car.
Also, do you have you ever worked on a 2J?
Or a little bit.
Okay.
Yeah.
We ran one of my old staff had a JZ880 that he's a time attack raced.
Oh, okay, cool.
So, 900 horsepower, Samsonus, Haltech R5, all that stuff.
Wow.
So, it was a pro open class car at world time attack.
So, we did some stuff on that.
Yeah.
And then this car, not much though.
Not much.
Not much.
Yeah.
It's only 2000 horsepower coming soon.
That's super.
That tone is going to start doing 2Js guys.
No, no, no.
No, no, no, no.
Well, I do want to say I do appreciate your time man.
This is a great conversation.
I actually learned a lot about the culture here in Australia.
Super cool.
Like I said, I'm going to continue watching your stuff.
You guys keep posting.
I love the content you guys post about the builds and it's super inspiring.
So, you know, it's hard to, especially with the RB platform,
it's hard to find inspiration.
Like I went on Pinterest, like even for when I was looking for,
like you have a red timing cover, I'm sorry, valve cover in there,
and it's a different red than the factory.
But I noticed that it's a little bit deeper.
So, when I asked you, you said, oh no, it's not the factory one.
But things like that are things that I pay attention to
because I'm into more like the look and also functionality.
So, those little details are what makes your brand stand out a lot more.
Thank you.
Do appreciate the time.
If you can let the viewers and listeners know
where to find you, if they're interested in working with you,
or if they want to find us some information.
Yeah, so it's just Datone Racing on Instagram.
Facebook's the same Datone Racing.
That's pretty much all the socials.
Yeah, that's basically it.
Facebook, you have YouTube?
No, I need, well, we've got an old one that we haven't really used,
but I really need to.
Yeah, you gotta sign for Instagram.
Yeah, it'd be cool to see this stuff there.
Yeah, I need to.
I need to get into it, but it's hard.
Yeah, it's hard.
I'm a bit old school like that.
Yeah, it's just a time.
We'll see. We'll try and we'll see what we can do.
All right, cool.
Well, Anthony, I really appreciate your time, man.
No, I appreciate you having me on.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
If you guys are listening right now or watching,
make sure you guys hit that like button.
If you're watching the premiere.
Also, make sure you guys check out some merch.
If you guys want to pick up some Street Offer merch as well on the website.
But until then, catch you on the next one, guys.
Peace.
About this episode
From Sydney show-car culture to Group A “Godzilla” Skylines, the conversation traces why RB26 builds became a centerpiece of Australian car life. They compare early-2000s tuning—PowerFC, airflow meters, and “you've got no safeties”—with modern ECU access and Haltech plugins. A big reliability thread focuses on rust and corrosion hotspots on GT-Rs, plus how extreme RB-series power pushes sealing and oiling limits. The episode also covers streetability, compliance, and why many builders chase functional, repeatable setups over “copy paste” specs.
In today’s episode we sit with Dahtone Racing who breaks down RB26 reliability, oil system issues, Australia’s insane GT R culture and what makes some of the greatest Nissan GT Rs in the world.
Dahtone Racing Official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dahtone_racing
