Hi All, saw a thread asking about VK56DE engines so thought I would post up my latest play car. I picked this Berlina up on a whim from a guy on Boostclassifieds. Had a mate check it out and it was pretty tidy so payed the money and mate delivered it for bourbon. As purchased. Some incredibly ambitious spring chopping involved. Promptly pulled engine out with help from 6yo son. I do engine conversions, turbo fitment, fabrication for a job so it was always going to get a foreign engine but when I do something for myself I want to use an engine I haven't worked with before. I was going to fit a Toyota V12 but had recently done a couple of conversions using this engine and various turbos so was a bit over it. Called my mate at IchiBan Imports and he had a VK45 Nissan V8 with 5speed auto from a 2002 Nissan Cima. Sold. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_VK_engine I had already fitted a VH45(previous generation) to a mates VH SLX so knew what the issues were with fitment. The VK engine had changes to heads and starter location that pretty much addressed all the problems with the VH45 so I was pretty confident it would slot in. The engine turned out to be a VK45DD which is a direct injected variant with 11:1 compression and whacky inlet manifold and head port layout. No problemo, 11:1, E85 and boost are friends. Awesome exhaust headers. Whacky inlet manifold. 16 inlet port heads with 8 blocked at low rpm and another set of butterflies to vary the length. Blackened up nicely by filthy EGR. Scrap alloy. Got the engine and stripped all the factory gayness off it and slung it in. Fitted really well with alternator and PS retained. Have to use a smaller AC Compressor though. Got a final position and made engine mount brackets. Turbo position. Currently getting a mate to make an adaptor plate for the Nissan bellhousing to TH400 auto and waiting for a VL turbo diff, VT hub adaptors, water cut flange plates for 16 runner/16 injector inlet manifold and profile cut plates for the exhaust manifolds. ECU will be a Vipec V88, 16 FG injectors, factory coil on plug. I got the gearbox adaptor plate made last week and bolted the box in on the weekend. It's a bit far over for a happy tailshaft so I had to remount the engine further towards the middle and get a different booster to allow space for that. The good news is the TH400 bolted directly to the factory gearbox mount and crossmember. Dumb luck. Adaptor plate. Got some VT hub adaptors and bolted them up with VT rotors and callipers. Just picked up the exhaust flange plates and inlet manifold flange plates so will make a start on them soon. Decided to ditch the factory water pump and use a DC EWP instead so I can position the throttle body in the centre of the valley. The factory water pump has a hydraulic pump built into it as well so would have required surgery to remove that anyway. I am using a BA DBW throttle and pedal. Got one manifold made. That's not the 4094, it's just a spare 4088. Just fitted up a VLT LSD also. Hoping to have it ready for Powercruise. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Im liking the look of this, will be very keen to see the finished results.

Yeah this is wicked thinking outside the square love it..

Hey man it's jamie who sold you the car. So happy to see that it's gone to someone who will actually do something with it rather than wreck it. You work quick mate thats for sure! by the way the chop job wasn't me that was the guy i bought it off (saved it from) haha. I look forward to seeing it at powercruise. Which one do you intend on making it to?

Hi Jamie, yeah no time to mess around, I want it done for this powercruise coming. Everything is coming together alright so it's looking good. The inlet manifold will be a lot of work due to the 16 runners/16 injectors but other wise it's all pretty straighforward. It's a bit of a PITA because I am doing it in my home workshop and all my good welding gear is at my business workshop so I am always getting held up by not having simple ****. BTW, the V12 Liberty the guys who picked it up were talking about ran 11.6 @ 120 on 8psi boost on wednesday.

Kawasaki Robot and I did some work on this today. Welded the wastegate outlet onto the exhaust housing. The robot was heating while I tigged. Made a bit of a start on the manifold. V16 ftw. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

The Robot and I did some more work yesterday. Made the RH manifold and crossover pipe and ran battery cable to the boot. You can also see the exit hole for the dump pipe in the back LH engine bay. Going to have a crack at that today. ---------- Post added 08-07-12 at 16:06 ---------- Got the dump pipe and exhaust done. Even have provision for a side pipe. Onto the inlet manifold now. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Got the engine and box back out. Going to build the inlet on the engine on a stand. Box needs rebuild and converter. Pics of bottom end. Sump off for oil drain. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

This is coming along nicely.. I'm liking the look of that dump pipe and exhaust. how much did the vt hub adaptors set you back? i'm after a set. ---------- Post added 15-07-12 at 11:12 ---------- p.s. nice to see the vk now boasts springs haha.

good job mate. nice to see something different

Got some inlet manifolding happening. 16 32mm runners. 16 300cc injectors. Ford DBW throttle. Texas Instruments 5bar map sensor(wishful thinking). Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Love your work, cant wait to see how it goes.

The robot came down today and we got some more stuff done. Top radiator pipe. And some intercooler pipes. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Manifold finished. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Mate, that manifold is sensational. Awesome work being done on this car.

How is this coming along?

****in awesome, I truly envy your fabrication skills + tools :P

Looks like a major pain in the arse that will take three years to finnish.

Love it! How much have you got in it money wise so far? Very promising power figures too.

Owes me ~$16k in bits. No labour and all trade. My mates VH with VH45DE+T owes him $8k and makes 420hp atw on 98.