Christine - Apexs V8 Skyline drift car - 2nd overall EDC 2008

[bren]

Quick run through our drift Skyline.

Started off as my toy on 2006. Bought it as an ultra clean car and did the odd mod. Went down to Garys for a map tweak. Ended up with a TD06 turbo kit and 550bhp





I was then approached in early 2007 about a driver (turned out to be Tim Marshall) looking for a seat so we gave him the Skyline.

A huge amount of money later saw the car with custom roll cage, Motec M800, Garrett GT35R turbo, PPG dog box, OS Giken twin plate clutch, Kaaz 2 way etc etc. We also ran it on race fuel and got the power upto 593bhp.







Some vids:

Out at Snetteron playing with Gary from AP Tuning



Running 500bhp at 1.notalot bar, the car normally ran 1.5bar and 550bhp on pump fuel

[bren]

After blowing 4x RB25s through 2007 we threw in the towel and ripped it out to be replaced with a full blown race 6 litre V8 small block Chevy lump on a carb.

Tim generating a little smoke in Poland. The smoke is genuine, wasnt photoshopped. I took that pic



The heart of the beastie, awesome piece of kit and we are going to IMPROVE on it for 2010. More power, hu hu huurr



2008 saw us compete properly in four rounds of European Drift Championship. The car wasnt ready for the first round and we had a belt failure after swapping to mechanical power steering for one of the later rounds. Out of these four rounds we won three and came third in another! Came second overall in the Championship. The car and team were without question THE most successful entry of the year in terms of positions in events competed in.

Tim with another raft of trophies after we walked yet another competition



The car also did some work filming with the BBC, did a massive demo in Gran Canaria and competed in the Redbull World Drift Championship in California last November amongst other things.

Christine at the Redbull event:





Christines been looking very sorry for herself for some time now. We ran her at Autosport earlier this year and then a track day at Elvington. She was then partially stripped, the shell sent down to Chris at H-Tech styling in Norwich http://www.htechstyling.co.uk/ and the engine dropped off at a local engine shoop for a quick strip and inspection ready for a refresh rebuild.

We then found out that a main cap had cracked (split in two) and this had caused the block to fail and crack. Thats game over for the lump so we pulled the shell back from Chris and its sat in various places ever since.

9 months later and its time to start putting her back together for the 2010 season.

We of course cant leave things alone so shes being rebuilt with a heavy duty race Dart block, rated at 1600bhp. We should have any more poxy main cap failures with this monster beastie!

Whilst we were at it it would be rude not to do a little more playing so we are going for larger bore size and a stroker crank to take the lump out to nearly 7 litres giving a very significant gain in power and torque. Ill not specify figures yet but I know what Im expecting and its not going to be shy

Gary at AP Tuning is going to be helping out with the rebuild side and hes not keen on playing with a carb so Im just finalising an EFI conversion.

We have done some more work to the shell and its going down to Chris next Tuesday to start the body work.

Im really really happy to have both Gary and Chris on side. The quality of work that both of them produce is second to none. Anyone who has seen our S14 with testify to that. Chris did all the body work and, of course, Gary and little Chris has done some blinding work ont he actual build. So much so that the further the Tomei S14 Monster progresses the less I actually want to drive it. I just want to put it in the centre of the office and polish it, dont want it getting dirty

Quick run down on what we will be doing with the Skyline for 2010:

Full engine build taking it out to nearly 7 litres
Complete new body kit and paint
R33 GTR rear diff and driveshafts with Nismo 2 way
Fuel injection conversion
Stand alone management
Completely stripped interior, I mean completely stripped

Lots of work to do, not a lot of time to do it. Time ot crack on. Pics to follow

This is the car last year, give you na idea or where we are moving to as she will be a HUGE chunk better in 2010 than in 2008 and she was an absolutely amazing animal in 2008!

Some vids:

Tim kicking ass at Silverstone



Tim kicking ass at Knockhill

[SidewaysThough]

This is going to be an interesting watch fella! Sounds like you are building a right animal for next year, cant wait to see it compete!

[bren]

Oh yeah, shes going to be a beastie alright! ive some conerns about the transmission with the torque we will be running but its a Tremec TKO600 so should be ok.

[30psi]

Shame to hear about the old engine. That did great power for a small block.

Out of interest, was the block a 2 or 4 bolt mains?

[Evilchap]

Nice story and sounds like another truely epic Apex build...

Christine isn't fair though, my car is way more of an Christine than yours, my outlaws even call it that now

[bren]

Shame to hear about the old engine. That did great power for a small block.

Out of interest, was the block a 2 or 4 bolt mains?

It was 4 bolt mains but it was a highly modified stock block. The caps werent steel either. The new Dart lump should be more than capable of taking the power

We are looking at this inlet manifold:

Nice story and sounds like another truely epic Apex build...

Christine isn't fair though, my car is way more of an Christine than yours, my outlaws even call it that now

Id argue with that, listen to the engine revs as I come past the pits. The bloody thing was spinning the wheels so freely that it sounded like it was being blipped at idle, noth in forth gear at 90mph!

[bren]

Anyone know why the embedding isnt working?

[big_mac]

you still got the ppg dog box? is it for sale?

[30psi]

Are you both comparing to Christine as in the film?

Bren, that manifold looks smart. See if you can buy just the manifold and rail alone - Edelbrock take the piss with their electronics prices. Even then I wouldn't be surprised if something can be custom built for cheaper

Were you (wishful) thinking of going with a Kinsler setup and have the stacks out the bonnet? Because that will be cool as

[Jim]

Anyone know why the embedding isnt working?

Yeah of course I know why it wasn't working.

[30psi]

Anyone know why the embedding isnt working?

EDIT - Jim done some magic

[Evilchap]

Id argue with that, listen to the engine revs as I come past the pits. The bloody thing was spinning the wheels so freely that it sounded like it was being blipped at idle, noth in forth gear at 90mph!

Yours does sound the part... mine just acts it

Looking like it's going to be fully awesome, cant wait to hear it in action again!

[bren]

you still got the ppg dog box? is it for sale?

Long gone Im afraid. Ive still got a top spec (aluminium cover) twin plate Giken clutch if its of interest. It only did one round of EDC and part of a track day at Brands, thats it. £800.

Are you both comparing to Christine as in the film?

Bren, that manifold looks smart. See if you can buy just the manifold and rail alone - Edelbrock take the piss with their electronics prices. Even then I wouldn't be surprised if something can be custom built for cheaper

Were you (wishful) thinking of going with a Kinsler setup and have the stacks out the bonnet? Because that will be cool as

Yeah, evilness personified! Tried to bloody kill you until we got the alignment reset properly so the thrust angle wasnt trying to crab the car whenever you breathed on the throttle.

Im looking at exactly what you suggest, the inlet manifold, fuel rail and throttle body and then Garys going to supply the management and loom to suit.

I really did want the stacks out of the bonnet but its just way too much money

Yeah of course I know why it wasn't working.

Thanks

Yours does sound the part... mine just acts it

Looking like it's going to be fully awesome, cant wait to hear it in action again!

Aye, should be very cool when shes done. Progress should be rapid, we dont have time to dick about so its all hands to the pump! The engine build is already underway

[Matt_T]

any chance you could shed a bit more light on the old engine and box spec? I find a carb'd V8 more interesting than just about every other project thread on here

[Daz]

I used to Hate V8's now I'm slowing wanting one lol.

[bren]

Here you go:

ENGINE:

5967cc (364 cu in) small-block Chevrolet V8
Milodon oil pan
Pace dry sump system
Modified 350 cu in iron block
Scat con rods
Ross Racing lightweight forged pistons and rings
Clevite H-series race bearings
Fel-Pro race gaskets
Fluid crank damper
Race-ported AFR aluminium cylinder heads with 2.080” stainless intake valves and 1.6” exhaust valves
Roller valve springs and titanium retainers
Competition Cams roller valve train
Cloyes timing chain and two-piece timing cover
EDA tooth belt drive
Magnesium rocker covers
Pancake K&N air filter
Edelbrock Victor Jr. port-matched intake manifold
Full custom exhaust system
KSport race fuel tank
Carter Nascar fuel pump
Pro-Form race carburettor
GReddy radiator, Apex oil cooler
Apex power steering cooler
MSD ignition system
Custom race engine mounts

TRANSMISSION:

Tremec TKO600 five-speed manual gearbox (rated to 600lb/ft)
Triple plate race clutch
Nismo two-way differential
Custom propshaft
Apex uprated driveshafts
Nismo gearbox mount

I used to Hate V8's now I'm slowing wanting one lol.

If you went in an S body with a V8 then you would want one, there is absolutely no question of that

[Daz]

If you went in an S body with a V8 then you would want one, there is absolutely no question of that

I would hate it because I wouldn't be able to afford that kind of conversion. or the fuel costs lol.

[bren]

Out of interest why did you hate V8s? Is it the old massive, lazy, inefficient perception? I was completely amazed at the Skylines engine, it revs like a motorbike, you wouldnt believe it would be so fast to spin up.

[Daz]

Out of interest why did you hate V8s? Is it the old massive, lazy, inefficient perception? I was completely amazed at the Skylines engine, it revs like a motorbike, you wouldnt believe it would be so fast to spin up.

I hated them for 2 reasons really.

1. They always sounded broken, I mean the older V8's from muscle cars

2. I hated the idea that to have decent power most V8's were over 5litre's. Really liked the fact that jap cars make huge power from tiny engines and still didn't drink shedloads of fuel.

I think I did used to have the perception of them being slow and lazy and massively underpowered but I think that might be the fact that the cars they were in were so heavy.

I still don't 'love' the noise, I still prefer the noise of a V6, straight 6, V10 or even a straight 5.

30PSI took me out in his T-Bird the other day and even though it wasn'ts that fast or handled that great I really enjoyed it and loved the noise lol.

I think I'm confusing myself now lol.

Anyway, I still can't afford to drop a V8 in mine, can't really afford to chuck a few grand at the engine.