The Skid Factory VK56 Hakosuka

We’ve got something pretty special to show you today, it is none other than the famous V8-powered Hakosuka Skyline as built by The Skid Factory!

The Skid What?

If you haven’t heard of the Skid Factory, let me fill you in. You could say they are a “spin-off” of Mighty Car Mods. Woody and Al (AKA Turbo Yoda) have long been a part of the MCM world, but if you’re not a fan, or you’ve been living under a rock, you may not know they now have their own channel – The Skid Factory. Unlike Marty and Moog, however, they tend to steer clear of late model JDM stuff and focus more on classic and muscle cars… And this Hakosuka is definitely both!

Cutting up a classic

Okay, let’s be clear. While this is a genuine 1971 Hakosuka Skyline, it isn’t the ultra-rare GT-R version, it is a slightly less rare lower-specced item, dressed up in GT-R-style. So don’t be too upset about the engine swap that has gone in under the hood. Gav, the owner of this Hako, contacted the channel saying he wanted to say goodbye to the original L20A and exchange it for something with (a lot) more power. He had some stipulations, however. There were to be no LS-swaps – the engine had to stay JDM, and preferably be something from the Nissan range.

The idea of a V6 was thrown around, and then quite rightfully thrown away, before everyone settled on the VK56 that now sits rather snuggly in the engine bay. You could be excused for thinking the VK56 is a bit of a truck engine, as it came standard in the Nissan Titan, Patrol and Pathfinder along with some of the larger offerings from Infinity. However, it is no stranger to performance and motorsport applications. Modified versions of the VK56 powered the Nissan Altimas that raced in Australia’s Supercars Championship and was also the engine chosen for the Nissan GT-R GT1 that won the Bathurst 12 hour in 2015. You can still purchase a motorsport-ready VK56 directly from NISMO in Japan to power your LeMans Prototype or similar.

Or you could do exactly what Gav and The Skid Factory team did, and source one from Hartley Engines in New Zealand, where they are typically used in carburetted form for speedway racing.

Carburetors might be mandatory in speedway, but we prefer a low-carb diet here. They just aren’t cool on your modern-engined, street-driven, classic. So that archaic form of induction was ditched for some fuel injection and individual throttle bodies.

Because the VK56 was set up originally for carbys and is a relatively simple engine to run, the Skid Factory team opted for a Haltech Elite 550 as the brains of the package, running in a batch-fire, wasted spark configuration. What they ended up with is an absolute barnstormer of a motor – 5.6 litres of dry-sumped, naturally aspirated, fury – which is good for 520nm (384lbft) of torque and 333kw (447hp) at the hubs.

Inkeeping with the classic JDM styling of the Hako, the wheels are genuine Hoshino Racing items that have been brought back to better-than-new condition and stepped up an inch from 14″ to 15″ by the wizards at Barrel Bros in Sydney.

Swapping Cogs

The Hako was designed as a sports car, and that means it is meant to be driven, so in the true spirit of driving…. err… spirit, Gav has chosen to stick with the car’s original three-pedal layout. That’s right, it has an accelerator, a brake, and a clutch! The factory transmission was never going to cope with the Hartley V8’s grunt, though – So with a little bit of forceful persuasion to the trans tunnel, that was wisely swapped out for a beefier TR6060 six-speed ‘box, as found in Dodge Vipers, Challengers, a couple of Mustangs, and a whole lot of V8 HSVs.

That was then mated via a custom tail shaft to a beefed-up Nissan R200 two-way diff. Of course Gav also wanted the car to handle and brake, so it is now fitted with modern coilovers and disk brakes.

Inside

Sitting in the Hako feels like a trip back in time. It is essentially exactly as it left the factory – complete with the old push-button radio! In fact, the only modern touch in the interior is a small Haltech CAN gauge unobtrusively tucked away to the right of the steering wheel, for monitoring some ECU information.

In Conclusion

At the end of the day, Woody and Al have built an absolutely brilliant car for Gav. It has all the looks and charm of a JDM classic, with the noise and excitement of a manually shifted, fuel-injected V8. It may very well be the perfect canyon carver! If you’ve read this, and watched out Haltech Heroes video, and you’re still craving more Hako, be sure to head on over to the Skid Factory’s Youtube channel. The playlist detailing the full build can be found here.