Transforming a Nissan GT-R35 into an 8-Second quarter-mile beast

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Shaneil Shekhar

2014 Nissan GT-R35 Premium

Instagram: @gapzla

Photographer: Andy Hempsall

Instagram:  @theautomotiveaddict_media

Performance Stats: 450kw @ all four wheels 1/4 mile PB 10.6 @ 136.51mph 100km/h-200km/h PB 5.55s 0-200km/h PB 8.99s

I work in the corporate world full time but am also a professional landscape photographer and slowly transitioning into YouTube content creation. Mainly focussed on the car scene in Australia and documenting my GTR build taking it from a 10-second street car to an 8-second hypercar killer.

The Car Enthusiast's Journey

I've always had fast cars. At 18 years old, I bought an R33 skyline, which served as a learning platform for DIY modifications. After seven years of ownership, I moved on to a 2003 Evo 8, followed by a 2014 Evo X MR, a 2016 Audi RS3, and then the GT-R came along. Everything was modified from standard with top-quality parts. Ever since taking a ride in my cousin's S13 SR20DET Silvia back in 2003, I was hooked. I knew one day I would have a JDM turbo car, and that led me to all the cars I've had so far.

Why the Nissan GT-R35?

In 2014, when I was deciding on my next car, I was tossing up between a brand-new Evo X or a 2001 R34 GT-R Vspec. Ultimately, I chose the Evo for various reasons. Fast forward to 2021, and a few cars later, I was in the market for a GT-R. The R34's were now ridiculously priced at $200k+ (COVID-19 didn't help). I decided to get an R32 GTR , as I could score one for around $90-100k with a good level of mods already done, and I could fix and tidy what needed to give it a fresh look and modern feel, even though they were 30+ years old.

After a bit of searching and not seeing anything I liked, I started to look at R36's. While they were $30-40k more expensive in Australia, it was a solid platform that you could use for track days, quarter-mile runs, and take to the shops or weekend cruises in comfort. I wanted one with minimal mods, as I prefer to choose my own parts, and I didn't care about the color. After checking out a few, I landed on this Regal Red 2014 Premium. The color is pretty unique, with only 18 in this shade in Australia, and while initially, I wasn't a huge fan, I grew to love it.

Nissan Skyline GTR R36 - Concept or Reality?

Customizing and Building the GT-R35

We did some baseline dyno runs, which resulted in about 330kW at the wheels (448WHP). Not bad for an R35 with an off-the-shelf tune. Then we started removing all the inefficient parts to turn it up. First, we removed the 2.75" intakes in favor of 3" carbon fiber intakes from Cobb, followed by a custom 3" to 3.5" mid-pipe from AAM in the USA. I wanted to run catalytic converters and twin resonators to keep the exhaust drone down, hence having it custom-made. This was followed by a Power House Amuse R1 exhaust, which was also a made-to-order piece and took about six months to be made in Japan and then shipped over.

We swapped the radiator overflow to an AMS one, as it holds more fluid and looks better in the engine bay. We added an AMS intercooler, 1000cc Bosch injectors, AEM fuel pumps x2, Tial Blow-off valves, PWR radiator, Radium catch cans, flex fuel sensor, and an HKS transmission cooler. At this stage, the car was tuned on Cobb and made about 430kW at the wheels (584WHP) and about 920Nm of torque.

I had always planned to build the gearbox on this car (again planning ahead for the future). I knew one day I'd be running well over 1000WHP, so the car went in for upgrades with a fully built gearbox: Dodson Heavy Duty 1-3-5 gears and Dodson Extreme 2-4-6 gears, T1R upper and lower brace, built and installed by JustJap in Sydney, Australia. A Dodson Diff Scoop was added at the same time to direct extra air to the rear differential to aid cooling.

After this, I purchased some black intercooler piping in hopes that it would look better in the engine bay, but these kept blowing off under boost. I was very annoyed, as after every drive, I'd come home to fix silicone hoses. Anyone who has worked on an R35 will know how tight the engine bay is, and it's a real pain to fix these kinds of things. So, it was decided that custom intercooler piping with plazmaclamps to replace all the silicone joiners would be the next step.

Since the car was going through this, I decided an AMS inlet manifold and a 12-injector setup would also make sense, as there are future goals for the car, and now would be the best time to do it. Along with the upgraded inlet manifold, 6x 1700cc injectors were installed, AMS fuel rail kit, Fuel Lab fuel pressure regulator, TurboSmart 3-port boost solenoid, and the car was swapped to EcuTek and re-tuned to suit the new setup. It made a little over 440kW at the wheels (598WHP).

At this point, I went to the drag strip on stock wheels and Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres. Every launch, I was sliding sideways. The tyres were just not up to the task. However, by reducing the launch RPM on my final run and with a bit of bunny hop, the car managed a 10.6 at 136.51mph with a 1.95 60-foot time. The 60-foot time is pretty bad for these cars, so there is easily a 0.25-0.3s improvement that could be made here with better tyres and a good launch, resulting in an overall ET improvement of 0.5-0.6s. With the right conditions and a good pass, it might even be possible to run a high 9. Not bad for a full bolt-on E85 GT-R.

Along the way, I also swapped out both front seats to Recaro Sportster CS, which helped shave approximately 60kg off the car's weight, installed Dixcel 2-piece brake rotors all around, Endless braided brake lines, and Endless MX72+ pads all around. I also received, after 12 months, my wheels, which are Advan GT's in 20x10 front and 20x12 rears. I had some of the ugly beige leather interior re-trimmed in Alcantara with red double stitch and swapped out the steering wheel, plus added some carbon interior bits. I just need to get the rear seats done at some point, and the interior transformation will be complete.

Fast forward approximately eight months, and the Motec M150 that I had ordered was ready to go. At this point, I also decided that I really liked the Motec C1212 12" dash, so I grabbed that as well as a keypad to run some functions off that. While I was at it, I reached out to Tony Palo at T1 Race Development and arranged for a plug-and-play harness for the dash, billet dash mount, CAN splitter to run the keypad, auto-shift harness to allow the Motec to control the shift points, AWD harness to allow burnouts and T1 fuel pressure sensor.

This next stage was all completed by Con and the team at Croydon Racing Developments (CRD), and we netted approximately 450kW at the wheels (611WHP). Con set up Motec traction control strategies, which are far superior to stock, along with other features like rolling launch, six different launch settings, auto-shifting at a set RPM, various VDC settings, four different maps, and more. He also created a profile for me on the Motec so I can download and view the data logs. CRD has been amazing to work with and has exceeded my expectations from the work, tuning, and support perspective. I see this as a long-term partnership as the car evolves going forward. The next stage for the car takes it up a notch, so this partnership will be key to achieving those results.

Uniqueness and Ownership Experience

One of the unique things about this car is that it's being built as an all-rounder, so it can not only run fast quarter-mile times but also be competitive at roll racing and turn out fast lap times. Most owners either focus on one form of motorsport or another, but I wanted this to do everything and still be comfortable enough to drive hundreds of kilometers for trips out of town or cruise along some mountain roads to enjoy the twists and turns. Driving it always gives me a big smile, even at its current power levels; it can be just scary enough to get your heart racing and give you a thrill.

Take A Quiz: So you think you know all about Cars prove it,

Nissan GT-R35 Build List: 

Nissan GT-R35 Engine/Exhaust:

• AMS Inlet Manifold with AMS 12 injector top rail setup
• AMS Radiator Overflow
• AMS Street Race Intercooler
• AMS Fuel Rail Kit with Fuel Lab FPR
• Cobb 3" Carbon Intake Kit
• Bosch 1000cc Injectors
• Injector Dynamics 1700cc secondary injectors
• 2x AEM Fuel Pumps
• 3" down pipes
• 3" to 3.5" Y Pipe (resonated and catted)
• 3.5" Amuse R1 Titan Exhaust (this exhaust is absolute porn weighs 6.5kg)
• Custom intercooler piping with plazmaclamps all round
• PWR Radiator with titanium upper pipe
• Flex Fuel Setup
• Turbo Smart 3-sport Boost Solenoid
• Tial Blow Off Valves
• Radium triple catch can kit
• And obligatory HKS oil cap for some bling

Nissan GT-R35 Engine Management & Electronics

• Motec M150 tuned by CRD
• Motec C1212 dash
• T1R awd harness
• T1R auto shift harness
• T1R dash harness
• T1R Fuel Pressure Sensor

Nissan GT-R35 Driveline/Suspension:

• HKS Transmission Cooler
• T1R upper and lower brace
• Dodson Diff Scoop
• SPL Traction Rods
• 2017 model bell housing

Fully built gearbox with; Dodson Heavy Duty 1-3-5 gears and Dodson Extreme 2-4-6 gears, built and installed by JustJap in Sydney, Australia

Nissan GT-R35 Wheels/Tyres/Brakes:

• 20x10 Advan GT's with 285/35 MPSS Fronts
• 20x12 Advan GT's with 335/30 MPSS rears
• Dixcel 2 piece slotted front rotors
• Dixcel 2 piece slotted rear rotors
• Endless MX72+ pads front and rear
• Endless braided brake hoses all round

In my opinion, the Stock exterior of the GTR’s look great plus they were designed to be aerodynamically efficient for this reason I wouldn’t change the body to keep the low drag coefficient

Nissan GT-R35  Interior

• Recaro Sportster CS front seats on HKS Rails
• Alcantara with red double stitch door cards, passenger side dash piece and centre console lid
• Carbon interior pieces near the shifter and surrounds
• Black edition shifter in Red trim

The Helpful Hands 

A number of shops were involved from JustJap to Croydon Racing developments and my good friend Indy at IS Motor Racing

Future Plans for the 2014 Nissan GT-R35

I have a brand new block and head being built on the side, you can check out the build on my YouTube (@gapzlaGTR) which has everything documented so far with more to come as we get to completion. The new build will be on Garrett g30-660 turbos and isn’t too far away from being dropped into the car. This will be accompanied by drive shaft shop rear axles, Quaife front diff with billet diff housing, wavetrac rear diff with billet cover, billet transmission mid plate and billet transmission sump and well upgrade the fuel pumps. The goal is around 1100-1200whp and to run an 8-second pass on drag radials before moving my focus to other types of racing such as roll racing and circuit.

Shout Outs

Croydon Racing Developments @croydonracingdevelopments

Justjap @justjapracing

IS Motor Racing @ismotorracing

Dream Car

Mercedes-AMG One

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