Why a 2JZ in a GT-R instead of the factory VR38DETT?

The factory VR38DETT from the R35 is a very strong engine in its own right, so the question "why change it at all" is always the first one asked. Our answer has two parts.

First — while building the car for drift it turned out that the 2JZ platform works far better with the custom steering angle kit we designed than the factory setup based on the VR38DETT (the design of that kit remains our secret for now — it is a separate subject we have been working on independently).

Second — as a platform, the 2JZ is simply far better known and understood in Poland than the VR38DETT. Parts, service know-how, tuner experience, availability of racing components — on a project this extreme that counts for more than the badge on the cam cover.

The heart of the car: a 3.4-litre 2JZ on a Dart Iron Eagle block

The foundation of the whole build is the Dart Iron Eagle block — a cast iron design engineered from the ground up for very high power outputs and far stronger than the factory block. Combined with a BC Stroker crankshaft with a 94 mm stroke and custom CP Pistons, it produces an engine with a displacement of 3.4 litres — over 400 cc more than a standard 2JZ-GTE. In practice, the larger displacement means a faster throttle response and stronger torque low in the rev range, which in drifting matters just as much as peak power.

This block did not reach us by accident. MTuning is the distributor of Dart engines and components for Europe — we are the ones who bring them into this part of the continent and it is through us that they end up in the most powerful projects in the region. Thanks to that, we did not build our GT-R from whatever happened to be available, but from what we ourselves considered the best solution on the market.

The same Dart Iron Eagle block underpins the engine in the Toyota Supra of Piotr Więcek, a leading driver in the Drift Masters European Championship. Our engine, however, was built to a higher specification — with greater displacement and a stronger package of supporting components, which translates into a higher power level. That is the shortest answer to the question of where this project sits against what is running in European drifting today.

The steering angle kit — the one secret of this project

The only element we are deliberately not revealing is the design of the custom steering angle kit developed for drift. It is precisely this component — or more specifically, the fact that it works better with the 2JZ platform than with the VR38DETT — that was one of the reasons we decided to swap the engine in the first place. For now the subject stays in our workshop, but anyone following this project knows it is one of the more interesting threads here, and one we may well return to in a separate feature.

The result: 1200 HP and 1200 Nm, no nitrous

Our car makes 1200 HP and 1200 Nm on boost alone, with no nitrous assistance. That shows just how much is genuinely left "in reserve" in this configuration — the combination of the Dart Iron Eagle block, the 1450 HP-class Garrett GXR42-72 turbo and a full cooling and lubrication package leaves a solid safety margin even at this power level.

Behind the wheel: tested by Paweł Borkowski

Our demo car was tested by Paweł Borkowski — one of the most recognisable Polish drift drivers, a multiple winner of Drift Masters European Championship rounds and of the Polish Drifting Championship, known among other things for his battles with James Deane. For a car built with drifting in mind there is no better test than handing the wheel to someone who competes at the sharp end of the discipline in Europe every weekend.

For now our 2JZ-powered GT-R has no nickname of its own — it is our showcar, a calling card for what we can do in the workshop, rather than a car campaigned in any particular series.

Why this build is unique in the R35 body

Engine swaps in the GT-R R35 remain an absolute rarity. The factory VR38DETT is powerful enough that almost nobody decides to replace it, and the R35 body itself is an exceptionally difficult place for such an operation: the car was designed around all-wheel drive with the transmission at the rear, with an engine bay tailored to a completely different unit and with electronics tying the whole car into a single closed system.

In practice this meant that nothing on this project could simply be bolted on. We had to design the mounts and the entire packaging geometry for a 3.4-litre inline-six 2JZ where a V6 sits from the factory, convert the drivetrain from AWD to RWD, adapt the dry sump and cooling systems to the available space, and then build a complete mil-spec wiring harness from scratch — because the factory R35 electronics have no way of talking to a 2JZ.

The closest reference point we have been able to find anywhere in the world is the British project of Steve "Baggsy" Baggioni — his GT-R R35 with a turbocharged LS engine (covered among others by Speedhunters) makes over 1200 HP, but it is based on an American V8, not a 2JZ. We believe our car is the first GT-R R35 in Europe with a 2JZ engine swap in this specification — that is our own position, which for obvious reasons cannot be verified with 100% certainty on a global scale, but in our research we did not come across any similar, publicly documented project.

Summary

Our GT-R R35 with a 3.4L 2JZ is not a car for sale, nor a project aimed at a particular race series — it is a statement of what we are capable of when we are given a free hand and a time budget of more than a year and a half. The Dart Iron Eagle block, for which we are the exclusive distributor for Eastern Europe, an engine in a higher specification than the one in Piotr Więcek's Supra, a 1450 HP-class turbo, a Samsonas RS90 sequential gearbox, a mil-spec harness and a test drive by Paweł Borkowski — all of it in a body in which nobody else has carried out a swap like this before.

If you are building something equally wild (or just starting your first drift project) — take a look at our tuning parts offer and drop us a line about what you are after.