Engineered To Slide (Part 2)

The final engine-mount design was sorted, the third gearbox tunnel was built, the entire dash section was sorted, the mounts for the tray were built, and the custom MCA suspension was installed. This wasn’t like building a unibody project, where most things are bolted to the factory sheet metal. In this project, Nigel had to carefully consider the location and mounting of each tiny component, first mocking up, then making a template – initially from cardboard and then from 1mm Lexan – to fine tune it. Once he was 100-per-cent satisfied, the final part was produced and welded or bolted in. “I am truly surprised that this has become what you see here. Every step of the way I vowed to do each part better than the last.”

The seats are only temporary as they are out of my PS13. When funds permit I’ll replace these with Vios 3 Japan edition Type R seats with higher thigh support.

That was the case with parts like the rear cradle. Originally Nigel used a stock S15 cradle and R200 diff housing and planned to run off-the-shelf arms, but you will notice the finished product is a bespoke chromoly cradle with handmade arms.

When it came to powering the lightweight chassis, Nigel only had to look across the shed to his beloved S13, which housed a fully built SR20DET with CP pistons, Eagle rods, HKS cams and a host of other tasty bolt-ons. It just made sense to use an already dialed engine and turbo combination, rather than reinventing the wheel with something he was not familiar with.

It got to the point at which Nigel started to think about wiring, and he put the call out over his blog that this was one area he needed help with. Andre Simon from HP Academy was more than happy to oblige, flying over from New Zealand to wire and tune the Hilux, as Nigel explains, “Once people see you are creating something special they tend to help you out a lot, people like Andre jumped on board in the final stages to lift the buildup to that extra level that I couldn’t afford, and I am so grateful for this type of involvement.” A Link Storm, Smart Wire and Racepak dash were wired in using a Mil-Spec concentrically-twisted loom. The entire wiring process was documented for High Performance Academy and of course on ETS, with the actual tuning of the Ute streamed live as Andre tweaked the Link to produce 287kW at the rear wheels. While this isn’t an earth-shattering figure, keep in mind this is in a chassis that weighs no more than 875kg wet. With the low center of gravity and perfect suspension geometry that all adds up to one thing – home-built perfection.

The plan was never to have the chassis clear-coated, but as the build progressed Nigel started to float the idea in his head.

Understandably Nigel was eager to get the first drive under his belt and test this 100-per-cent home-built design, so he borrowed the keys to the local kart track for a shell-off bare-chassis shakedown. Just Nigel and his creation spending the day, in his words, “getting to know each other”. There was no drifting, just testing the level of grip, the balance, and getting everything spot on, and spot on it was. “The first thing I noticed with this engine was its response and low-end tractability, it comes down to two factors. One is Andre’s tuning capabilities, and second is it’s 500kg lighter than anything else I had driven before. Suddenly it felt like this SR20 was an SR40, forget about on-boost grip, that is non-existent in any gear, on a large track I would be able to wind out each gear and work it into grip with easing off the throttle, but on this track it would just light up and then it would be time to brake. It’s ridiculously fast and I would one day love to fit up some full slicks and shoot for lap times. The confidence of each little area of the build, working the way it should to produce an overall effect, simply put a smile on my face.”

With the test run out of the way, the list of little jobs to complete before the final teardown was mapped out and slowly worked through, before it was stripped to a bare shell (only a few hours of work for one man). Everything was cleaned with thinners and then sent off to be powder-coated.

It uses 17-inch up front to get maximum steering lock and guard clearance while the 18-inch rims in the rear achieve maximum tuck.

The original plan was to color the chassis and associated components, but as the number of fabricated parts grew, and the hundreds of beautiful welds added up, Nigel realized it would be a shame to cover them up, so a clear powder-coat has been added to most parts, giving them a deep glossy sheen. We can probably never stress how many hours Nigel has devoted to this project over the past two-and-a-half years, and it’s something that unless you have completed a similar project you will never fully grasp, although we think that doesn’t matter to Nigel, he will always have it sitting in his shed as a constant reminder of his greatest personal achievement to date. It’s not just a vehicle or a race car, it’s a piece of beautifully crafted artwork.

The RB25 gearbox that broke in the WTAC Tectaloy drift practice session is now out and will be replaced with a six-speed sequential transmission.

We thought it fitting to end on a quote from one of the thousands of ETS blog posts documenting the build: “As soon as I start looking at this project as a whole, it scares me. As humans we question ourselves and think some things just aren’t possible, well I’m here to tell you they are, you just have to break things down. Nearly every project consists of small steps combined to make the final product: do every step to the best of your ability, and the final result may leave you astounded.” Nigel Petrie.