Canbell Racing, located in the heart of Osaka, Japan, has the distinct honor of running both a body shop and tuning factory for high performance vehicles. Imagine that; a shop that can deliver custom bodywork, paint your whip a new radical color, and finally top things off by building that race spec engine you've always dreamed of under one roof. It's hard to deny a shop that can encompass all aspects of automotive know-how, which is a unique quality that Canbell can pride themselves on among the thousands of tuner shops in Japan.
While Canbell's main income is attributed to their vehicle body repair work, it's a matter of walking though their facility littered with performance engines and defunct race cars that serve as an indication that motorsports lies deep within their roots. Taking years of road racing experience on various courses such as the Ti Circuit AIDA (course developed for F1 racing), Canbell Racing shop owner and engine build specialist, Sadao Nakai, persevered for two years and spent an unmentionable dollar amount to complete his personal GT-R BNR33 Skyline. The initial timeline began as the Skyline's factory RB26DETT was completely disassembled piece by piece as Nakai-san made plans to build an engine that was capable of handling the rigors of road racing. "Horsepower is an important factor within the engine buildup but my main focus was building an engine that was reliable and able to handle the constant beating I delivered on numerous tracks," stated Nakai as he gleamed a mischievous smile. A man on a mission, the smiley-faced Japanese took the inline-six bottom end and replaced its internals with an off-the-shelf Trust 2.7 liter stroker kit. Included with the kit is a chromoly crankshaft, an 87.5mm forged piston set, and chromoly H-beam rods. Using the Trust kit, the displacement was bumped up from the factory 2568cc to the new 2731cc displacement. Canbell's custom oil pan was bolted into place as the block was in its finishing stage.
For the full story, along with more pictures and specs, pick up the June 2006 issue of Import Tuner Magazine, on sale at your local newsstand now!