Once the engine found its way back into the chassis it was time for the remainder of the ancillaries to be fitted. Custom bracing was constructed to hold the V-mounted radiator and twin oil-cooler set up. The large-core side intercoolers were then positioned, and work began, shaping and fitting the aluminium piping. Each bank of three-cylinders feed themselves the compressed air, which is guided from the intercoolers via the long intake pipes, past the two mechanical throttles, into the main intake plenums and into the six cylinders. To keep intake pressure equal on each side of the engine a balancer pipe was welded in just before the throttles. A very eye-catching carbon engine cover joins the trademark yellow cam covers to finish things off under the hood. With a target weight of 1,300 kg there was only one thing that needed to be done to the interior, strip the hell out of it! All the wiring was redone and repositioned for easy access on the passenger side while the center console houses most of the switchgear which was removed from around the steering column and various other locations. Since the Hollinger gearbox is shorter than the stock item a new gearshift opening had to be made in front of the factory one, which is where the custom made gear selector sprouts out from. Its curious design permits it to clear the center part of the dash as well as be at hand’s reach for blistering fast gear-changes. The factory instrumentation has been replaced by a Percul Lapcom DP-1001 dash unit, which keeps the driver informed with all sorts of information from the engine’s sensors. The Racelogic Drift Box Pro allows for accurate measurement of performance as well as providing cool functions like data logging and plotting of track position allowing the user to perfect his best line around a track. Boost control is handled by the GReddy e-01 while the BNR32 front-torque gauge lets the driver know when power is being sent to the front wheels via the ATTESA-ETS system. The driver sits in the full race bucket Bride seat and has a nice alcantara-clad Sparco steering wheel to play with. The exterior of the car has been finished in true JUN style with the trademark yellow paint scheme. Ings provided the front bumper, side skirts and rear bumper but a lot of work was done by JUN to modify the kit for this car. First off the hood is a totally custom item designed to aid in cooling of the V-mount set up and keep those high-mount turbines nice and cool. The front fenders mimic the look of Super GT Zs thanks to the carbon venting and of course the oval-cut exhausts. Other special items include FRP doors, acrylic windows and carbon rear hatch, all in the interest of saving weight. More carbon has been used for the front bumper canards, side mirrors, rear diffuser and the SARD GT-style spoiler. Finishing things off is a set of lightweight Advan RG-II 18-inch wheels shod in Advan A048 rubber. Maximum brake performance is guaranteed by the Endless 6-pot front calipers, which bite down on huge 380 mm discs. The rear is stabilized by 4-pot calipers and 332 mm discs, again from Endless.
The 350Z-R-4WD has been on shakedown testing since late December when it made its first outing at a very wet Tsukuba circuit during an Option Magazine time attack session. With a maximum power output of 790 hp and a monster 723 ft-lbs of torque to play with, the wet conditions were a bit too much even for the 4WD drivetrain to handle. The car has been out a few more times for further ECU mapping and suspension set-up and managed to record lap times of around 58 seconds at Tsukuba. The car still needs one last track outing to get everything tip-top before it is shipped off to its owner in Hong Kong where it will be used as track weapon. As ever we would like to thank all the guys at JUN for allowing us access to their workshop and shoot the car. Now the question on everyone’s lips is will JUN be able to go one better with a future project? We really can’t see how this could be possible, but we look forward to being proven wrong!