What started as a straightforward engine upgrade on Jack Mitchell’s 1989 Skyline R31 turned into a project that’s taken years — and at the time of writing it was still going! Here’s his brief story on what he has done to the car.

First published in the May 2025 issue of Street Machine

“My 1989 Skyline R31 Silhouette has been in the build for a bunch of years now, because, like all project cars, a simple engine swap got way out of control!

“It was my daily driver on my Ps, running the old RB30, and I did an S13 front-end suspension conversion, coil-overs, R33 Skyline turbo brakes and the wheels.

“I pulled it off the road to convert it to the R33 Skyline series 2 RB25DET engine, and then that simple conversion turned into painting the engine bay, which we did ourselves, though it isn’t something I’d recommend as it wasn’t fun!

“The RB25 is standard but with head drains, forward-facing plenum intake, and Aeroflow turbo. Behind it is an R33 RB25 gearbox, and the plan is to have it running soon on E85 with a Link G4X ECU. Eventually I’ll set up traction control and a few fancy things, because as well as a street cruiser, I want to go drag racing with it.

“The diff is still standard, so we’ll see how that goes, but hopefully I’ll be able to hit the key for the first time soon.”

Got a sweet ride that’s currently in the build and want to share it with our readers? Email photos of it (2MB+ each) along with some details on the build to inthebuild@streetmachine.com.au.