Renowned tuning house HKS has unveiled a new complete engine solution to bring your 90s-era Nissan straight-six into the modern age. Called the Advanced Heritage concept, it takes Nissan’s tried-and-true RB26 and adds a bunch of modern technologies to improve efficiency and performance. Amazingly, HKS claims that this new setup can push out a reliable 600 horsepower while maintaining an incredible 20 km/l — or 47 mpg! — fuel economy, all while meeting Japan’s latest emissions standards.
The technologies HKS is applying can be found in the latest production cars today, but were unheard of when the RB26 was new. First on the list is the F1-derived pre-chamber combustion, in which a rich air-fuel mixture is ignited prior to being pushing into the combustion chamber. This allows for a quicker and cleaner burn, raising the compression ratio to deliver more power while using less fuel and reducing emissions.
That’s just the beginning; the engines have a several other sci-fi ideas to get those astounding numbers. Vertical turbos optimize air flow and reduce pressure loss. A dual-plenum intake provides faster airflow and reduced intake temperatures. Dual injectors optimize fuel atomization, increasing the compression ratio for improved efficiency.
HKS says the Advanced Heritage engine was based on customer demand. These customers wanted to continue driving a classic like the R32 Skyline but with state-of-the-art performance (and without the guilt that goes along with a inefficient, polluting tuner car). A 600-horsepower R32 would still be streetable and, as the R35 GT-R chief engineer Hiroshi Tamura once told us, the ideal output for his own personal R32.
HKS hasn’t said how much this system would cost, but considering that it can turn any RB26-accepting chassis into a rival for modern supercars in the near-million dollar range, it seems like a pretty good deal.
Finally, some quality engineering around carburation management from a tuner/aftermarket parts supplier. Why isn’t Nissan doing this I don’t know.
It’s a Californian wet Dream come true!!!
Interesting, keep improving on an already amazing motor that your brand loyal following love and want to see in their cars and amazing things happen including for the companies bottom lines. I think there is a company that builds flat sixes and sticks them at the wrong end of the car that has been pretty successful sticking with improving the same basic design and built heritage. Are you listening Nissan. You are currently bringing out another boring Z that know one really wants. Yes, you put some heritage into the exterior design but you lost the heart and sole of Nissan decades ago when you went to a V-6 over the straight 6 that is your heritage.
“Prechamber combustion” sounds like a reprive of Honda’s CVCC compound vortex chamber combustion scheme tome.
P.S. I will bet that CARB [Ca air resources board] will find an excuse to make this mod go through full certification route.
Yeah, and “A dual-plenum intake provides faster airflow and reduced intake temperatures….” sounds like the Offenhauser Dual Port intake manifold.
I doubt this will even be legally offered in the US since the RB26 was never certified for sale federally…
Having said that, I hope HKS develops a similar system for the 2JZGE, legal in the US and California. I’d settle for 300hp but definitely want the 47MPG in my first gen IS300.
This is like CVCC, just significantly less restrictive and more power-oriented. Maserati is going to do the same with the MC20.
CARB requires technical data submission, so buyers in CA would have to go through the grey market emissions approval process to be able to run this engine free and clear.
I like the look of this but I’d want slightly smaller turbos targeting maybe 450-500 hp and cast exhaust manifold instead. Retaining the ITBs and a single fuel injector option would also be neat.
Improved rod bearing design is included, yes? 😉
600hp and 47 MPG. Is this real life?
Sounds awesome.. emissions, power and MPG!!!
I love HKS.. .but sounds like an arm and a leg… something most people could only dream of (including me).
I do have a bunch of old school HKS stuff for my Project Leopard. I was going back and forth
with getting new stuff, but I decided to go with some old skool HKS.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBkVYH5jOxS/
I really love the Scramble Boost controller with Trig button… soo 90s.
I really wanted to have more HKS stuff on my rebuilt RB25det as I wanted to keep the build to established names (for the most part Japanese).