Sometimes you get caught sleeping, and you are simply blown away; we certainly were when we recently saw a video from 1320Video showing Jon Roger’s Nissan 240 clicking off a six-second run. What surprised us was what is under the hood: Nissan’s VK56 DOHC V8. You can see more of Jon’s Nissan on his YouTube channel, “ThatRicerJon.”

Now we know that there will be a number of readers who know all about this LS-killer, but when you are fed a steady diet of LS/LT/Coyote/Hemi performance to work with and write about, you occasionally miss a sweet little nugget like the VK56. So, let’s do a quick rundown of this impressive engine.

Nissan VK56 And Its Variants

Based on the earlier VQ-series six-cylinder engines, the VK56DE came in many vehicles, including the Titan, Armada, Pathfinder, and the Infinity QX56, with most platforms limited to the low-300-horsepower range. In 2010, Nissan released the current model, VK56VD with the Variable Valve Event & Lift (VVEL) system, denoted by the “V” in the name, and direct injection, denoted by the “D” in the second position, as a 400-horsepower powerplant that gives Nissan trucks and SUVs some much-needed horsepower. This 338 cubic-inch engine features all-aluminum construction, 32 valves, and dual overhead cams. Roger’s 240 runs a 2004 model VK56DE (the “D” in the first location denoting dual overhead cams and the “E” denoting multi-port fuel injection).

Nissan’s VK56-series V8 is all aluminum with thick iron sleeves and DOHC. It looks vaguely familiar, though, almost like something we all know and love from Ford…

The 5.6-liter V8 has very thick cylinder sleeves, giving it a lot of added strength. Some Nissan enthusiasts liken the VK56VD to an LS with dual-overhead cams, but realistically, not even the very best production LS can touch the power this Nissan unit can produce. Jon Roger’s VK56 makes over 1,900 horsepower to the rear wheels on 43 psi of boost. While that is crazy street horsepower, it is not uncommon on the strip. What makes the Nissan V8 different is that it does this on the stock block and crank. In fact, the long block is almost entirely stock.

Inside Jon Rodger’s VK56 — A Deceptively Simple Build

To get the power handling, Rogers went to Carillo for a set of custom rods. Luckily, they had already made several sets of VK56 rods, so it was a short-order process. Nissan used this same engine in the Australian Supercars championship (now Kelly Racing), so the slugs were ordered from Diamond as off-the-shelf pieces. While Jon spent the bulk of his money on custom rods and pistons, these are now essentially off-the-shelf items.

The base engine was $300 220,000-mile takeout, which was disassembled and given the standard rebuild treatment. (Ed Note: go back and read that first part again… three hundred dollars.) At 220,000 miles, there was little wear inside. Only .010 inch was shaved off the cylinders to bring them true. A light decking, along with an align-hone for the mains, rounded out the short-block machine work. That’s it, guys; basically exactly what you would do to an LS for boost. Rogers used ARP main studs and 12mm head studs for the build.

Up top, Rogers replaced the stock valves with a set of Supertech Performance valves in stock sizes. A valve job and some very light port cleanup were all that Rogers did. “This was my tester build, we didn’t know if it would split in half or what,” says Rogers. “Everyone just sort of chuckled when I told them what I was doing.” So his “tester” build made over 2,000 horsepower at the crank. SOUNDS GOOD. The cams are off-the-shelf Kelford Cams (Stage 3 Turbo 294-288/294), along with a set of their beehive springs and retainers. Everything else is basically stock.

The proof is in the dyno graph, 1966.6 horsepower at the wheels. This is a manual trans car, so factor in 15-percent parasitic loss, and you have a little over 2,200 horsepower at 8,500 rpm.

2,000 Horsepower For HOW MUCH?!

Owner/builder Jon Rogers is used to high-performance engines, as he is a veteran 2JZ guy. The chance to do something truly different didn’t come with the price tag you may think it did. Most of the $10,500 spent on the long-block lives in the cylinders (rods and pistons), so this could be reproduced on a budget. You won’t get 2,000 horsepower without a massive turbo, though. The Nissan 240 runs a Precision Turbo 98mm unit at 43psi, so there is a definitely a steep price tag outside of the engine itself. Rogers runs a Haltech R5 and universal harness to manage the squeeze and bangs.

We are thankful to Jon and his crew at Import Drag Solutions for making the decision in mid-November 2024 to build this crazy thing. Its first race was April 10th, 2025. While there are plenty of gearheads who are well-versed in the VK56 series, most of us are not. That needs to change, as this is a proper powerhouse engine that has decent support in the aftermarket and can handle the kind of power we all think we need.