Drift car set ups!

[Rotary no Densetsu]

Whoa! I'm glad we have a drifting area now. That's pretty cool. Well, I dunno how many people on here drift, but I figured I'd throw together a thread. What kinda set up are you running? Having any trouble? Share your knowledge!

My FD is practically stock, I've been drifting this particular car for close to two years now, with roughly 100,000 miles on the original motor.

The only mods that come to mind are..

Tein Super Street Coilovers (nothing special)
PBM angle kit (not the greatest, but it most def. works)
ARC Intercooler, cold air intake, and GReddy titanium exhaust

Carbonetic carbon twin disc clutch
Light weight fly wheel (I forget the exact weight :x)
Driveshaft Shop aluminum driveshaft
Carbonetic carbon 2way LSD

Oh, and I have a PFC and Commander.

Like I said, basically stock.

I've drifted all three generations of RX-7, I prefer the FC most of all though, I just feel more at home in one, I guess due to the fact that I used to DD one for like three years. At any rate, here's a couple pictures of the car when I got it.

With the ol' turdbox 350z


When I first put coilovers on it and went to..."test" them out around a nice local road


My first decent crash, which was also posted here and made a big deal out of, it was pretty funny I thought!




And there she is as she sits now. I have a build thread dedicated to all of my RX-7's and occasionally my AE86 on this very forum. I'd love to post up more interesting information about any of my cars, but to be honest they are practically stock. My 3-rotor car which is currently being built, will be much more interesting to read about. I'll be able to share with you guys a lot more information about set ups.

I'm not claiming to be the best ever or anything, but I know a little bit, so I hope we can all help each other out, since we (rotary drifting community) are a pretty small bunch.

So please, post up any useful information you may have about your set up, ideas, anything. Again, I'm glad to see we finally have our own spot on the forum. I doubt it'll be nearly as busy as the others, but hey, at least we have our own spot now!

[RETed]

Looking foward(?) to the discussions in this section...
(So long as the fanboi's don't get stupid in here... *sigh*)

It's been a while since we did this thing, since they closed down our track back in 2006. *sigh*
We're all waiting for a decent, legal option to open up at this time.
(I don't consider sliding in a stadium parking lot marked with cones a good option. )

I've documented my experience with the FC chassis set-up on my website.
Hardest part is trying to get more steering angle when compared to the Nissan S-chassis.
We're giving away at least 5+ degrees more of steering angle to them.
There's two options that I know of right now - modified tie rod point and all those steering rack spacers that don't quite give you enough with stock tie rods.

Keeping these cars are tricky due to low polar moment.
It's nothing like sliding those "lazy" Nissan S-chassis!


-Ted

[Rotary no Densetsu]

Yeah man! I remember the first time one of my buddies offered to let me hop in his S13. It was like cake. I was really surprised. 'Cause Before that I'd never drifted anything other than an FC and FD. I kinda expected to not do very well, due to the fact that I had never driven the car before. lmao But I linked up the course with little issue.

I do think if it wasn't for the fact that I love the FC and FD so much, I probably would just drift an S chassis due to the fact that it's a cake walk! But the challenge of drifting a more difficult car makes it so much more fun.

[Max777]

Hello and welcome! my name is Maxim, and I was appointed moderator of this section. I'm glad that Phil and the rest of the team liked my idea, hopefully we can have a useful place for all the drift stuff.


I also have to disagree with the FC being hard to drift! I love my car and love how it handles!

I've done mostly street since I've bought my car a year ago. Honestly, The TII FC is an awesome drift chassis stock, because it has the power, the handling, and an LSD stock.

After I modded the spindles for more angle and added power steering, I was laying down some decent runs on stock 20y.o. suspension, and strangest of all? The car felt great to learn on!


1987 TII, setup is such:

Stance GR+ coilovers
Polyurethane front end bushings
Custom Welded super angle front spindles (shortened tie-rod end mounts)
Stock TII clutch diff (needs a rebuild soon)
removed rear sway bar.
Added S5 basic power steering (car had none) and I'm running the pump straight off the belt, no Power steering cpu, or anything... I was worried, but the car seems to handle just fine and have nice turn-in.
Koyo Radiator
Custom intake and Greddy Type-RS bov for better response.
Rtek 1.7 & 750cc secondary injectors


I'm hoping to wrap up my build this spring and start attending some track events finally.

[josh18_2k]

seems like the only ones saying FCs are hard to drift are guys who have tried 240s lol

i think the FC is a harder chassis not only due to limited angle (fixable), but also the lack of antisquat. s13's have a stupid amount of antisquat so throttle inputs have far less affect on weight transfer and chassis movement, making them less 'responsive.' aka stable.
every damn mm of throttle input in my car noticably changes angular momentum. im sure the torsen doesnt help at all

im no expert, just speculation

[Max777]

I have personally always liked instant throttle response, and having the car dive into a turn with an aggressive throttle lift. I try to do as much autocrossing as I can to help my driving skills, and while I drift, I still set up the car the same as if I would for grip...

[IH8DSM]

Y'all have any experince with 1st gens? there used to be two that always drifted at the drift events here but that was way before I got into the triangles so there no help haha.

[Rotary no Densetsu]

Originally Posted by IH8DSM

Y'all have any experince with 1st gens? there used to be two that always drifted at the drift events here but that was way before I got into the triangles so there no help haha.

I've drifted a couple of them. We have one guy out here with a 100% stock one that slides half way decently. It's pretty cool. Loud as fuck, straight stainless exhaust. Probably the loudest car on the track. rofl

[Max777]

first gens eh? Well, I don't see why you cant have som fun with that.

I saw a build thread where a guy used the subframe from an FC, turbo II swap, full fc front suspension, rack and pinion steering, and brakes, and then converted to a Ford 9 inch rear end with an LSD..

That car looked hella fun!

[IH8DSM]

I've heard if you take the rear sway bar off it steps out pretty easy

[Max777]

Yeah, I'm not completely sure myself, but I have heard that when you convert all the bushings in the rear end to more rigid components, get coilovers, etc, the suspension does not react correctly with the sway bar? Can anyone clarify this?

I currently have all stock rear bushings, with stance coilovers and no rear sway. I havent had a chance to track the car since I installed the coilovers, so I cannot vouch for the results yet.

[Rotary no Densetsu]

Originally Posted by Max777

first gens eh? Well, I don't see why you cant have som fun with that.

I saw a build thread where a guy used the subframe from an FC, turbo II swap, full fc front suspension, rack and pinion steering, and brakes, and then converted to a Ford 9 inch rear end with an LSD..

That car looked hella fun!

One of my friends is in the process of doing something similar, he might even be on the forum, I'm not sure.

As for the sway bar thing, when I took my rear sway bar out, it was a complete and total world of difference, it really does help the rear kick out more. I do recommend trying it out, since the sway bar isn't exactly a hard part to remove or put back on.

[Max777]

What puzzles me, is that a lot of GRIP guys say that the car feels better with no rear sway bar because of the trailing arm geometry being very specific on the FC.

I get that it makes the rear easier to kick out, but why would track guys recommend it if they don't WANT the rear to lose traction?

Perhaps the car feels more balanced when you remove the rear sway and it's easier to initiate a drift because of the now better stability?

I think a lot of people could be mislead that: "no rear sway= less rear traction" which I don't think is 100% correct.

[josh18_2k]

my theory about the rear sway is that since the geometry has a lot of squat, you can run much stiffer springs in the rear while being able to put power down, so you dont need a bar. cars with a lot of antisquat need to run softer springs to put power down, which leads to super understeery balance mid corner.

grip and (good) drift setups are very similar

[Rotary no Densetsu]

Originally Posted by josh18_2k

grip and (good) drift setups are very similar

This is 100% true.