What have you done to bring out the drifter in your thirdgen? I was asked by someone interested in trying this out with a thirdgen, and I suggested a shallower angle from a lower control arm relocation bracket and lowering springs would be be a step in the right direction. I know there is way more to this - any tips on alignment specs? Other suspension components?

 

CrazyHawaiian knows a lot about drifting. Here are some of his posts. I'm sure he'll chime in eventually.

 

Hey thanks CaysE, but we should also give Revlimit credit. He was the first one to do it, and he kicks my *** to this day!! hehe! Setting your car up to drift is very similar to setting it up to roadrace or compete in SCCA. You will want to do alot of the same types of mods these guys do for grip roadracing, however for drifting your suspension tune, alignment, and tire selection will be different. So it would cover chassis stiffening, lower center of gravity, firmer suspension, components to correct geometry if needed, etc. If you want to get really technical about it, I recommend getting a book on Grip Tuning. Everything in those types of books will apply for drifting. Tuning your car to drift focus's more on the cars balance than it does ultimate traction. This includes the balance of your cars weight (static weight distribution) and the balance of your cars suspension (understeer vs oversteer). The single most important aspect for drifting is your tire selection. When you start out (low speed, low power situations) you'll want smaller width tires with harder compounds that slip easier. Most cheap tires fit within this category (heck I used free tires from the used tire bins). As you get better and your speeds increases you'll want the tires to grip a little more so you'll run bigger width tires with softer compounds. Also as the speeds increase, sidewall flex can become a problem (yes I've had tires come off the rim while drifting, its not cool). So bigger wheels, smaller sidewalls is where most people go. For the alignment, you want more negative camber in the front so when the car is sliding at speed your inside tire is level with the ground (big contact patch). This type of alignment is not street friendly (major uneven tread wear during normal driving), so some people make sacrafices and just run a normal street alignment when they drift. If you want to see what I mean, check out this picture of my 89 IROC. I'm running street alignment and you can see that the inside tire (in this case, the pass tire) is not level with the ground. You want a good contact patch in the front at speed if possible.

Even with all this said, stock is pretty good. You dont need a lot of modifications for your car to be able to drift, though it helps. I drifted for over a year with my stock base model 89 RS suspension. The only change I made was a larger rear swaybar (from a 90 IROC) to even out the cars natural tendancy to understeer (from the factory). The larger swaybar in the rear gives the car more oversteer. I also continually made sure all the bushings were in good condition because bad bushings will make the car unpredictable. The car did have a large ammount of body roll which increased the force of weight transfer and made the car harder to control, but IMO it was good for my learning process. I was using the stock OEM 15x7's on all corners with 205-215/60-70/15 tires. Recently I've been drifting an almost stock 89 IROC-Z with factory performance FE2 suspension. The car has much less body roll, and feels much firmer than the base model RS suspension. The only mod I've done so far is a Spohn adjustable panhard bar. The car is a blast to drift. I plan to remove the large front swaybar and put the smaller RS one on. I've been having problems with the cars steering, so thats holding me back right now (turns more to the left then it does to the right!). For the most part I'm running the 16x8 wheels with 245/55/16 tires, though I have been experimenting with 255/45/17 in the front.

You can see more info and read more about it at our website for Domestic Drifting, www.powerslideways.com (though our tuning section has not been written yet *doh!*)

 

Thanks Hawaiian, I quoted your post and put it up in the lvfbody forums (lvfbody.com) where it was asked. I am sure he will appreciate your info

 

I'm intrested in drifting ever sense i got into the anime series Initial D and playing the arcade game. Being used to my Integra I've done a$$ dragging for the longest time now and now that I'm getting my moms 83 Z28 i'm wanting to do some drifting while in an open parking lot or other places. I'm wondering of anything I should watch for seeing that it's an older car as well as any techniques that should be used since it's an automatic and not manual?

 

Dont pretend to be tac or youll end up like that loser in the sylvia

Just stay off the streets!

 

Yes, family's in mini-vans.

Its people like you who do this kind of stuff on streets, that raise my insurance, and kill people. Take it to the track, and drive nicely the rest of the time. I'm sure you mom would be thrilled to have you drifting her car around too.

 

First off, where did I say I was going to do drifting on the street. I can't say I haven't ever done anything on the street (racing, acting stupid, etc.) however I can say that I rarely do it. I've gone to the track every chance I get in my integra and race there, mostly cause I've had too many of my friends get into accidents.

It's people like YOU who are overly judgemental of people and make replies that don't necessarily answer the question that was asked that ruin message boards.

The only place I would probably be drifting is parking lots and tracks if I could find one where they'd let me drift at, which I think constitutes as one of the other places I mentioned.

So thank you for your useless reply.

 

Yup, me and my 4500 postings of uselessness have ruined this board. Let me apologise

Maybe you should have clarified your post better. You posted about drifting in parking lots. If you expect me to take that any other way, than you practicing your mad skillz yo. in a public place. Than word it in a way so there is no question.

 

Well maybe you should just read better, because I said reply, and I never said I had mad skillz.

I'll try to be more clear in my posts from now on, so why don't you try not putting in words that were never said...

 

Did I use the quote function.

I'm done with this. I've wasted too much of my time.

 

Yeah street vs track is always a heated debate. If you have a local track that holds drifting events then you are quite lucky. Most tracks that run AutoX or SCCA will not allow you to drift at their events, so its hard for a lot of people to find a legal place to drift. Other people dont have any local tracks with roadcourses (only 1/4 mile drag strip) so they are out of luck too. I'm lucky in that my local track holds drifting events, but even then, one event a month is not enough to advance your skills in this sport. To get good you really need a lot of practice. So I hate to say it, but majority of the drifters out there are going to practice on the street. I dont currently drift on the street, but recently I've been having urges to go out after midnight and hit it up (that is, if any of my cars were running lol). What people need to understand is that 1. they gotta do it in a safe place, and 2. people need to know their limits and boundries. We have a spot here locally that everyone drifts at in an industrial part of the island. People usually go between the hours of 2am and 6am and there are no other people in the area at that time. This has been going on for years and we have not had any accidents involving regular street drivers or death. People have crashed their cars and gotten injured, but that was their own deal. So I guess what I'm saying is yes, drifting on the street is bad, but also yes, its possible to do it safely and not injure people. Its the guys that dont know their limits and do it on the wrong place that ruin it for everyone. Guys that just watched some drifting video and have never done it before, try it for the first time going 60mph in a residential neighborhood, that kind of stuff. Bad apples make the whole bunch look bad.

 

Agreed. The only track we have around here, actually there's too but it's only for drag. I was going to practice at the very large ballpark parking lot that I have near my house. If i was going to do it on the streets it wouldn't be during the day and it definatly would be on a safe street.

You're right one bad apple does ruin the bunch, and that's the main problem today with near anything regarding cars, mostly because people just want to assume something.

 

back to the original question... no agressive alignment/steering mods here, just some typical stuff...all my mods are in my sig; springs/shocks/struts were by far my best improvement.. they reduced bodyroll significantly. my panhard rod gives a noticeable improvement as well...

 

TY, any good websites that has these parts in good quality and reasonable prices? Lol I just went with my friend to get his exhaust put onto his 95 Prelude VTEC and I'd like to take him with my to the ballpark and brag about how I can actually drift and not just powerslide lol.

 

just thought id ad my 0.02 pennys worth, i love drifting as much as i can but as im only a v6'er im limited to damp conditions (if i want to do it safely) but when the weathers right im out till early hours getting the thing as sideways as i can, theres not many places big enough for this behavour in an american car in the uk (everything is smaller over here except a few things , say no more) we have a big shopping complex near to where i live and its just a series of bends and round abouts, perfect for drifting. guys i keep hearing people getting a bit silly about all this "you shouldnt drive fast on the streets" and " your gona kill somone" but lets face it , its a very small minority that drive third gens (or any other car) and dont have any respect for either their own saftey let alone anyone elses, i hear the same thing from simular boards on this side of the pond these guys go on and on about how quick there car is and how much cash they spent on getting there car this way and you mean to tell me that they drive at the speed limmit at all times ,
anyway heres a link to some german guy in a vw beetle( you heard right) not bad considering its on a dry track and its a beetle
enjoy (or laugh you *** off )
Nick (uk)

 

oops forgot the link
http://www.volksworld.com/content/down/kreiskuke.wmv