How to build a cool, reliable, sustainable budget drift car

[joel26]

Just thought I would chime in since my car is a super budget built car. I know some of you think I spend tons of cash on my car but in reality I have not spent that much. This is what I would recommend to a beginning drifter with a stock gts corolla and not much cash.

1. Fix every mechanical issue that the car has to start with/change the fluid in everything. It usually just takes time and effort but not to much cash.

2. Get a stock lsd if your car doesn't have one. I am currently running the stock lsd that nasser pulled out of his car to go welded. In my opinion getting anything better at the beginning will hurt your ability to learn all the techniques that are needed.

3. Fix the ebrake/make it work right. I don't care what anyone says you need a good working ebrake. I am kicking myself now for not getting it working when I started and it has hurt me in competition because I'm not used to using it.

4. Get decent front tires. Having good front tires makes the car predictable which allows you to focus on the finer parts of drifting.

5. Get a four link with heim joints. I built mine with parts from speedway motors and it was under $200. It made a HUGE difference in the way my car handled even with the stock pan hard.

6. Get a panhard with heim joints. Again these are cheap if you build them yourself and make a huge difference.

7. Next for me would be steering rack spacers or manual rack with power steering knuckles. These help a ton when your learning they let you achieve massive angle and give you more control of the car.

8. Next I would do a good seat that holds you in place with a comfortable position. You kind find these for super cheap if you shop around. My seat looks terrible but it gets the job done and I spent no money on it.

8. Once all of these things are done and you have gone to some events you should start getting the hang of things. I would start saving for a good coilover setup. There are tons of good options out there and they can be very affordable with lots of research and planning. A good setup is well worth the cost and will help you tremendously down the road. I chose the greddy setup and I have been very happy with it.

With the setup above you can be very competitive at a local level and can become a very good driver. I did very well at national and local competitions with the setup above. Don't try for horse power at first. If you can't drive the setup above confidently at its limits power will not help only more seat time will.

Sound good this sure is something to look forward too... Great Post a lot of good info.. :D

[mooreofit]

no doubt thanks for the info guys

[mooreofmick]

good advise that i will use thanks will

[dr.occa]

Just thought I would chime in since my car is a super budget built car. I know some of you think I spend tons of cash on my car but in reality I have not spent that much. This is what I would recommend to a beginning drifter with a stock gts corolla and not much cash.

1. Fix every mechanical issue that the car has to start with/change the fluid in everything. It usually just takes time and effort but not to much cash.

2. Get a stock lsd if your car doesn't have one. I am currently running the stock lsd that nasser pulled out of his car to go welded. In my opinion getting anything better at the beginning will hurt your ability to learn all the techniques that are needed.

3. Fix the ebrake/make it work right. I don't care what anyone says you need a good working ebrake. I am kicking myself now for not getting it working when I started and it has hurt me in competition because I'm not used to using it.

4. Get decent front tires. Having good front tires makes the car predictable which allows you to focus on the finer parts of drifting.

5. Get a four link with heim joints. I built mine with parts from speedway motors and it was under $200. It made a HUGE difference in the way my car handled even with the stock pan hard.

6. Get a panhard with heim joints. Again these are cheap if you build them yourself and make a huge difference.

7. Next for me would be steering rack spacers or manual rack with power steering knuckles. These help a ton when your learning they let you achieve massive angle and give you more control of the car.

8. Next I would do a good seat that holds you in place with a comfortable position. You kind find these for super cheap if you shop around. My seat looks terrible but it gets the job done and I spent no money on it.

8. Once all of these things are done and you have gone to some events you should start getting the hang of things. I would start saving for a good coilover setup. There are tons of good options out there and they can be very affordable with lots of research and planning. A good setup is well worth the cost and will help you tremendously down the road. I chose the greddy setup and I have been very happy with it.

With the setup above you can be very competitive at a local level and can become a very good driver. I did very well at national and local competitions with the setup above. Don't try for horse power at first. If you can't drive the setup above confidently at its limits power will not help only more seat time will.

p.s. you also have to decide how far you want to go with drifting and base what you do off of that. When I got my car was right when all of the Houston guys were leaving for the 06 fd pro-am. After seeing how that went I decided that's where I was going to be next year and planned my build/seat time accordingly.

good stuff will.

[CBR_TOY]

very nice write-up Will...

the only thing i need to figure out is how far i wanna go with drifting i guess....

[mexellent]

Thanks for the input Jonas and Will. Im trying to organize the first posts in a logical manner that can help out someone who is seeking guidance. Any input on how to arrange this so that it makes sense to everyone would be highly appreciated.

[dr.occa]

Thanks for the input Jonas and Will. Im trying to organize the first posts in a logical manner that can help out someone who is seeking guidance. Any input on how to arrange this so that it makes sense to everyone would be highly appreciated.

alex, personally i'd consider my recipe to be leaning more on a tight budget. will's advice introduces a little more to the budget with extra suspension modifications. not much of a budget increase there. another important factor is the bulk of my suspension requires some affinity with tools and slight fabrication (e.g. front shock to coilover conversion-diff welding). if this isn't someone's area of strength, patiently saved money and the purchase of a good all points adjustable coilover system (all 4 corners!) will be money well saved and a budget almost more than satisfied.

will also brought up an important factor that i forgot to mention; tires. very important.

i believe on my tighter budget you can get away with all seasons but keeping the better ones up front and always keeping pairs matched (obviously matched up front and matched in rear but not necessarily matched all around). here, i'll only be re-iterating what will has already addressed.

hope that helps.

[DjSpecter]

As you can see we all got diffrent things on how we learned drifting. Some of us just started playing around in a open lot by pulling ebrakes and using the power over method other known as just haullin ass in a circle. Then some of us jut threw out everything in the car (rear seats , spare tire , full interor) Some of us got very good tires in the front and ok ones in the rear.

Then some of us started with small to minor suspension upgrades as well as a driver seat. ( which I have to say is a PERFECT and WELL WORTH IT mod) But to build a better drift car you first have to build a better driver. If you can work with what you have as a stock car then your ok. First learn to feel your cars reaction for every movent you do. If you can for sure know whats going to happen then move from there. Cause alot of cars are pretty much great learning cars from the get go. Its all on personal prefrence nad every driver is diffrent.

Having others tell you how to set up your car will get you no where. Some say do suspension mods while others will say get more power. I have a 4AC soon to be swapped and all Ihad was a muffler and a Ebay steering wheel only cause mine looked as if some one bit off the rubber stuff from stock. But that thing had some MAJOR MAJOR ass body roll. ANd fora drift car that is bad, very bad. Learn drifting how you want to learn it. See how your car reacts to every thing you do while in the seat. All we can say is MORE SEAT TIME IS THE BEST SOLUTION. Look at all the Pro drifters out there you will see that alot of them say they started out with a AE86 or old school BMW and they would just have fun sliding around corners or out in the back yard learning to control the car.

Remember we all are diffrent drivers so build your car the way you think would benifit you. Cause putting coils and exhaustwill do nothing for you in the long run unless you know how to properly use the coils.

[dr.occa]

coils are best for box springs.

[mexellent]

I updated the suspension part and added jonas's little tid-bit. Ill have to keep updating this. I want it to be a good path for someone to follow.

Also, I want to stress the importance of doing things the same over and over. Racing is a giant equation and the more variables you take out the more predictable your results are going to be.

I also noticed something when I was out there. And I kinda understand, given budget restrictions and what-not, but at the same time, if you want to get really good, I think this is very important once youve reached a certain level. Many of these things dont cost money, so why not do them?

1) Tires. Be consistent. Free is free and cheap is cheap, but if you want repeatable, reliable results, try to buy the same tire. Also, check your tire pressures and run the same tire pressures over and over again. Granted, if you suck, theres no point in going the extra length to keep your tires matched until you get the basics down.

2) Wheels. Same thing. If you can, try and run the same wheel over and over. It doesnt have to be the same model, but at least try to run the same diameter, width, and offset. Wider offsets in the rear will make you under steer and narrower offsets will make you over steer. Changing your wheel width/offset changes your track width, which is effectively the same thing as messing around with your sway-bars between runs.

3) Weight on Wheels. If you got coil-overs, make sure to do weight on wheels. Even cars with just front coilovers can adjust their weight on wheels. A car with incorrect weight on wheels is like a 4 legged table with one leg short. The "short" corner is a corner with the least amount of grip and it will teeter-totter as the car changes positions and what-not.

4) Alignment. I cant give you a number but I can tell you you need to match your specs on the left and on the right. Also, the tire can tell you about your alignment.

Anyway, I hope that helps.