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

Post by **CBR_TOY** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 7:28 pm

if you are an advanced driver then suspension suspension suspension......

and by suspension i mean a front coilover setup and shocks/springs on the back

that's all i have and have loved the car for the last 2 years that way

but now it's time for power

mbehrens · Post by **mbehrens** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 7:49 pm

mexellent wrote:Ok guys, I think you are missing the point. A beginner drifter should get in a stock GT-S and get a bunch of seat time. However, what should an experienced drifter get when he's on a tight budget?

Jonas, your car is far from stock, and so is Wills. What modifications have you made? What modifications made the biggest differences? Obviously you guys were not happy with the stock GT-S since your cars are not stock.

a begginer should do what cbr toy said sespension ... but if on a buget a good seat of springs and shocks and if you can go to home depot pick up some prourthan and do all the bushings on the chassis and sespension if you can lol... power isnt always everything like we all think it only takes a bad shift a slow enter speed or to fast enter speed and slow exit that loses the race plus not in torque band range which falls undershifting... but if your expericned you should still have the car you had when you learned everything lol... but yeah not always the case...

so lets see ..

good springs and shocks
make sure all bushings are good on chassis and sespension parts.
make sure your lsd or weld diff is ok ... if lsd slips a little and no money mix brake fluid with the diff fluid that will give some time to have fun and still save up for new or rebuild lsd. but it will grab hard. lol..

make sure your engine is up to par. you dont want to go looking cool and the small leak in the gaskets became mager.

make sure your coolent temp gauge is good and accurate becasue stock cooling systems tend to heat at high revs and over revs lol...

o and important make sure the brakes are good not ran down or chiped or warped that would suck you go to brake and you have front warped rotors so the pad dont evenly rub the rotor lol...no your in a curp lol...

thats the buget version lol...

o check oil in trany and make sure theres not a lot of gold shavings in it you would hate to have your dog teeth (sycroids) go dead on you no more gear lol....

Post by **CBR_TOY** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 7:51 pm

did you say brake fluid and diff fluid?

never heard this before

mbehrens · Post by **mbehrens** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 9:31 pm

CBR_TOY wrote:did you say brake fluid and diff fluid?

never heard this before

yeah its on old trick if your lsd start sliping and you add brake fluid to it helps the clutchs grap together lol.... but dont do it to a good lsd only if it starts to slip lol.... it will give you more time to buy new or rebuild or old one you just need to get all the brake fluid out of the diff when you replace or rebuild the lsd lol...

mooreofit · Post by **mooreofit** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 9:37 pm

an lsd, it helps but im down with a welded diff. my little bro makes me proud with how well he does with\without the locked diff!

good advise from the pros\mods here!!

mbehrens · Post by **mbehrens** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 10:05 pm

mooreofit wrote:an lsd, it helps but im down with a welded diff. my little bro makes me proud with how well he does with\without the locked diff!

good advise from the pros\mods here!!

see me i like lsd if i am also going to use it for DD.
but yes if i was on a buget and it was strickly racing only car i would weld it ... but agian its all perferability and what your using the car for lol....

but is it a buget in the end ... when the well snapes becuase the guy that did for you cant weld right your spider gears are dead in the water ... so know you need pretty much new spider gears or a 3rd member if it blow out the carrier . ask djspecter he know all about blowing welded diffs an 86s lol... so is it really cheaper that is the quistion. lol...

but yeah thought id just say that lol....

mooreofit · Post by **mooreofit** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 10:51 pm

i weld for a profession. well i did anyways.... but i didnt even weld it but i watched the guy and he did it right. not to mention the guy who welded it owns his own tranny shop. it wasnt his first chicken FU^&^en!!!

mooreofmick · Post by **mooreofmick** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:03 pm

the guy who welded my diff has run a welded diff on a camaro with 450hp on 10.5 slicks running low 11 high 10 and it never broke the hole time he owned the vehicle which was over 4 years and as far as he knows it still hasnt broke

mooreofit · Post by **mooreofit** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:10 pm

mick. go to bed. after we get the 86 running tomorrow we WILL get the 101 fineshed!!!

Post by **dr.occa** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 1:56 am

mexellent wrote:Ok guys, I think you are missing the point. A beginner drifter should get in a stock GT-S and get a bunch of seat time. However, what should an experienced drifter get when he's on a tight budget?

get a better paying job?

mexellent wrote:Jonas, your car is far from stock, and so is Wills. What modifications have you made? What modifications made the biggest differences? Obviously you guys were not happy with the stock GT-S since your cars are not stock.

seriously though, good money management (just like learning to drive well: requires self-discipline) without being a sponge and taking advantage of others will go a long way to helping you get THE IDEAL components.

still, even with scrimping and saving your job may not facilitate securing "TOP SHELF" parts for your AE86 within a realistic time frame so here's my suggestion:

GTS:

-suspension -
front:
*sw20 agx adjustable shocks
*t3 shock spacers
*coilover sleeves from ebay (92 and up corollas. you'll get 4 sleeves & *adjustable perches at $50-$60 w/ cheapo springs which you can try or toss, hard rubber tob hats and spacers)
*450lbs qa1 springs at 7" length and 2-2.5" inner diameter

rear:
*350lbs tein, eibach or swift(if you can still find 'em) lowering springs(notice i'm not saying coilovers here)
*camaro agx rear adj shocks

an SR5 can benefit from the same setup but stick with 13" wheels and weld the diff. no LSD rear end (kouki or zenki) even with an LSD as its health is presumably unknown and just securing one (no freebies here as they are not as commonly available free) would reduce your budget to ashes let alone replacing the rear bearings and rebuilding the LSD even if you tripped over one that just happened to have dropped into your front lawn while you were asleep. again, this is ON A BUDGET so no 4AG swap even if you're going to carb it. B-U-D-G-E-T means no swappy.

big slice · Post by **big slice** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 11:17 am

dr.occa wrote:
GTS:

-suspension -
front:
*sw20 agx adjustable shocks
*t3 shock spacers
*coilover sleeves from ebay (92 and up corollas. you'll get 4 sleeves & *adjustable perches at $50-$60 w/ cheapo springs which you can try or toss, hard rubber tob hats and spacers)
*450lbs qa1 springs at 7" length and 2-2.5" inner diameter

rear:
*350lbs tein, eibach or swift(if you can still find 'em) lowering springs(notice i'm not saying coilovers here)
*camaro agx rear adj shocks

an SR5 can benefit from the same setup but stick with 13" wheels and weld the diff. no LSD rear end (kouki or zenki) even with an LSD as its health is presumably unknown and just securing one (no freebies here as they are not as commonly available free) would reduce your budget to ashes let alone replacing the rear bearings and rebuilding the LSD even if you tripped over one that just happened to have dropped into your front lawn while you were asleep. again, this is ON A BUDGET so no 4AG swap even if you're going to carb it. B-U-D-G-E-T means no swappy.

So essentially I(sr5) should practice with my stock setup until I get good, then upgrade my suspension?

Post by **dr.occa** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:41 pm

big slice wrote:
dr.occa wrote:
GTS:

-suspension -
front:
*sw20 agx adjustable shocks
*t3 shock spacers
*coilover sleeves from ebay (92 and up corollas. you'll get 4 sleeves & *adjustable perches at $50-$60 w/ cheapo springs which you can try or toss, hard rubber tob hats and spacers)
*450lbs qa1 springs at 7" length and 2-2.5" inner diameter

rear:
*350lbs tein, eibach or swift(if you can still find 'em) lowering springs(notice i'm not saying coilovers here)
*camaro agx rear adj shocks

an SR5 can benefit from the same setup but stick with 13" wheels and weld the diff. no LSD rear end (kouki or zenki) even with an LSD as its health is presumably unknown and just securing one (no freebies here as they are not as commonly available free) would reduce your budget to ashes let alone replacing the rear bearings and rebuilding the LSD even if you tripped over one that just happened to have dropped into your front lawn while you were asleep. again, this is ON A BUDGET so no 4AG swap even if you're going to carb it. B-U-D-G-E-T means no swappy.
So essentially I(sr5) should practice with my stock setup until I get good, then upgrade my suspension?

at least weld the diff and practice that way. you can try drifting open diff but you won't learn throttle modulation properly because you'll essentially just be power sliding (because you'll have to pick up enough speed to get you past a single apex) with no real manageable control to navigate transitions (from either a right or left hand corner and smoothly into the opposite direction.

LSD or spool/welded

stock suspension

13" wheels SR5

13" or 14" wheels GTS

Post by **CBR_TOY** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:50 pm

swift coil springs here.....

http://store.autosportsupplies.com/merc ... y_Code=SCS

and swift rear springs here....

http://store.autosportsupplies.com/merc ... Code=SPS86

it's where i got mine and they work great

Post by **nt66** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 5:00 pm

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.

Post by **nt66** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 5:02 pm

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.