Hey,
I want to learn how to drift well... and I need suggestions about car setup.
First, I heard a rumour that NA FC's are more popular with drifters in Japan than the TII's (did the FC even come N/A in japan?? )
Is it possible to drift an NA? easily?

What sorta vehicle setup things should I do to make my car (89 GX) into a stable, controllable drift car?

 

No, ALL J-Spec's are TII. Lots of camber in front, 0 in back. Rear sway bar, none in front. Grippy tires in front, shittly ones in the rear. Stiff springs in back, slightly softer up front. LSD. Lots od pratice. This setup is one I got from RETed, so if it sucks, yell at him!! Yes, you can drift your N/A. I have tried it once, and it was actually not too bad!

 

Thanks man, I was pretty sure that all j specs were turbo... I heard that from some guy in a local drift club guess I have some educating to do, eh?
And thanks for the setup.... BTW, what's stock camber on the rear wheels?

 

oh... and are LSD's important? I would kinda assume so...

 

LSD is important to an extent. If you have never drifted before it doesnt matter untill you want better control.
I learned to drift in my dad's RWD ford ranger
so basically you can drift anything with a FR layout.

 

How the hell do you get 0 camber in the rear on the FC? Every one I've worked on has had about -1.7 to -2.0 back there.

 

I dunno... but I'd certainly like to

 

Well one nice thing about neg. camber... too much is worse than not enough So lower it with really stiff springs so you get excess roll stiffness and so much negative camber the tires have no traction....

(just thinking out loud, I don't drift FCs)

 

You will need one of racing beat, or mazdatrix's Rear Suspension Camber Adjuster. RB sells em for $105 , not sure how much for Mazdatrix's. Any time you lower an FC without these things your camber will go way negative.

 

Some guy in a local drift club had info that there were N/A FC's in Japan. What an idiot. Sorry, but he is. You will need a LSD. Technically you can go without one, but with is much, much better. A N/A should have more than enough power. A less powerful car will make you that much better anyway. It's easy to get the tail loose and hold it out when you have over, hmm...let's say 250rwhp compared to under 140rwhp.

 

There does exist MANY Jap tuners / rotor heads running weird n/a's (too be different I suppose) in Japan. I've seen some strange stuff in Jap mags, like a 4 port with really small peri ports also on the same engine. I've seen manifolds and housings for this. Peri port 1st gens seem to be popular too.

 

No technically not retarded. A lot of N/a blocks have been imported too japan because there is more responce in an N/a and not so with a TII. Ala Turbo lag. The 6 ports are a messy thing but when they work they are an extremelly good idea and are almost instantataneous where the turbo isn't. And you don't nessisarilly need the torque produced from the turbo's either. Aww yeah I guess that is it. yeah and your tire set up should look like this

/ \
\ /
Is that right? Or did I get it backwards? I don't know let some one conferm, I am to tired and need to zip to work

 

What you see in the magazines and videos is not what is generally seen on the streets over there. Hop a plane and stay for a while to test that out and you'll see. Those tuner shops that do the crazy build-ups get the 15min of fame for their efforts/imagination/engineering prowess/being in good with the magazine/etc. I saw one where a 13B-REW was made N/A. Go figure? Sure, there are "techinally" some N/A FC's over there, but that's not how Mazda sold them. Just pick up a local used car publication if you can and sure enough close to 100% of the FC's will be turbo. I'm all for a good responsive engine that you don't have to worry about getting a kick of power in the middle of a sweeper if my foot decides to twitch. But I still love turbos all the same for street usage.

Gefunk: with the tires, are you trying to represent toe-in/toe-out or neg/pos camber? About 2~3 degrees of camber up front is good with about 1 degree in the back. To adjust the rear camber, check out k2rd.com for the thingamabob link that can adjust the camber back there. You still need plenty of traction in the back to control the car's attitude. If it's toe-out in the back making the tires point outboard on the leading edge, then that'll make it easier for the back to come out as well. Not good for stability though as it'll make the car twitchy.

 

I assume that is negative camber??

 

toe-out in the rear is a NO NO in pretty much ANY situation I can think of. It will make your car drive like a drunken something or other when on straightaways.

I wouldn't think a P-port would be an ideal drifting setup. I'm not a "drifter" but I'd think you would want a good usable powerband with lots of torque, as opposed to a peaky powerband that only makes power above 7-8k rpm's.

 

Not ALL jspecs are TII, but MOST are TII. That setup is an extreme setup. Most drifters simply get fully adjustable shocks all around, are equipped with LSD's, bald tires out back with SUPER amounts of negative camper up front and 0 out back. Even that is a little extreme. Simply bald tires out back will do the trick.

I used to drift my N/A in the states, and once you get your toe out cancelled, it's not too bad. The N/A has good response...great for drifting!

 

I drift my FC every night.
1. Suspension is more important than power, any of the pro drifters will attest to this.

2. My setup that I find works well

stock struts in front, RB springs
KYB AGX struts in rear, RB springs (set to either 4 or 5, depending on conditions
RB sway bars front and rear
Cheap *** new tires on all 4's (Falken Ziex 502's)
RB toe in Eliminator


You really need to have an LSD, its pretty much an essential. You can do it without, but when you really want to do some serious drifting you will have to break down and get the LSD.

I plan on going to a K2RD coilover kit, as soon as ted will sell the kit with only the 2 front struts

 

I heard that there were a few fc NAs that were shipped to japan. Dont ask me I know they are more responsive but again ever been to autobacs? Raybrig fogs 25000 yen?? huge spoilers on american vans??? 8000 yen airfreshners?? Got me Im Japanese but they are pretty retarded some times. Importing an NA wouldnt suprise me.
Oh also I saw a bunch of Toyota<there> with amreican equivenelt badges on them. Toyota-Lexus
Aristo-GS400, Soarer-SC400, Altezza-IS300.
Gofigure same crap here 240sx with 180sx/silvia stuff on them

 

Would a set of toe-eliminator bushings help out any? Also, is it possible to drift w/o p/s?

 

Yep, it helped out a lot. With those things in, it always felt like the rear end was about to give when it wasn't. Once gone, you could tell just when they were about to give.

And I took my p/s belt out to get my hp...and still drifted fine

 

Good. I assumed that toe in would screw up the traction loss in the rear. So I can still rip it w/o p/s. Nice. Time to invest in some shocks and bushings...

 

Just like bigwoogie said....suspension is the KEY. HP is nice to have, but if you have enough skill, you can drift the ka24DE's that came stock in the 240sx!!!

 

Well, I have full exhaust, new intake, upgraded wires, and am porting the manifolds, so I am done w/ speed mods. I want a drifter, not a dragger! Any brand of shocks you reccomend? I was thinking of KYB AGX. Also, exactly what camber do you reccomend? I am picking up some camber adjustment plates to help in that area.

 

Well, I would recommend(and this is NOT cheap)getting fully adjustable i.e. height adjustable and firm to soft settings. I normally set up the front VERY firm and the rear middle to soft. The front I normally set 2 degrees negative and more. A LSD helps quite a bit. Also Bald tires and ALOT of practice

 

Don't forget to mention that people who still own an FC must be super enthusiasts because of the weird insurance tax laws. Everyone there buys a new car every 3 or so years because of the weird laws and when you go to the junker you see perfectly good cars sitting around. =(

Um yes i'm japanese and have lived there for periods of time.