drifting in an fc
 

hey guys, well im really tired of my friends beating me in drag racing with their evos and supras. i dont really have cash to make a really fast fc that i can beat them with. i want to start drifting. i was just wanting to hear some opinoins from people who drift their fc's. is it a good drift car, what shuld i do to make it a drift car? im just tired of getting the shit end of the stick in dragging. thanks.

No,
Get a 240sx.

They have a longer wheel base and the ALMIGHTY SR20! :dubs:

get some stiff struts(kyb agx) and maybe a racing beat suspension kit
and if you can afford it get a complete racing beat exhaust.

I prefer to use bigger rims and tires, I have 98 mustang gt rims.

I have a lot more mods but those will get you drifting in a flash.

Ill tell you this in my opinion. The FC and RX7's in general are grip cars. They were designed that way. Although you will see some FD's being drifted in the option videos and on tv. There is a reason why the main car of choice all over are 240's. The FC's are very well balanced front to rear. The engine sits behind the front wheels and the engine is lighter than most engines nowadays. The car also comes with a dynamic rear steer feature. Although you can remove it and some 240's even come with it as well the FC's drifting capabilities are not going to be as good as the 240's. By all means Im not saying they can't drift. But if you want to drift there are better suited cars. For me I have drifted 240's, corvettes, and fc's i can tell you the first 2 cars are better suited. Although I currently drift a FC I like it, Its very challenging to me. But one thing I have found is that if I get good with the FC its makes drifting easier in other cars. I can get into an 240 after driving my FC and drift it rather well. Right now I had to say my car is more fun road racing or driving on the highway. By all means I still have to setup my car a little better. But if you are only getting into drifting because you cant beat your friends at dragging then I dont think that drifting is tha answer for you. Drifting and road racing is a skill. Being able to feel the car and how it reacts under certain situations takes time and work. Drag racing is alot about timing. Its for a lot of people i assure you. I feel that a race that only last 12 seconds is not fun or skill full. Taking turns and utilizing more of the car other than some suspension work and a ton of engine work is more fun. If you feel you wish to continue trying to drift then for you setup and practice are key.

I like a really tight rear with a softer front end. I have my coilovers set tight in the rear and softest in the front. (Im still dialing it in to where I like it).

You would need to get comfortable with the car first. Sign up for a practice day at a track with other dirfters. Get used to your car the way it is. Drive as much as you can and figuire out where you need to improve for you and the car. I found that when I went with just engine mods that I needed the DTSS eliminators. I was getting really bad oversteer afting throwing myself hard into the corners. I also have to improve the steering angle to help carry the car through the long sweepers. I ended up shimming the tie rod ends. I got more steering angle but wouldnt mind some more. I had very bad body roll so I invested in some coilovers and I will be buying some sway bars, and bushings soon. That where I am with it. I have alot to go to get my car where I want it . But there are some things to think about before getting into drifting. It takes a toll on your car and requires alot of mateniance and replacing of parts. Think about it and decide weither it right for you .

One again this last post is based on my experiances and by no means do I classify my self as a awesome or know it all drifter.

Mark

well thanks for the input. i know a 240sx would be better, but i dont have the cash to get another car and i love my fc too much. i hate dragging circuit racing is cool but drifting really draws me. i dont wanna get really into drifting heavily, just as a thing i do once in a while.

Do a little search. Recently, there was a huge thread about the FC and drifting it, mainly about peoples techniques to utilize the FC's low polar moment. It was an EXTREMELY informative thread, I'd look for it, if I was serious about drifting.

2 inch longer

and sr20 FTL, KA24 FTW!

sweet drift alwayssideways, you share the same opinion as me, i see drag and drag sometimes but a run that only last 14 seconds or so it really gets boring at some point, thats why ive been learning how to drift in my TII, it is really a technique and not easy but it sure is a lot of fun, i only drift my car 1 or 2 times a month and i only drift my 7 because it is not my daily driver,its a weekend fun car. i do wish i had a track or something where i could practice like you but unfourtunately i don't and i have to do it on parking lots or someplace safe where the're are no cars. to the thread starter if you want to drift ill say go for it but keep in mind that you have to take care of your car well and do a lot of mainteneance on it. but it also depends, if you only drift your car once in a while there's no big deal but if you only use it for drift all the time you have to keep in top notch status.

later

1 name, haruguchi. google him. he is god.
nough said

Boo wimpy 2-liter, boo wimpy truck engine, hurray RB26!

i searched for drifting threads but i didnt really come up with anything. ill try again tho.

Drift
 

From the fc3spro.com page....


The sport of drifting has arrived in the U.S., and it's the latest craze imported from Japan. Born from the underground street racing scene from mountain roads (called "touge" - TOH-geh) and late-night, deserted industrial zones in Japan, drifting has exploded into the mainsteam, whether positive or not. Drifting has even permeated mainstream advertising for some of the biggest automotive manufacturers in the world...

* Mazda showing off the Miata and the Mazda6 sliding in the desert
* Chevy trucks sliding sideways in the dirt
* New Ford sedan avoiding cards sliding all around it on a wet street
* Audi sliding figure 8's in the desert

And the list goes on...

This page will hopefully give you some understanding of one of the fastest growing automotive sports today, and how the FC3S fits into all of this. This page will focus on competitive and professional drifting of the FC3S. You don't really "need" anything to drift, but at the level of competitive drifting, the stakes get higher and the competition get tougher. If you're looking to the D1 type of drifting, hopefully we can offer some tips...


The Chassis
The FC3S regularly makes the top 5 most desirable chassis due to this drift craze. The Nissan S13 / S14 (SR20DET swap) and Toyota AE86 are two of the top alternative chassis other the then FC3S. The Nissan S13 are the 180SX / 200SX / Silvia triplets in Japan. These non-U.S. Nissan models come with turbocharged engine options: the CA18DET 1.8-liter, single turbo 4-cylinder or the more popular SR20DET 2.0-liter, single turbo 4-cylinder. Engine swaps into U.S. Nissan 240SX are very popular, as the standard KA24D and KA24DE 2.4 liter 4-cylinder "truck motor" has it's limitations with no standard turbo. The SR20DET can easily produce 200 to 250hp at the wheels, and increases in power comes relatively easily.

The Toyota AE86 is also the 1985 - 1987 Corolla GT-S in the U.S. The Corolla GT-S was offered from 1984 in Japan, but it wasn't officially imported into the U.S. until 1985 - one year later. The AE86 uses the high-revving 4A-GE 1.6-liter, twin cam, 4-cylinder engine. Although underpowered, the 4AGE manages to make 150hp to the wheels relatively easily when modded, and the relatively light AE86 chassis makes for a competitive power-to-weight ratio.

This is primarily the main competition for the FC3S. Although the FC3S chassis has an almost perfect 50 / 50 static front-to-rear weight balance, it's low polar moment of inertia makes it a handful to control, especially when drifting; the FC3S tends to spin and oversteer very violently. To control to low polar moment takes good suspension tuning and a very skilled driver. It is a lot easier to start with a Nissan S-chassis if you're a beginner, as the higher polar moment of the Nissan S-chassis makes for a slower response when drifting. The Nissan S-chassis has longer wheelbases, and this makes for a more stable platform; the wheelbase is significantly longer than the FC3S - up to 5 inches.
Drift - FC3S versus S13 / S13 and AE86


The Suspension
In general, you want a very stiff suspension system. In terms of springs and dampers, there are a lot of coilover systems that are very popular with drift competitions.

Model: Front spring rate: Rear spring rate: Miscllaneous:
A'PEXi
N1 Pro 9 kg-mm / 503 lb-in 7 kg-mm / 391 lb-in
HKS
# Hypermax D' 8 kg-mm / 447 lb-in 7 kg-mm / 391 lb-in Drift spec
Pro 9 kg-mm / 503 lb-in 9 kg-mm / 503 lb-in
Tein
RA 10 kg-mm / 559 lb-in 8 kg-mm / 447 lb-in
HA 8 kg-mm / 447 lb-in 6 kg-mm / 335 lb-in
HE 8 kg-mm / 447 lb-in 6 kg-mm / 335 lb-in
# FLEX 6 kg-mm / 335 lb-in 5 kg-mm / 279 lb-in EDFC compatible
JIC
FLTA2 8 kg-mm 6 kg-mm
Cusco
# Comp-S 7 kg-mm 6 kg-mm Front optional spring rates: 6, 8, 9 kg-mm
# Rear optional spring rates: 5, 7, 8 kg-mm
# Zero-1 7 kg-mm 6 kg-mm Front optional spring rates: 6, 8, 9 kg-mm
# Rear optional spring rates: 5, 7, 8 kg-mm
# Zero-2 7 kg-mm 6 kg-mm Front optional spring rates: 6, 8, 9 kg-mm
# Rear optional spring rates: 5, 7, 8 kg-mm
# Zero-2R 7 kg-mm 6 kg-mm Front optional spring rates: 6, 8, 9 kg-mm
# Rear optional spring rates: 5, 7, 8 kg-mm
Standard spring rates are shown. Most manufacturers offer other springs rates.


Looking at the above table for spring rates, you'll notice that they are rather high. Most aftermarket drop-in springs do not go over 200 lb-ft! This necessitates using a coilover kit or some kinda retrofit coilover system that allows you to use these really high spring rates. With the high spring rates, shocks need to be matched for them. Anything over 400 lb-ft would over-oscillate most of the aftermarket drop-in dampers like the Tokico Illumia and the KYB AGX, two of the most popular models for the FC3S. Koni does offer a front strut insert and rear shock replacement that works well with the higher spring rates; we use them on our 20B FC drift car!

Anything to stiffening the chassis and the suspension should work. Strut tower bars are a good idea. Cusco, GReddy, GAB, and Mazdaspeed are popular brands for strut tower bars. Energy Suspension offers polyurethane bushing kits; they have a "master kit" or several sub kits.

Racing Beat, Eibach, Suspension Techniques, Cusco, Mazdaspeed all offers stabilizer bars or more known as anti-sway bars. Controlling sway makes for better vehicle control when drifting. With stiffer sway bars, upgrade end links are recommended. Racing Beat offers upgrade end links with polyurethane inserts. Mazdatrix also offers spherical bearing end links which react quicker but can be noisier. The Racing Beat polyurethance end links are a good compromise of performance and streeetability.

A roll cage is an extreme example of chassis stiffening, but it's usually the ultimate option. Roll cages can be very involved and most times very expensive. Done properly, it adds very little weight, but the increase in stiffening is huge! All competition-level drift vehicles should have a roll cage installed.

Last but not least, eliminination of the DTSS bushing is highly recommended to get more predictable response from the chassis. The DTSS eliminator bushings are just a plastic bushing with a steel insert. Racing Beat is one of the most known vendors of this DTSS eliminator bushings. The bushing pair is cheap at under $50, but it is very labor intensive to remove and replace them.


The Engine
Most of the competitive cars are running in the 300hp to 350hp (to the rear wheels on a DynoJet) range. Torque is used to control the car during the drift, so the more torque the merrier. But, too much power is not good if you can't control it. So, with the weight of the FC3S, try to shoot for at least 300hp. Broad power band is more desirable, since it helps having good power at low RPM's on the track.

This brings us to turbo choices... GT-series (both HKS and Garrett), ball-bearing turbos are very popular due to their quick-spooling characteristics. Although pricy, this is the cost to battle with the best. For the 13BT, the Garrett "GT3540" or "GT35R" is a very good match and makes the requisite 350hp no problem.

You're welcome to check out our "From Mild to Wild" Power section to get more ideas...
FC3S Pro: From Mild to Wild - Engine Power


The Steering
Drifting is one of the very few sports that puts an emphasis on steering. The FC3S is at a disadvantage in this area - see S13 / S14 and AE86 Compare above. The steering tie rod ends can be shimmed by about 0.25" for more steering angle. There are premade kits available, but a bunch of washers can be used as a cheaper alternative.


The Limited Slip Differential
As with most other types of grip driving, the LSD becomes an important part of the drivetrain. With drifting, getting both rear wheels to lock-up becomes a matter of control. Clutch-type LSD's are most popular due to their quick lock-up characteristics. 2-way LSD's are recommended for drifting.
FC3S Pro: Mods - LSD


The Brakes
Brakes is not something most people would worry about in drifting, but at a certain point, the brakes do become important. Not only do the brakes slow you down, but in drifting, you can use your brakes to initiate a drift when they are balanced properly. Good brake feel also allows you to use braking techniques while drifting, and this becomes a very advanced technique when done properly. Using staggered brakes pads front to rear is a popular set-up in Japan. Only experimenting with different types of brake pads will get you a combination that will suit your needs.


The Rims / Wheels
Rim styles are subjective: pick a style YOU like. Lighter weight allows the suspension to react quicker.


The Tires
Tire selection is mostly a personal choice, as there are enough options available to allow for several good choices. The front tires need to be sticky, so any of the ultra high performance tires or even R-compound DOT tires are good choices. The FC3S is already an understeering chassis to begin with, so getting as much traction in the front becomes even more important.

For the rear tires, finding a tire that doesn't chunk during drifting is the key. If the rear tires wear evenly and don't chunk, you'll get a lot more life out of them. Cheaper tires wil typical chunk under so much abuse, so you'll need to pay a little more money for some of the better performance tires. We're heard that Falken and Federal brand tires work very well in the rear. We'll be trying some of these tires in the near future, so keep checking for updates in here. If you have any direct experiences with any other good tire models for the rears, please drop us a note!

For tire sizing, get as big of a tire up front that you can fit. You should be able to fit a 225 wide tire up front with very little fuss. Some 235 wide tires can be fit up front too. Getting anything more than 245 wide up front is almost impossible. Front overfenders can solve the clearance problems, but you need to resize the rims to accomodate the wider tires. With 1" overfenders, fitting a 245 or even a 255 wide tire up front becomes trivial. For the rears, the width is dictated by how much power you're running. FC3S with mild upgrades cannot spin anything larger than 245 wide rear tires to be effective. Too wide of a tire with not enough power makes for sluggish throttle control when drifting. Most of the D1 cars don't run anything wider than a 255 or 265 wide tire in the rear, so that gives you an idea that wider is not always better. The rear tires need to work with the amount of power the engine is making, so keep that in mind. Also, wider rear tires usually makes it more tricky to throttle control due to more rubber - keep that in mind also.


The Alignment
As with standard alignment tricks, the alignment will be dependent on what you're going to use the vehicle for. Front toe-in keeps the car stable at high speed, so if you're going to be doing high-speed drifting, a slight toe-in will make it easier to control the car at speed. Toe-out will cause the car to react quicker with steering inputs, but high speed stability will be compromised - the car will get really twitchy and start to dart around at higher speeds. Front camber will be depedent on what kind of tires you run, but slight negative camber will allow more traction up front without compromising tire wear. The FC3S likes about -2° to -4° of camber in the front on the track, so use that as a guide. Front camber plates allow you to adjust camber up front.

For the rear, we don't like to use too much camber. Keeping camber near zero will allow the rear tires to accelerate more efficiency and keep weird tire wear in check. You'll need camber adjust links or a rear camber adjust bar to mess with the rear camber. Although toe is not technically adjustable in the rear of the FC3S, there are cam adjusters that can adjust toe. Slight toe-in can keep the rear more stable, while slight toe-out will cause the rear to kick out easier. You can try and experiment with the toe in the rear, but we usually keep the toe at "0" initially as a baseline.


The Interior
Although not required, upgrades in the interior can help. These are typical upgrades that most race cars will do so they are nothing new. A racing seat will help by keeping the driver in place under high G-forces. The high bolsters on a racing seat will keep the driver in place, allowing you to concentrate more on controlling the car rather than bracing yourself in place. In conjunction with the racing seat, a racing harness works with the seat to complete the package. When properly strapped in with a racing harness, the driver becomes immobile and the forces of even drifting can't move you. For a racing harness to work safely, a roll ball or roll cage with a dedicated crossbar for the racing harness running horizontally above the shoulders is the safest way to install them. Having the racing harness shoulder straps run downwards is DANGEROUS - please ensure the racing harness is installed properly!

I forgot to mention that I didn't replace any of the bushings, it makes for a good feel.

dtss eliminators. thats about it. i started learning to drift an FC and honestly my SA has a better feel stock, but for the price you cant beat drifitng an FC. my car is in construction right now, and its not as easy as a 240 to hold a big angle for long, but you can drift the shit out of an FC with limited mods. if you dont car about interior and all that weight reduction will help alot.

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/advantages-fcs-have-against-compeditors-drifting-532520/

thats a badass thread about why the FC is a great drift car.

takes some work, but its an amazing car. be safe though thats the key to drifting is safety. and i know that sounds stupid until you hit a curb or a wall or a pole or something else. good luck.

Wow, that's alot of good info there. Saw this thread, and had to chime in a little before bed. The bottom line is, drifting can be more expensive than simply powering up your car, LSD overhaul and such is routine maintainances... Get a copy of the "Drift Bible" (<=DVD), I think you would be interested, you can start to learn all those techniques at least in theory, such as shift lock, faint, power over etc... Different cars got different behavior, to my taste (and the way I feel the FCs acts), the FCs naturally are not the best for drifting, probably even hard to drift, I would expect one need to do everything earlier and quicker comparing to the S13s etc since it oversteers relatively easier, and also work on the RPM to get enough touque. If you want to hang with the big guys, take them to the course and corners.

Just saw the videos in the link ... it's cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPGOaG_doQw

A good one of haruguchi

drifting the FC is not going to get you too far, you'll need to work 4x as hard, end up spending more money then the S chassis guys ( sonsidering the quality of thier OEM regidity and suspension that's allot of coin ).. to get the same drift. Find a local Time attack or Solo 1 series and put the FC to good use where it performs it's best on the track.

Unlike the 240/S chassis where companies make tonnes of replacment panels and Nissan carries replacement subframe sheet metal and frame rails.. the FC does not have that support here.. you biff that cars tail end, ( and if your drifting on a track , you will ), then you've got a new chassis to consider or run that one beat up/bent/twisted... the 240 guy that does the same thing can go to Nisssan by a complete replacement frame rail set, subframe and hatch floorpan section.. as an example.

Zamurai is the top FC drifter at the moment.. he makes it into the top 10 in the FC more often then anyone else.. but no FC as of yet has made it into the D1 final 4.. I don't think I've seen a FC make it to the top 8 shootout in along time..

Awesome video alwayssideways :bigok:
As for the FC as a drift car...
After owning first an AE86, to a JDM S5 FC, to an NA S4 base FC, to now a JDM Supra JZA70 twin turbo, I can honestly say that the car I felt most at home in when going sideways was my NA FC.
I found the FC to be much more challening to learn its limits, but once I figured that out for myself, it was artwork everytime I hit a clover leaf :D
I had a pretty decent setup I suppose, Cusco Zero2 coilovers, DTSS eliminators, OEM LSD, Front strut bar, and mazdatrix adjustable rear sublink. With that setup and my NA 13B which made 155 rwhp, while rolling on 14x7" rims with snow tires, I could throw the car into awesome high speed controlled drifts (120 km/h +). The tie rod ends were not shimmed however, which gave me limited steering angle, which is a pretty big setback for FC's drifting.
Basically all you need is a good coilover setup or stiff spring and shock combo, DTSS eliminators, camber plates help ALOT with understeering (most coilovers for the FC have these already), a proper working LSD (OEM or aftermarket) and you have yourself a little drift machine requiring only you and some balls.
In order to be really competitive you can get a GP sports or Supernow steering angle kit, which will allow you to hold greater drift angles, or you can do it ghetto style and shim your tie rod ends, that will also give you a bit more angle, but not quite as much as the actual kits.
The key to getting and keeping the FC sideways (in my experiences) is weight shifting techniques. I'm not going to bother reiterating the specifics, since I'm pretty sure that all the specifics have been covered in the thread about drifting FC's from back a little while ago already.

Here's a crappy video of me screwing around back when I started learning to drift my NA S4. At the time, everything was stock including open diff and DTSS. the only modifications were some beaten Tokico HP's, and old sagging Intrax springs.
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?doc...0291205&q=fc3s
Notice the weaksauce angles lol yet even with a basically stock car it was still capable of sliding through corners at reasonable speed (about 55 MPH/90 kmh)

Anyways, yeah don't let anybody tell you the FC is not a capable drift platform, because it most definitely is. In the end it all boils down to suspension tuning and who's behind the wheel :)
Happy drifting

first thing get some coilovers, and a 2-way LSD and you will be set...

the only bad thing about the FC is that the 180SX ( or in your country 240SX ) has like 6 or 7 more degrees of lock... but other than that, the car is spot on... really good balance... ( FRONT 50.2 % and the BACK 49.8 % ) cant get much better weight than that...

If I remember correctly there was a D1 event where Haruguchi did win a D1 event. I can remember when but I have a vid with it in there.....So yes indeed FC's can win. This is a fun car to drive and much faster than any 240. I've been doing it for a lil while now, and all I need is good parts now......someone buy me coilovers!

All top 3 out of 4 drivers here are going to Pro AM competition in Vegas. 3 are FC's. You can drift anything, just has to have the basic requirements; RWD, LSD and stiff ass suspension. That's it, drift away. FC's are awesome drift cars.

Copmetition Day:
http://www.driftlive.com/?p=367

Practice Day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awy8TbJPxOo

likes its been said.. IMO, FC's are great drift car.. get some suspension and even the stock GXL LSD works. i drift in my quit a bit and i dont even have suspension yet,

:rl: :rl:



fuck a 240, ^ you my friend are a disgrace to the rx7 community^ . sevens are great fro drifting but just like any other form of racing its expensive

i love driftin my na fc. it is not hard at all to drift just lacking in the power department. you can drift on any suspension but stiffer is better. i have the racing beat spring and sway bars and they work great