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My venture into drifting in Japan

OK so I have always not been too big on drifting. I worked on drift cars but preferred time attack/ grip. I do still prefer time attack/ grip but I have to admit drifting is a ton of fun.

I have lived here in Japan for the past 6 years but only started drifting this past summer 2010. Here is a break down of my drifting experience in Japan. Keep in mind I wanted a budget drift car that I could use for 1 event with the very big possibility of destroying the car at that single event.

I had my eye on a black 91 TII that I drove past for almost daily for about 3 years. It was sitting on blocks with no wheels, no seats, and some front end damage. It was sitting on the side of somebodies garden but not connected to someones house so I had no idea who the owner was. Finally one day I spotted an old guy near the car and chatted with him about the car.

He told me that his son had crashed it into a rice field about 3.5 years ago and it has been sitting ever since. He sold the wheels and seats but never did anything else. I asked him if he wanted to get rid of it and offered to take it off him for free. He told me he was hoping to get 30,000 yen (about$300) for it. I told him that I was not interested in paying that much for a car that had been crashed, and had not been started for a long time. I gave him my business card and said if you change you mind let me know.

He called me 2 weeks later and said I could have it for $100. I said OK. I had some extra Mazdaspeed wheels laying around so I took them with me and borrowed a friends tow truck to pick up the car.

I got the car home and put a battery in it to see if it would even crank. I cranked but did not fire. After pulling out a giant blob of orange and white which use to be the fuel pump, cleaning the tank, and putting in a FD fuel pump the car fired up and was driveable (but still had bent front left suspension arms and no seats.

I picked up some used seats, a used mazdaspeed 2way lsd, A-arms, and steering arms. Everything went in with no problems and the car was ready to be used at the Summer Drift Matsuri at Ebisu Circuit here in Japan. After two full days of learning to drift at the Drift Matsuri, I was feeling pretty comfortable drifting around two of the six circuits at Ebisu. The only damage I managed to incur was a bent rim when I went off the coarse but the tire still held air and so I let it be.

The next Drift Matsuri was in November of 2010 so I added some steering spacers to the car in the months between, swapped out the AFM for a work one since I was having some bad bogging issues anywhere above 3k rpm.

I then went to the November Drift Matsuri at Ebisu and spend about half the day getting use to the car again and noticing the big advantages of having more steering lock from the spaces. Near the end of the day my confidence was very high and my entry speeds started reflecting that...

:lol:

Yes thats when my confidence surpassed my abilities and I went backwards into a wall that I had been practicing brushing up against :lol:. Pics will follow this post.

The car has not been backed into walls 4 times but is still running strong. The coilovers went out on me long ago and made the car feel like a cadi. So I have since picked up a used set of cusco coilovers that will go in the car for the Spring 2011 drift matsuri. The only other problem I need to attend to is pulling out the rear quarter or atleast the gas filler hose so I can get fuel in the car again:)

All in all drifting is lots of fun, in my experience it is definately not as easy as grip racing for a beginner but is easier once you have the fundementals figured out. I still do not feel the need to use any car for drifting aside from something that I would not care about being totalled.

Thanks for reading pics to follow soon and i will link some Matsuri Videos as well, though I am not filmed in them but they do show how much fun the drift matsuri at Ebisu is :icon_tup:

I am sure most of you have seen these videos from the Drift Matsuri but for those that havent.

Summer 2010 filmed and edited by Remi Schouten

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZPztGeGx8Y

Autumn 2010 filmed and edited by Remi Schouten

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uBbP...eature=related

Drift Matsuri Mechanics video filmed and edited by Dave from JPP in Australia.
You can see me popping my skinny tires onto the wheels with parts cleaner and a lighter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pJPRvIxQ6s

Big thanks to Andy at Powervehicles for use of his garage and tools at Ebisu!

thats pretty sick...

Hella missile-status. I'm digging it.

Read today. And love it, how long have you been in japan and what made you wanna move there? This pretty much sums up my dream. Huge props on doing what you are.

so you haven't done any angle mods yet ?

The car is definately a missile. I have been very lucky that the rear hatch glass has not shattered yet. I would hate to have to seal/ tape up the rear hatch at the end of every event :icon_tdow I may just remove it for the next event and then put it back on at the end of the event.

I moved to japan 6 years ago to play volleyball out here, one thing lead to another and I ended up staying. I miss the states but am still plenty happy here.

I have added spacers to the steering rack but other than that I have not and do not intend on doing any angle mods. I want to learn as much as I can with low power and limited mods. If for some reason I end up picking up a cheap drift car in the future that is well set up then it should make it all the easier to jump in it and drive it :icon_tup:

A lot of Aussie guys come out to the drift matsuri at Ebisu but there is not many Americans that come out. I think Chris forsberg came out at one point and maybe one or two other guys but Americans are definately scarce at the event. Take a look at powervehicles drift heaven weeks or Team orange's drift heaven.

Oh here is another car I picked up that I was thinking to use as a missile but have decided to swap over into a cleaner chassis and daily drive.

Pics of the FD before it was used at Matsuri.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/IMG_7744.jpg

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/IMG_7732.jpg

After Drift Matsuri and the condition of the car when i bought it.
It has a blown front turbo but the engine still is good.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/IMG_0145.jpg

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/IMG_0146.jpg

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...o/IMG_0147.jpg

ouch. Hope you got a good deal on it. lol

it'll buff right out.

who ever drove that fd. needs to learn how to drive holy shit

Great body work on that fd, you should use the wall to make the other side match

LOL and that's why I only drift on 2 tracks with my FD....nice and safe soft barriers. ;)

I love the pics and it looks like a blast man. Keep it up! Oh great find on the FC BTW

Nice, looks like you caught the drift bug.

Love the zip ties on the FD.

I got the FD for a very good price and hopefully will get the next rolling shell for it for free or very cheap.

The driver of the FD was actually really good but he bought the car with the same intentions as me when I bought my FC. He just wanted the car to survive or last through the weekend. Unfortunately the front turbo blew on the first day so he was stuck having to go at everything with really high entry speeds to make up for the lack of power. I am pretty sure the red FD caused the rear quarter damage to the purple JZX mark II in the video where they are pulling the dent out with another car.

absolutely love it, What do you do out in japan in the way of work? and is it exspensive and what would you reccomend doing to get into it, and start off. Big fan, just wanna get into it.

At the moment I am looking for work. I am just buying and selling cars and parts for side money to make ends meet at the moment. I was teaching english for the first 2 years I was here in Japan and that is by far the easiest way to get your foot in the door for living and working in Japan. Although for Americans it does require a 4 year bachelors degree.
While I was teaching I helped out at a couple shops and eventually started working for a friends shop full time. Around the 4 year mark I was able to get a position at a Japanese LCD company which required me to speak Japanese 90% of the time. I left that position last July 2010 due to an offer to take a big pay cut or take a deal for leaving the company. So since July 2010 I have been doing cars and parts while I have searched for work.

My timing fo starting to drift could have been much better but then again, starting drifting at this time gave me a lot of time to find great deals and work on the car myself.

There is still a lot of snow up at Ebisu Circuit so I wont be able to go out and work on my FC until next month most likely. I don't have any big mods in mind but am thinking to fix the gas filler area, swap in a new clutch, and put on the new (used) coilovers. If I can find a cheap radiator I may swap that as well.

The only footage I have before smashing the rear into a wall a handful of times.

I will get more video at the next Drift Matsuir this coming May.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJlMD29nexo

Update: This is going to be my last year in Japan. My wife and I have decided to move back to California. So I have 3 more chances to abuse my drift FC at the Ebisu drift matsuri's in 2012.
In 2011 I was able to get out to one drift matsuri and then a couple other random single day trips. While trying to close the rear hatch one day, it finally gave up on me and shattered everywhere. Thankfully I was able to source another rear hatch that same trip an didnt have to duct tape or plastic wrap the whole rear hatch. The last outing the car dipped off course and the force from the cement hitting the exhaust caused the welds on the downpipe to break. So I have a new downpipe ready for my next trip and probably will change the clutch at the same time if the weather is decent.

Oh I was able to pick up a set of Cusco coilovers for $50 last year in good condition except for one coilover's spring perches have siezed together. I dont need the car super low so I just used them in the position they were in and it worked fine. I also actually did alignment on the car and it actually drives straight now instead of always pulling to the left hahahaha and amazingly it is much easier to drive as well LOL.

Since I would really like the car to last for this final year I am thinking to give it some defensive aspects hehehe. Again this is only if I have the time and the weather permits. I will keep you all updated with any new news.

you should rock out an exoskeleton like the rock climber guys, all mad max style. what size are those watanabe looking wheels, i have a pair on my fc that a friend brought back from japan, my rears are watanabe and my fronts are those. they have like vr stamped in them or something like that. im going to miss your for sale threads thats for damn sure. keep us updated and enjoy that last year.

Very nice! I wish the drift scene was that big/accessible here.

Well it was a nice FD, I heard that was a very fast paced track. I go to MSP but I want to get out there one day. Hope I bring mine back like it arrived at the track.

Poor FD :( Good read though! Looks like a ton of fun