FC N/A For drifting?

[trevtubby]

Hey,

I`m currently eyeing up a 1988 FC N/A, for the sole purpose of being a drifting learner car. Would these be ok for learning in? Or would they lack the power/torque required?

I had a Silvia S12 for drifting last year, and that was great..but had to sell it due to a career move. But im missing going sideways, and dont want to smash up my FD, so was looking at alternatives.

If they are ok, what modifications would I need to do to make it a reliable drifter?

Cheers

Trev

[dthebuk]

They\'re becoming quite popular drifters as they\'re pretty dam cheap. The power will be a problem for anything more than 3rd gear on grippy surfaces. But if it\'s a learner it\'ll be fine. As you probably know they\'re notoriously hard to drift due to the weight distrobution. But imo this a good thing for a learner car.

To make it a decent drifter i\'d suggest steering lock spacers, a welded diff, rear steer elimination and some sort of suspension upgrade. If you want to keep it cheap, i\'d go for cut springs or lowering springs. Other than that, just keep it cool and make sure the ancillaries are in check and all the bits that matter are serviced. Oh and strip it to death

[trevtubby]

Great reply, just the answers I was hoping for lol.

Where can I get hold of the Steering Lock Spacers, Rear Steer Elimination parts mate?

Cheers!

Oh. and are there any easy power upgrades available? Would an air filter and straight through exhaust be ok on an N/A without having to mess with the ECU etc? They are around 148bhp I believe, is that right? I would like around 170bhp...is that possible on a N/A for muchos cheapness? Also whats the best/cheapest way of keeping the water temps down? Aftermarket Rad? any cheap bolt ons from other cars availale? I read somewhere that skyline rads fit straight in?

[m1tch]

Hey there, yeah some people drift EGIs, they have less to go wrong and rev higher than the turbos, putting a racing beat header and nice air filter The issue with drifting is the lack of forward motion, so uprated rad and ducted fans are the way to go it seems

[dthebuk]

Lock spacers.....well i\'d just find some standard spacers and fit them. You can go up to about 6-7mm i believe. As for the size, i\'d just measure the tie rod ends where the spacers go. Been meaning to do mine but i havn\'t had a chance. Give this place a read, its a decent write up http://fc3spro.com/TECH/DRIFT/DCOMPARE/dcompare.html

Got my rear steer eliminators from MRP for about £50. Can\'t fault them, but ive heard of people picking them up for about half the price.

Depending on condition of the engine, you\'ll be lucky to be pushing 140 bhp, though i have heard of some with 160 running a decent header (usually racing beat), complete full though, and a panel filter. Panel filters are the way forward if you don\'t want to look into engine management .  If you\'re after more power you\'ll need to go down the porting route. Though this is more track based imo as some of the torque figures are ridiculously low on ported Egi\'s. Street port would most likely be the way to go.


As for the cooling, i think there are a couple of guys on stock cooling. With drifting you usually have a couple of short runs giving the engine time to cool. So i would suggest a couple of gauges, oil and water temp. If it starts getting to hot then you\'ll know you need an uprated rad.

I plan on running pretty much stock cooling but with no bonnet to begin with


and good luck. Glad that you\'ve finally seen the light!!!

[trevtubby]

Thanks again, all good stuff.

FC could well be the way ahead then.

I`ll let you know how I get on.

[N22CK_C]

I\'ve got EGI as drifter

[TiddlesRX7]

There are a couple of cheap TII\'s of ebay at the moment. Might be tempting for you.