Took my Z drifting the other day...again

[Airjockie]

And I need to hurry and get the tire selection, suspension, engine, and LSD problems worked out....

But not bad for taking a 30 year old car, with the stock 30 year old engine, the stock one-tire-fire, the 30 year old shocks and springs, and no grip when I needed it....

And the Vids here...under OldRedZ...

But I have a better engine, full suspension, bushings, and a lot of other stuff on the way...and more tires...hehe

[rusty260z]

thats cool, i want to try that with mine, its stock like ures, was it hard,

did you have to use diffcult's techniques or simple power oversteer,

ive never tried it yet, any advice would be helpful.

[Airjockie]

Before any runs, I'd set the idle on the DGV carbs to about 1500rpms, then use the choke to keep the idle down while in the staging area. Then the powerover drifts were easy and fun to do...but the front tires were not helping at all...even though they were Azenies, the pavement was hot and the tires I had up front were getting bald...so very little grip The rear tires were some really old tiers that this one guy had in his garage, old, dry, weathered, and they smoked a lot, on the 4th run I swaped some Watanabes up front with ES100's and had plenty of grip, but couldn't get the rear to slide around like the first run....so for the overweight car with little power, tires and a real suspension is the only way to get a decent drift..and the driver also helps...But I still had fun

I was trying to do feints, and thats about all you can do with the car to get it to kick out, but the sloppy suspension just either kicked it out too far or not far enough, and my thottle control sucks...I was trying way to hard at times or not hard enough during the other times...

As soon as I can find the time, the car is getting the L28 with oversized pistons, fuel injection, electric ignition, cam, full set of poly bushings, better front brakes, tokico Illuminas all the way around, Ground Control 1" lowwering springs and a few other sweet parts....but I will still be a one-tire-fire unless someone has a cheap LSD they want to sell me :nervous:

[PrOxLaMuS©]

um...

If I were you, I would go for some coil-overs with a stiffer spring rate for about $400 and trust me you will be sliding around alot easier.

www.modern-motorsports.com sells them for your 280Z

[PrOxLaMuS©]

After watching your video's, and spinning out so much, I would recommend some things...

(sorry don't want to dog on you but.. helpful suggestions)

- You are countersteering too late which resuts in your not being able to keep up with your rear end, so you spin out.

- Also try giving the Z less gas once you feel the Z start to spin out. Once the rear end has lost traction BLIP the throttle, and kinda "pump" the gas to keep the rear end under control. So while drifting, let up on the throttle when you feel the rear end really coming out and then when you feel the car coming back, use a little gas, and don't floor it.

- Z's and stock suspensions are very hard to drift, and using the feint, is well, a bit difficult especially due to the springs. Try a small grab of the e-brake or power-over drifts. Much easier for me. Also tryn the Clutch Kick or brake transfer would help.

I have noticed that Z's have bad understeer when turning too sharply at about 40-50 mph.

Just remember, even the professional drifters usually only go a maximum of only a 45* degree drift out. So they are not literally sideway's and only have maybe a 45* drift. When I frist started drifting I tried to get as sideways as I could... until I realized, it was too much and caused too many spin outs.

I have been sliding around and drifting with my stock 280Z with an AUTOMATIC transmission! Bad idea, and difficult to do, but is possible.

[Airjockie]

any and all suggestions accepted....=)

[Airjockie]

Update:

I have an event down in MD this next week-end on the 17th....

I had a lot of time to prep the car and collect some stuff.

I got the old L26 carbed motor out, and dropped in an L28 with fuel injection, oversized pistons, bored, hot cam, header, fairly new autozone clutch, electric ignition, full set of tokico 5 way Illumina's, Tokico 1" drop springs, full poly bushing set (half installed) 2 new Azenis for the front, and a bunch of junk tires for the rear.

I still need to get some more stuff, as in a decent race seat and a harness, or I might cut a hole in a spare seat I have here and install the harness I put into the AE86 I built, and possibly find a good cheap clutch that will grip a little better than the autozone one that I have....but hopefully it will break in on the 6 hour drive down there to the event.

but I am also still a virgin to this setup..so any more hints would be very helpfull.

Also...which would be better for the drift..a 4 speed or 5 speed trany?

[PrOxLaMuS©]

the 4-speed and 5-speed trannies are nearly identical from 1970-1978 and when the new 280ZX's came out they had different gear ratios...

so technically the 5-speed manual in early Z cars have the EXACT same first for gears as the 4-speed. The only difference is the over-drive 5th gear which is more than the 1:1 in 4th gear.

So swap in a later 5-speed from a 280ZX... and get a Borg Warner 5-speed from the 280ZX TURBO's.

Also... I would look into a different differential instead of the transmission.

Like a 4.11 would be perfect for drifting since it's relatively at low speeds.. and HIGH RPM's... and the 4.11 will make the car a rocket..... but driving on the highway.. your RPM's will be a bit high and will reduce your overall top speed. If you keep your 3.6? differential.. overall top speed is higher and acceleration is slower.

Look into the 3.7 LSD differetials from the 300ZX Turbo's too

[speedyblue]

Ohh now you have gotten me excited. I want to give mine a go at drifting, but decided to up the suspension stiffness first. I already have the L28 in place, and a spare set of mags to put skinny tyres on. Have you got strut braces installed? From what I've heard, the stiffer the chassis the better. The video link is down, so I can't see them. I had wondered how easy a Z was to drift.

[Airjockie]

My buddy has a Borg Warner...I'll see if he might let me use it...

I have the rear diff availible from the 78 280Z...but no luck and no money to get a better diff on short notice...

I do need a clutch....or at least a decent Pressure plate...

I was looking at ACT...but my bank account says no.....untill thrusday morning, and overnighting it would be cutting it to close to install and break in.

No strut bars yet, but I might be able to borrow a front Strut bar from my buddy...

If anyone in the CT area wants to join me on this venture...and has a few parts laying around that they wouldn't mind loaning me...I'm up for anything..

I'm just tired of seeing 197,386,874 240SX's at these event...and I want to add some real class to this drifting sport.

[Airjockie]

Here the new vid link

[Tommo560]

I wanna go!!! i have all the goodies (triple weber l28, 4.375 diff, koni struts, king springs, etc..) and i am organising some 14X4 old corolla wheels and tyres but are there any hints and tips you could share as to how to drift succesfully?! i only just got the car, and my license, so i hardly know how to drive, but i have seen drifting and desperatley want to try.

Tom.