I went to my first drift event last month and it was a little rough. The car wont power over in 2nd so I have to pop the clutch and then I get sideways too fast then end up letting off and basically just grip racing around the turn. I would have liked to have more time to get it figured out. I am pretty decent at first gear power overs but the track is not set up for 1st gear. All I have done to it at this point is some lowering springs, front control arm bushings and race seats.

Here are some pics of the car

 

if you go again, here's a simple suggestion or plan of attack:
1. removed EVERYTHING from the back, as in back seats, trunk carpet, trunk interior, trunk tools, everything that you possibly can.
2. Then go and find some cheap 17x8 or 17x7.5 rear rims...will need a pretty agressive offset with that width or at least spacers.
3. Buy some used cheap tires in like a 220 size for the rear and mount them.

All of these things will make it much much easier to let the rear end loose as the rear will be much lighter and much less grippy.

One more thing I would suggest is that project mu offers rear ebrake shoes that are supposedly quite excellent. If you need the extra ebrake torque to break loose (which you probably do), try picking them up.

All of these things can be done prob keeping you under 1k $ if you buy some used rims and used tires and should make your first few drift events easier.

...or just switch to road racing...its faster anyway

 

Good Info! Grip is very important in a drift setup.

I would not recommend most of these parts, unless they are broken or need to be replaced. Most people don't even run sway bar set ups on drift cars. Start off with an LSD 1.5 or 2 way will do just fine. If you are gong to get coilovers, I would recommend true style coilovers along with rear camber and toe rods so you can get a legit alignment.

Do you know if you have a VLSD? You could only be spinning 1 tire which is VERY hard to learn with. Don't be afraid to rev to 4k+ when doing a clutch kick. The drivetrain will handle it.

1) It is a good idea to remove the spare and tools but removing seats and carpet is overkill. Why sacrifice those if you street the car.

2) OEM 18's will do fine. No need to get smaller wheels with less width.

3) Used tires are good but be sure to always use similar sizes to stay consistent. 220 is a non existent tire size. 235-255 are good sizes to use on a stock G. Be sure to play around with rear tire pressure to find out what works best for you. I usually start off at 55 when warm then either inflate or deflate.

One the ebrake claim. Don't learn to initiate drift using the ebrake. Try using the ebrake for corrections or extensions to get close to those walls . Once you get faster you will learn how to use the ebrake properly.

 

Thanks for the tips guys. This is not a daily driver so I am not worried about having the rear seats or anything. I have 8 used tires laying around waiting to go on the rear whenever I wear these out. The car does have limited slip as I said it does fine in 1st gear slides I just have trouble controlling the 2nd gear slides. I think more tire pressure will help. I also have a hydraulic ebrake but have not installed it yet so I will not be needing ebrake shoes. I appreciate all the tips but I think what I need the most right now is just to practice.

 

If you've got the brembos, I don't think 17's will fit.
That said, I do the same thing with my G as you do. Before you go parting up your car, learn to drift it. It sounds like you're solid on your practicing and whatnot. That's really all I would do for right now until you get your car past your level of expertise. IN all honesty, these drift fine in stock form. I have plenty of friends in Z's and me and my G and sans some suspension mods (fairly recent) they are all stock cars. Truth be told, first couple times I took my car out, I was BONE stock and did just fine. 2nd gear and all. Didn't do a lot thru 3rd but the short gears of these cars coupled with a clutch kick will keep you sideways long enough to enjoy yourself. I've debated putting in the hydro e-brake. I'm not sure if I'm ready to give up my ABS yet. Guess we'll see how things shake loose next season as my car is garaged for the winter now.

 

Didn't see anyone mention it, so in addition to all of the above, you should bypass or add a switch to the Yaw sensor (under the center console). just turning the VDC off won't completely disable the system so you'll still have some interference at times. There are threads around here that show how to do it (between a full bypass and adding a switch - I definitely recommend adding a switch), I haven't messed with it in a year or two so I won't add a how to that I'm not 100% sure of.

 

It's already disconnected.

 

Mine is disabled. By disabled, I mean my VDC/ABS/TC is broken. lol

 

-THE easiest trick to disable VDC, ABS, etc. on a G or Z; the "vdc/abs, etc." dash lights will be on but simply reconnect the plug so these lights disappear: Anyone can avoid doing what Leksikon did (as quoted above) by actually disconnecting the grey harness/connector located on the ABS Module as seen in my attached pic "dctodrift", circled in red. The other pic "dctodrift2" is just a reference so you guys interested in doing this will have a better view of where to locate this under the hood; (U.S.A./CAN) driver's side, (EURO/JPN/OTHER) passenger's side. (I am not responsible if you crash while driving in the rain and don't know how to control your vehicle with this unplugged; mod at your own risk!!).. During inclement weather I "try" to reconnect the plug so I'm good to go; back to boring ol' stock but almost 99% of the time I it's d/ced.

Pure Sex- Most of the time I do inertia drift bc our cars are heavy as is, you're able to just throw the weight around and it'll get sideways; I barely use my ebrake to initiate a drift, only use it to slow the momentum/speed down a bit at higher drift speeds.. check out my vids for examples

-skip to 00:57
-skip to 13:48 (by Upshift video)

 

Nice vid

 

Thanks man!! Hey in that 3rd pic of yours (at the top of this post) is that a city light you installed/drilled into the housing or is that your fog light that's on?? If it is the latter, I'm really wanting to isolate the fog lights to be independent from the headlights- know how to do this?? (the easy way out would be to purchase the $50 kptech module, which I do NOT want to do... )

 

The easy way is to install a new switch to bypass all the factory crap. The KPTech module is actually not that easy to install, but the upside is keeping factory controls. A simple switch will cost you a couple bucks at any auto parts store.

 

Random question / old thread bump... What kind of steering work did you guys do (if any) for your drift G35s? I haven't seen too many options for high angle steering kits for our cars (and the one I did run across is stupidly expensive) so wondering if you all scavenged parts from other models or just run it as is and say screw it?

 

I wouldn't recommend getting an angle kit if you daily your car. Steering is way different and it comes with more tire wear, even with a proper alignment. PBM has a really nice kit that replaces the entire front lower suspension. Its priced at $800 but replaces the FLCA and Compression rod.


You can try other options first:

A) PBM Steering rack spacers will give you a couple degrees of steering angle. They also have S14 inner tie rods with build in spacers. You can run them with SPL or OEM outers.



B) Offset steering rack spacer. It adds more angle than the steering rack spacers. about 14* It's cheap and effective. I run one.