"DRIFT TRUCK" Im gonna Do It!!! Goods and Bads?

[SlideRoadster]

Ive lost many hours of sleep, thinking of what it would be like to have a driftin-mini truck. i can see it all now...

a Nissan Hardbody 95-96 with a SR-20DET black top under the hood.... slam it down with all the driftin-fixins.... a crazy "cab to bed" Role cage and an IRS setup in the rear... R34 rear tail lights and S-13 front 3-projectors flush into the face of the truck.... anybody feelin me? how bout some feed back im actually finally startin this project and just wanna know how itll go over fan wise. i belive itll drift well with a little weigh balancin hmm we'll see...
Thrill
to be continued

[7akumi X]

Hey there,
I think its GREAT your doing something different, those lights outa be sikness, both of em. Although I cant QUITE envision them but i think it outa be sweet. For those of you who dont know what a Hardtop looks like. I dont know if thats the year you thought about...I would have done it with an F-150 or a or that popular dodge truck, name slips me by. I guess thats why were all different people huh ? lol Good luck man..

PS: To really hang the back end out, slam some sandbags in there!!! Easy weight disribution.

[JonnySlick]

yeah me and my buddy have toyed with the idea of a drift truck too. there's a guy in cally w/ a rodeo who drifts it....

anyway, i like the idea of a f150 or ford ranger. hardbody is cool too though w/ the sr swap.

[SlideRoadster]

i think a F150 is too big... the ranger may work, but on the topic of american trucks the S-10 would be the best choice... there have been a few cases were people have put IRS systems from an RX7 in the s10... and a V8 swap aint hard tah do in the s10

do they have any sick mini-trucks in Japan, that we dont have? cause ill probably start this project when i go there in sept.

[Dori Star]

moo...

dont steal my ideas, im doing tha sil80 truck... but first, i gotta find a donor body... neone? neone? beuler? ...hahah

jm, goodluck...

[JonnySlick]

Originally posted by SlideRoadster
i think a F150 is too big...

that's the whole point....like drifting the big 4 door sedans in japan. big things are cool to see sliding sideways (harder to control, but very cool) .

[SlideRoadster]

hmm yah got a point... but if that were the case id use a Dakota with a mag V8 the Crew Cab even no that would be coo/ and ridiculous at the same time... i still like the mini truck idea....

Thrill

[CrazyHawaiian]

It would look cool...but .. no. Sorry. Even with everything you mentioned the weight distribution would be so off it would be dangereous. Imagine understeering into every turn no matter what. Not fun.

[J-BloodAE86]

plus, id be really 'spensive, you'd have to make all the parts custom. Id probably be cheaper just to convert the back of a "drift" car into a truck bed. I've seen it done before on 86s and on a sileighty thar competes in D1

[SlideRoadster]

im pretty sure yah itll be expensive, but hey i already have a fabricaion sponser lined up...
i think we got enough room to move the engine back a good deal. change the caster and mount the fuel Cell back a good deal... and with an IRS setup... and heavy mufflers haha i think i could swing it pretty decent..
Thrill

[J-BloodAE86]

ic ic, with sponsoring you could pull it off, supposedly the wieght distrubution of a pick up isn't that bad for drifting because it gives less wieght over the wheels, resulting in less traction

[JonnySlick]

anything is possible with money, time, blood, tears, and money....if you have pleanty of that, i say go for it!

[Statik]

Hmm, THe setup doesnt seem hard but chassis tunning will be a PIA, Only real difficulty i see is picking the spring rate for the rear. Basicallt to soft and the rear will roll to much, and to stiff on such a light rear the backend will jump off of every imperfection. On smooth tracks and parking lots its easy but at tracks like irwindale the transistion from the embankment to the center section will be a *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored*. Well anyway heres my take, Find a wrecked S13 and cut the rear subframe out. I mean everything take about from the mid trunk to where the back seats, leave off the fenders and stuff though just be sure to get all of the suspension mounting points. Take you Nissan bed and cut it out. Place the S13 rear cut in the bed and center the axles into the harbodies fender openings. Measure it out so that all of the S13 suspension components sit at factory height. From there have your welder build the upper shock mounts at the S13 height in the hardbody bed. Layout the new sheet metal bed and reinforce it where the subframe connectors are going to mount, You may need to weld extensions onto the trucks chassis for this (not sure as pictureing this in my head.). The Sr20 swap is easy as its the same KA block from the 240. Will probably need to order a custom drive shaft as i doubt the stock one will fit. Nice this is if you do it that way it will be cheaper because you can use S13 suspension components on the rear giving you a wide variety of shock and spring combos to get the spring rates right. If you want you can do the same thing by measuring the distances in the suspension components, but you would still have to buy all the Suspension pieces to use the S13 IRS. Thats why buying a S13 rear clip is easiest.

Statik
I would walk through that visually though as i dont have a S13 nor Hardbody here in front of me.

[SlideRoadster]

took my idea outta my head idnt yah haha...well the idea i had is similiar, im workin on a tube frame for the back half in which i plan to incorporate shocktowers and mounts from a familiar car like the s13 or similiar... which will make it easy to switch and replace parts and rearends.... so along those lines, dont wanna make the thing difficult to deal with.

well here is my exterior idea... http://www.theforumisdown.com/upload...iftTruck_2.jpg
http://www.theforumisdown.com/upload...iftTruck_1.jpg
a rough sketch, drawn crudely with a ballpont pen.. but yah get the idea..
Thrill

grr anybody know a descent hosting site.... sorry yah gotta copy and paste...

[Nightwalker]

have you thought about the leaf spring setup in the rear of those things? Not the greatest. Other factors as well. Just think deep thoughts, and realize how much money it will cost you just to be different, then get whooped by a regular 240 with a third of the money invested, at a drift event.