Drift muscle

[AllMotorKing]

i'm down w/ the 64-67 novas but the problem w/ drifting old cars is that you are going to destroy that thing sooner or later unless you build one from the ground up.

a guy out in Houston TX won drift showoff w/ an el camino so anything's possible.

[bdjoe]

Originally posted by AllMotorKing
i'm down w/ the 64-67 novas but the problem w/ drifting old cars is that you are going to destroy that thing sooner or later unless you build one from the ground up.

a guy out in Houston TX won drift showoff w/ an el camino so anything's possible.

Ah, you can destroy any car drifting it (or not), if you don't take care of it. Example being our neighbor had a rusty-arse 90' civic, because he never took care of it. There are plenty of old cars that are in better shape than newer cars. But I do agree that older cars need special attention which is part of the fun of having one.

[driftersil80]

^See, in the future, Spaceboys are child mollesters. So it's "gonna get you.....like a Space Boy! WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOOOAAA!!!".

[Tsunami]

Sure it's possible to drift and old musclecar, provided it has good enough tires and ALOT of suspension work. As is, with their heavy big-blocks and 40-year-old suspensions, they really don't handle well enough to drift without replacing all the old suspension stuff with modern parts. They were made as drag cars and not to handle.

Today's Mustang's and Camaro's have far superior weight distribuition, better tires, more modern suspensions, and more affordable performance parts than their ancestors. It's much cheaper to go buy a newer car and build it than to try to hunt down vintage parts for 60's cars. (vintage car parts cost alot more than parts for modern cars plus they're harder to find) Not to mention that nobody wants to wreck a vintage musclecar due to the lower-number of parts and their cost. Whereas if you hit something in a 5.0, no biggy, just open a copy of Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords and order some new body parts.

But if you want to drift an old musclecar, I'd say try a second gen F-Body. This car has a good enough aftermarket to get it to handle well. Also you could try a Nova 350. It's light but I dunno if there's enough suspension pieces available for it to handle well enough to drift. If you want to drift a something like an old Camaro SS, Mustang Mach one, or Chevelle you'll need to do some seroius suspension work.

[nissanguy_24]

Originally posted by Tsunami
If you want to drift a something like an old Camaro SS, Mustang Mach one, or Chevelle you'll need to do some seroius suspension work.

Yeah indeed... Pretty much figure on custom suspension parts. maybe copying suspension of a RX-7 or a S13, design it to fit your car. I bring up those two only because they are drifted often and the suspension design as proven its self. Might be easier to adopt a modern mustang or camaro suspension to fit the classic.

It would be alot of work. But if you loved drifting and loved Muscle cars, it would be a incredably cool project. Consider the style points of drifting a Shelby GT-350, with big wheels and relaitvely low profile tires. low to the ground. Maybe doesnt sound like classic muscle car asthetics, but i saw a camaro once, a first gen, low, not low rider low, but sports car low. with big wheels and low pro tires and it looked sexy.

[soultron]

ok ok, lets get it straight fellas.
musle cars are not just for drag racing.
what do you think americans raced before japanese and other import cars were acceptable? have a look at these links.

trans am racing-

Smokey Yunick- car legend more-
and the camaro-

read it. don't just look at the pictures.
get your car sideways.
parse those urls ladies and gents.

[Sideways86]

This was posted a while back:


I own a 67 mustang and theres a huge aftermarket for these cars, the parts aren't that expensive either because theres so many companies out there making repo parts. True you will need a lot of suspension work but theres kits out for less then $1K that would make these old muscle cars handle well. Slap on a supercharger and you're ready to go!

There are even companies out there that make full track suspensions for the classic mustangs, those cost quite a bit however. But anything is possible with enough time and $$$.

Here are some great sites for aftermarket parts

Jegs

Summit Racing

And another muscle car pic

[bdjoe]

that's neat. don't know if i could bring myself to drift something that nice just yet

[raging panda]

older mustangs and older cars are neat and stuff, i own a 65 mustang, but for drifting they are not ideal. Unless you convert the suspension, they really aren't very good around a corner. Plus the things are heavy as a mug because they are made of all steel and chrome, very heavy cars with bad suspension doesn't equal a very good drift car. I never said impossible or stupid, just far from ideal. The solid axle suspension with leaf springs has absolutely no adjustment for camber, so when one side is diving in, it just starts running hard on the outside of the tire wall instead of squatting down and driving on the bottom of the tire like it is supposed to. This would make (I assume, since I haven't drifted a solid axle car) for a very difficult and unpredictable handling situation.

Now there is hope. I have seen in a mustang magazine, they converted a 68 mustang, and took 99 mustang cobra front and rear (IRS for those who dont know) suspension and slapped it on. It took some major work, but definately far from impossible. it seems that the frame rails are similar enough that the IRS from the cobra will half way bolt in, and requires a few notches in the frame and lots of welding. The front required some modification to the strut towers, but nothing too impossible. Definately not for your weekend warrior, but still, far from impossible, and personally i think its the best idea for a drift mustang ever. Then you just use a 5.0 engine w/ a cam, some heads, intake, headers and exhaust and you are off.

[Sideways86]

I would never make my mustang a drift car...I'd cry if I crashed it

Heres a company that makes coilover systems for the front and rear of the mustang. It would also be good to convert your engine to fuel injection or to drop in an engine that is already fuel injected (like a cobra engine) because a carb can starve for fuel when cornering hard.

Total Control Parts

[CrazyHawaiian]

Well, all I can really say is that it takes alot of work to make ANY 10+ year old car ideal for drifting. Be it import or domestic, any car that old will need some work to get the suspension drift worthy (even just bringing deterioriated suspension back to OEM specs). Muscle cars have always had the stereotype of only being good for straight line driving, but its just that, a stereotype. If you research you'll find that Muscle cars have been used in roadracing situations, and there is aftermarket suspension support for these cars. It won't be cheap getting these cars suspensions built up for drifting, but last time I checked a coilover system for imports costs quite a bit too. Its all a matter of perspective. I also dont understand why you guys say you must convert older Muscle car suspension. Like Imports, the many makes and models of Domestic Muscle cars have different types of suspension designs. Its just up to you to research which ones you think will work the best for your application. Just because its different from what you guys see in the current drifting scene does not mean its a bad design. You'll actually be supprised to find a lot of older Muscle car suspension designs in use in Import cars as well. The all popular AE86 uses a solid rear axle with panhard rod suspension design, as does my Camaro. Mercedes, VW, and Porsche have used the same front MacPherson suspension design found on my Camaro. I'm not saying these suspension designs are superior to other designs you'll find, but they have been tried and proven over decades of use, and I dont understand the need to convert anything. Just modify what already exists and you'll be good to go.

Oh and about the full carbon fiber body thing, I think I gave you some false information. Its called Project 50/50 by a company called ATR or something. I've seen in the front part of Popular Hot Rodding (nice dark green car). It is a full carbon fiber 69 Camaro body, but its draped over a C5 corvette frame and uses all C5 corvette parts (98+ Vette engine/tranny/rearend/etc stuff). So its not a true full carbon fiber 69 Camaro, but probably as close as you're gonna get hehehe.

[AllMotorKing]

Uhh, I've got a car that is 33 years old, if I crashed it I would cry because it's so damn purdy...

[AllMotorKing]

Although as much as I would like to drift this damn thing, it would dent my pocket beyond all recognition.

[my 1 88 u]

im sorry but this is why a viper is not a good drift car for us normals

http://www.dodge.com/viper/index.htm...epage&type=top

[AllMotorKing]

Because if you crash it, it'll cost too much... lol