First drift car - suggestions please!

[Mark_Logan]

If you can drift a chevette its pretty easy to drift anything. The stock weight distrubution is very similar to a 240sx.... a front heavy 240sx... with a cow strapped to the front bumper...

Anyhow you can pick up a chevette on trade for a handfull of dirt. Strip the interior and put the battery in the back. Take out a half ton of heater core junk and various wiring assemblies and its an okay drifter. Might wanna find yourself a junkyard LSD though. She can come unglued pretty fast having a 7ft wheelbase and all.

What I did with my stripped vette is ran wide street tires on the front and worn, skinny, mud/snow tires in the rear. This allowed the sewing machine they refer to as an engine break the tires loose on command

Just a few thoughts... and bad ones at that!...

[nissanguy_24]

Originally posted by Mark_Logan
Just a few thoughts... and bad ones at that!...

Not at all your comments were both enlightening and humorous.

[mranlet]

Originally posted by Mark_Logan
If you can drift a chevette its pretty easy to drift anything. The stock weight distrubution is very similar to a 240sx.... a front heavy 240sx... with a cow strapped to the front bumper...

Anyhow you can pick up a chevette on trade for a handfull of dirt. Strip the interior and put the battery in the back. Take out a half ton of heater core junk and various wiring assemblies and its an okay drifter. Might wanna find yourself a junkyard LSD though. She can come unglued pretty fast having a 7ft wheelbase and all.

What I did with my stripped vette is ran wide street tires on the front and worn, skinny, mud/snow tires in the rear. This allowed the sewing machine they refer to as an engine break the tires loose on command

Just a few thoughts... and bad ones at that!...

I'm riveted - do you have any pics? You MUST get in touch with "Soultron", he's been working on his 'vette for quite a while now...

There's an issue of Retro Cars that talkes about Chevette tuning. The stock weight dist isn't bad numerically (talking about lbs front and lbs rear) but it comes out to a pretty ugly-looking percentage. With such a tiny light platform it isn't hard to re-arrange some things to balance the car out, and the stock diff can be welded shut to give that ghetto-LSD effect.

If I can find a Chevette I'm totally serious abuot swapping in a motorcycle engine - a fuel injected CBR motor with exhaust and timing adjustments can produce almost double the power as the tiny 'vette motor...

BTW - isn't the Chevette called the Pontiac Acadian there in Canada, or is that a supplementary model?

-MR

[nissanguy_24]

A bike motor? now that would be cool. Light too. A rotary wouldnt be a bad idea either.

[Mark_Logan]

Yep they're called Acadian's here, but its a Chevette... like sunfire vs cavalier. I only have pics of the first chevette... after its untimely demise... turns out you can't drive that fast down the mountain... in the rain... in the dark... anyhow Ill grab some pics and revise this post with some links

The "new" Acadian is a 87' 2 door. Battery is in the back. Hood pins up front. Rubber bungies hold the hatch close. The windows keep falling out of the rear ports, possibly a safety issue so I need to re-mount those on some steel or aluminum mounts instead of those stupid plastic clips.

The interior is out of the car. Rear seats, carpet, head liner, all that plastic molding garbage. Inside are RCI plastic bucket racing seats on aluminum plates wich mount to slider brackets. RCI 5 point belts hold you in on hard, hard, hard turns... even upside down ones. This leaves the driver with a steering wheel a dash and some door panels. What it really needs is a cage the old chevette damn near folded when it rolled.

Anyhow pics soon enough will be posted... should I make another thread?

[grift]

anything RWD who cares what it is. Of course you do not want a heavy car like a lincoln or something. Even older -dare i say it- cameros, trans ams, etc. I am sure you can pick up these white trash mobiles with little to no money. I am sure if you are begining to drift you ARE gonna crash it happens so why not get a car that is disposable any way (Sorry all you loyal GM fans), I picked My 240's up for 800 bucks. Notice I said 240s (more than one) of course they are/were crap buckets and need (ed) alot of work but it took me a year to find a sweet deal n these cars. Also I went on the premise of i am gonna rip every thing out of them anyway-motor, tranny, suspension, interior, etc and replace it so I did not need a running one or even one in real nice shape--I just wanted no rust or very little. However I did find one for 500 bucks that did run and one for 300 that needed interior, motor tranny and suspension. Keep looking and be patient youll find one.

[Ghost of Duluth]

Camaro's don't make all that bad of a slider, ask Crazyhawaiian and his crew of maro sliders. Nothing wrong with a maro. Aftermarket parts are cheap, they are more plentiful than 240's and every parts store in America carries something for them. That would be a great avenue to go down. I think it would be great to see one on slide.

[defiantfc3s]

An FC is a good choice because you can find one for under a thousand, most of them come with an L.S.D., stiff suspension, and a light body. Find a cheap one (good motor, outside doesn't matter) and get a good set of tires and you'll be drifting in no time.

[mranlet]

Originally posted by Mark_Logan Anyhow pics soon enough will be posted... should I make another thread? [/B]

Yes Please! And PM Soultron and tell him what's up - he'd be thrilled.

-MR

[soultron]

what the what?

how did I miss all the chevette gabbing?

oh right I was working on my car.

[mranlet]

Re: what the what?

Originally posted by soultron
how did I miss all the chevette gabbing?

oh right I was working on my car.

How is that coming along anyway? Did you ever get to Danbury? I've been rotting here at work, wishing I was working on my car

-MR