So Connecticut has finally got a legit drift circuit this year and I'm planning to try out with the encouragement of some of the other drifters in my car club. Saturday was my first practice. We got lots of pictures and made a video of the caravan to the practice lot, and some of the drifting action. I already am hooked, but I will need a lot more practice and a few changes to the car to compete.
Attn. safety police: the drifting was all shot on a closed course aside from one burnout from a stop sign.
[video=youtube;X6flXnTgN9o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6flXnTgN9o&feature=youtu.be[/video]
[video=youtube;gwPrjEceSMU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwPrjEceSMU[/video]
[video=youtube;qHdqKnbrWMU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qHdqKnbrWMU[/video]
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That looks like fun. Good luck with that. Show em Detroit built cars can do it too. :burnout:
Practice practice practice though if you wanna make it in the races. It takes a lot to learn how to properly control a vehicle that is intentionally out of control lol.
Definitely need practice. The dude with the white 240 is a pro. He's trying to coach the rest of us. The advantage of the Thunderbird is torque. some of the other guys were surprised to see that I could easily break the wheels free at higher speeds with a little throttle. I do wish I could hold my AOD in second gear though. I think that would help me control wheel spin better.
you should be able too. Once you get into 2nd just pull the shifter down to 1st and it actually holds in 2nd until somewhere around 15 mph then it drops down to 1st. Another way is to start in 1st, then when you hit your desired rpm go up to D then back down to 1st real quick it'll shift into 2nd and stay there. And yeah I would imagine with that charger on there you do have gobs of torque.
Ah, I just was on another site that told me the same thing. That should be cake with my ratchet shifter:)
Would be even better with an A4LD in there. Individual computer driven hold control for 1,2,D and OD on the fly. Plus lower 1 and 2 ratio's make for some helpful get up and go. Not that you need it lol but it helps to bust the rear end loose. Too bad it's such a hassle to retrofit. I think some if not most of your AOD upgrades would be compatible with it too.
Do you have CHE RCA's or still running stock?
do they make a controller for that swap? The trans I'm using now is a TCI rated for a lot more power than I need, so its probably gonna be around for a while, but when it goes I will probably want to try something with a real second gear. Maybe go manual.
Looks like fun. That Maxima with the white taillights looks really clean.
(http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu352/bryan163photobucket/412119_1634521978093_1087980889_31309735_20095309_o.jpg)
This is why the 240 was shooting sparks off the tire.
Thats my boy Josh's maxima. I built his turbo manifold and 3" exhaust from scratch. Its the fastest car in our club... aside from my Maxima of coarse ;-)
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Fun! :D Nice vid!
My sisters boyfriend, Cole Torok produced the video. He was going to school for video production type stuff until he met us. After spending one summer with us he dropped the communications classes and enrolled in a tech college for automotive, lol.
ha! I was also a Communications (video, audio, and other electronic production) major. I was almost finished with school, but left for full time factory work to support my family. I'm going back in August though but I changed my study to become a middle school teacher instead. There just aren't any jobs anywhere near here for production stuff. Fun study though.
You video production guys are handy to have around. He makes these epic videos every time we do anything cool and make us all look like heros.
Imagine how much more control you would have with a stick. I'm not cool enough to get into such things.
That looks like gobs of fun, I always wondered about a TC drifter. Was it just me, or does that red Supra not have posi, it always looked like only one tire was spinning? I wish I had the means to get good at drifting, sideways is better!
I think the supra has a clutch type limited slip. So its not fully locked. There were some times when it it roasted both tires pretty well. A spool definitely works best for drifting. Every one that drove the white 240SX agreed. Kinda sucks. For daily driving though. His tires are always chirping and hopping around corners.
I don't know if they make a controller for the A4LD. I would assume so. I'm sure there's mustang guys who like to retrofit it. In fact, you should probably talk to flylear, he did it and he didn't even use a Ford ECU.
I found a company that makes a controller. I dont remember off the top of my head, but i have it bookmarked at home.
Looks like tons fun, where is this drift circuit? I'm sure it's not on my side of CT, there's NOTHING over here. Trust me.
The only approved ct location right now is in hartford. Hopefully it will expand.
Well, I'm going again on saturday. Gonna make a few changes to get the car ready. I ordered a BBK strut brace that should be in tomorrow and I got a complete set of ES rear control arm bushings that I will be installing tonight. What I'm wondering is, should I box the control arms while they are out? Idk if there would be any negatives to maki.g them more ridged. I was also thinking about making a panhard bar, wich would probably be the best thing to do. Any chassis gurus wanna chime in?
you mean 4r70.. lol the A4LD is the junk turbocoupe auto.. flylear has a bauman controller in his.. honestly though, a shift kit, valve body and the epoxy mod would do wonders for a drifter
you can box them, but they still won't be near as good as tubular CA's.. while you have them out, build a jig and build your own arms.. they don't have to be adjustable, but make sure you get everything measured right.. you seem pretty handy with a welder and fab work, so it should be a cake walk for you
^ X2.
The epoxy mod alone would make it a lot better, but probably ought to put in a shift kit too.
Nice vid...looks like a lot of fun. I wish there was a place around here suitable for it.
Shadow, i may just do that. Thunderbirdsport, idk what the epoxy mod is, but my trans is fully built. The shifts are hard and fast:D
epoxy mod how-to..
http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l47/silverfoxbody/SILVERFOX%20TRANSMISSION/EPOXY%20MOD/
it keeps the trans from shifting into OD when you're hard on the pedal.. it'll shift into OD, once it's reached the top end of 3rd.. a valve body should fix your shifting issues.. don't hold me to this, but i believe a truck valve body will do the job.. my F150 originally had a bone stock AOD and it'd stay in whatever gear i put the shifter in.. from the sound of it, you already have a shift kit
If i put my trans in 3rd it won't shift into od. I just wish it had a spot for second even though i can keep it in 2nd by by dropping it into 1st. The only problem there is that if i slow down too much or e-brake it will drop into 1st. I checked out the link but I'm having a hard time zooming in on the instructions. I'm on mobile right niw because I'm at the shop so I'll have to check it out when I get home.
well if it locks out of OD when you're hard on the pedal, you don't need the epoxy mod or you already have it.. i would definitely look into a different valve body, though.. all that screwing with a mega shifter is sucky.. a manual valve body would definitely be best for drifting
Im guessing TCI used a modified valve body when they built the transmission. I'll have to see if they make a manual valvebody that lets me access all the gears individually. If they do i will have to put a different gate in the shifter to add another position. It came with the parts to do it, but it would be a miracle it I still have them.
i'm not sure if TCI makes a manual VB for AOD's, but there are plenty of companies out there that do.. in all honesty though, a pro stick would be much more sufficient for fast down shifting.. i'm a little biased, as i loooooove my pro sticks in my blue TC and capri.. but the pull back lever allows me to throw the shifter down into lower gears in a split second, instead of pulling up on a t handle before downshifting, which is effectively slower
I don't have to pull on a lever to downshift. That's only for reverse lockout. Once you put the Megashifter in drive its in ratchet mode. Its kinda like driving a tiptronic. You click it forward to upshift or back to downshift.
what the hell.. my old mega shifter wasn't like that.. of course, we're talking about 8 years ago.. lol
A few pictures of the bushing project.
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the bushings slide out easily after a little heat from the torch.
(http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/uu352/bryan163photobucket/2012-04-23_08-03-14_352.jpg)
One of the lowers.
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After a little cleaning up and new bushings
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back in
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an upper control arm and my rear sway bar being painted
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I used a vise to press the bushings in
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It's too bad you couldn't have boxed those in with openings for the sway-bar. Looking good anyway. :burnout:
I was thinking about boxing them, but i think im gonna let a panhard bar handle the lateral force on the axle. That will be my next project.
That CA looks better than new!, Nice work!
Thanks. A couple more pics.
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My strut brace came in. It doesn't look like it will work with any of the pre-threaded holes, so that will be tomorrows project.
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The brace is in and the car is now officially ready for saturday!
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looks like it baaaarrreeely fit around that manifold in the front whew
About an inch to spare.
edit: it was only like 3/8"
Forgot to mention, the car feels awesome! I waited till the bushings and brace were both in to drive it and it was a very noticeable improvement. Car feels a lot stiffer, stays more composed on bumpy corners, and corners harder than before.
Sweet!! Glad it's working good for you. Like the way you car looks :D
Thanks 1badbird. I've been following the progress on your autcross project. I will be switching to a TC header panel as soon as I can get my hands on some inner lights.
Ive been wanting to get bushing for mine, I already have front poly bushing. It really made it feel tighter. Nice intake, do the make one for the GT40 lower?
Well, if the intended purpose continues to be intentional oversteer, poly in all 8 holes out back should help...keeping it "controlled" may prove challenging
Great work so far. When I installed the tubular rear control arms, it made a huge difference. By boxing yours, it'll be a big difference for you. I like that intake. Sweet. I am installing (RE-installing) my strut tower brace tomorrow if it doesn't rain. Again, nice work.
Its a JEGS Maxbox. They used to make one for the GT40 lower and for a HO lower, but it's been absent from their catalog for some time now. Too bad because it was a nice piece at a great price.
Thanks Vinnie. I don't think I'm gonna box mine. I've read some things about the control arms binding if the control arms are not allowed to flex a little. I'm thinking a panhard bar may be the way to go on a car that is going to be cornering hard.
It did pretty well I think. I wore the outside of my front tires pretty bad. I dialed in a little more negative camber tonight in preparation for the next event. Other than that it seemed to get the job done. I gotta take a look at your setup because I want to get my car lower so I can fit in with the other drifters. I have coil-overs up front, but I know If I go too low I'll have to do something to prevent bump steer. Also I want to drop the rear a couple inches but I'm not sure what springs to use.
The video should be up tonight. Here's a couple of pics from my phone.
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Just curious, what kind of a difference did the 03 cobra control arms give you? I've heard they give a tighter turning radius but not sure about much else...
The main reason why I did the 03 control arms was because it was hard to find stock Thunderbird ones and I didn't want my tubular arms anymore because they were for a fox Stang and were too short. I did notice that the steering radius improved though.
Did you go with the cobra spec or just stock 03?
I didn't know there was a difference. I thought they were the standard 03 arms. I just tried to look in my ebay history, but it only goes back 60 days. I'm assuming the improvement I felt was because these arms are wider than the ones I took out.
I don't know what the difference between them is but I've come across more than once old threads on other sites where the stang guys were telling other stang guys to do the Cobra 03/04 upgrade to their sn95's. If you got a better turn radius and they are wider then you must have gotten the Cobra's. from what I could deduce I think the standard 03/04 are the same as all sn95. But either way it's good to know you noticed an improvement from them. I think I will definitely be adding them to my long list of susp upgrades.
The video is finally done! Look for the bird out there at the 40 second mark.
[video=youtube;gwPrjEceSMU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwPrjEceSMU[/video]
I'm attending another event on the 12th. I just ordered a pair of SN95 rear springs and a Maximum Motorsports bump steer kit so I can get the car a little lower before then. I will be shaving the shoulder where my tie rods bottom out on the rack to get a little more steering angle too. That should allow more aggressive drift angle with less risk of spinning out. I already adjusted my camber to the maximum negative setting I could get to improve the contact patch while sliding sideways.
(http://www.efiperformanceparts.com/product_images/MAX-MMTR-6.jpg)
Some more footage from Lock City drift. My car pins out and devours a cone in this one. lol
[video=youtube;8K90sayaeDc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K90sayaeDc&feature=youtu.be[/video]
I think your car would do better with some bracing and a T5
I think the driver needs to practice more than anything.
sliding full lock:
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shaved inner tie rod end for more steering range:
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(deleted because reposted by accident)
Just found this shot on someones facebook. Awesome shot of my car sliding at an aggressive angle!
(http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/35490_10150800211454658_707889657_9154754_779146002_n.jpg)
Another Lock City drift day today:)
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Sweet Pic! Love the tire smoke!!
I've been wanting to get a picture of the car sliding at full lock really bad. Cole (the guy who made the videos in this thread) managed to get one for me. My sister says he darkened the smoke on photoshop. I've been using a hard tire because they last longer, but they don't smoke as much when you burn them. Can you tell I modified the tie rods to get more steering angle?
the video is up!
[video=youtube;qHdqKnbrWMU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHdqKnbrWMU[/video]
Sweet video!
you need a couple IHI's and a small intercooler and you'll have some fun with that :)
I have a decent size intercooler on there. what are IHI's?
they are the turbos that came factory with the 87-88 TCs if im not wrong
I'm actually planning on switching to a single turbo within the next couple weeks. My supercharger is getting noisy. I will be swaping in an HO motor at the same time. I have everything, but I'm waiting for the person with the motor to pull it for me.
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Had another drifting event this past Saturday. This time is was at Lime Rock. I have also made some changes to the car since the last event. It has been converted from supercharged to turbo. It has also been 5 speed swapped and a hydraulic hand brake has been added. It felt way cooler to drift on a track than in a parking lot course. No videos as of yet, but a photographer snapped this picture of me sliding around this corner. Might be hard to tell from the picture, but the car is traveling in the direction I'm looking.
(http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/311166_10151531803393222_827821254_n.jpg)
(http://sphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/533601_10151526822983222_31690117_n.jpg)
Theses are my friends and I waiting to run.
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lol i really love how your car just doesnt fit in with the others. looks fun! keep it up! you should throw in another video soon so we can see your progress
Haha, I like how it does'nt fit in too. It was a blast, but I haven't seen much video of my car. Only a 3 second clip where I went off the track and slid across the grass. I have some other videos, but I can't show them on the forums.