What the hell will I break???

Self

07-09-2003, 08:39 AM

My question of the day...What kinds of things break when drifting? I know all about drag racing, and what to look for, what the common failures are, what things will wear harder, and where to check for problems. But as far as drifting, what do I need to look out for? I know that in all types of racing, "breakage" will occur, and cost money to repair, I'm ok with that. I just want to know what to expect, and what I need to replace beforehand to limit the inevitable damage that will occur to my car. It's not really a daily driver at the moment, so I'm not worried about it being down. The "drift machine" in question is none other than...My Camaro Z28. not sure if I'm actually going to do this, but I'm just curious in case I WAS to look into drifting:smile: Any help?

Neutrino

07-09-2003, 09:25 AM

tires of couse:biggrin:.....you'll mess up your alignment and balance very easily too......you'll put quite a strain on your diff and the worse thing since you put lateral presure an the axles theoretically you could snap them....

Self

07-09-2003, 09:52 AM

Originally posted by Neutrino
tires of couse:biggrin:.....you'll mess up your alignment and balance very easily too......you'll put quite a strain on your diff and the worse thing since you put lateral presure an the axles theoretically you could snap them....

Hehe, tires are a gimme. I'm used to going through those like condoms as a whorehouse though, so not too worried there, hehe. Axles though...F-bodys have notriously week rear ends. I was using a Moser 12bolt which is nearly unbreakable for most people until recently. I sold it when I put the car back to stock a little while ago. So now I'm back to the crappy stock 10bolt. I'd definatley be worried about that going away in a heartbeat if I drift with any kind of power(~300). I have no clue about the front axle though. I wouldn't think it would be a prob, what with no power going their through the drivetrain. Are the lateral pressures such that they could snap the front axle of a RWD vehicle while doing moderate drifts?:frown:

ghostchild316

07-09-2003, 12:36 PM

the Clutch

The tie rods?

I now they stock ones on 240's are weak and so are the tension rods

Suislide

07-09-2003, 10:11 PM

lots of things. suspension, wheels, tires are obvious. steering, diff could have problems. over-straining of the engine has occured in some instances, and then there's the obvious chance of you going off course in which case any number of things could break. :smile:

NSX-R-SSJ20K

07-10-2003, 04:57 AM

drive trains tend to break

Self

07-10-2003, 08:37 AM

Originally posted by S13_Iketani
and then there's the obvious chance of you going off course in which case any number of things could break. :smile:

Precisely, including my body.

Neutrino

07-10-2003, 08:48 AM

Originally posted by Self

Precisely, including my body.

yes you could get a boo-boo:biggrin:

Dorikin

07-13-2003, 10:26 AM

I know for Mustang, Hotchkis has suspension parts for "drifting domestics". Check that kit out and see if you can emulate it in the Camaro.

Corey I RanciD

07-13-2003, 11:22 AM

The obvious things that are going to wear are tires and clutches. You're going to go through a lot of tires and clutches drifting. If you have a good differential and keep the oil changed it should be able to handle what you throw at it. People have destroyed engines drifting also, but it's not because drifting itself puts a great amount of stress on the engine. When people start drifting they have a tendency to just floor the gas pedal and they end up bouncng off the rev limiter because they're too busy paying attention to everything else going on to notice. That's when you have engine problems. You're going to be wearing on it a lot more than daily driver, but it's no worse than autocross or road racing would. Just remember: water temp and oil pressure gauges are your friend. :smile: You may break tension control rods, tie rods, destroy end links, etc.

After that, there's all kinds of stuff that you're going to break when you hit curbs and stuff. You will hit stuff drifting. Live with it. Bent control arms, front bumpers, you name it.

AC_A340-500

07-25-2003, 11:09 AM

In my opinion, drifting isn't that hard on suspension and drivetrain (I mean there are far worse conditions than drifting). In a drift you have less centrifugal force than you would have while cornering hard in non-drift situations, ergo less latteral force acting on the suspension.

Also, as far as the differential is concerned, drifting puts less strain on the diff than accelleraing hard in non-wheelspin conditions. The wheelspin conditions in drifting conditions, just like with wheelspin in drag racing, provides a safety valve. That means that as of a certain amount of torque input, it's the tires that pay the price, sparing the rest of the driveline (to a certain extent). However, if you choose to introduce the drift with a drop of the clutch in 2nd gear, for example, then of course the clutch is subjected to fairly straineous conditions.

First thing I'd do is make sure there's no risk of engine oil starvation during prolonged latteral accelleration (get a windage tray or a flat-bottom oil pan, or better yet, a dry sump oil system). Then I'd invest in an ignition control sytem that allows you to adjust the rev limiter. Your Z-28 probably has lots of torque, so you won't be needing to rev the thing to 6000 RPM. get an MSD and plug in a 5000RPM chip and away you go.

Don't get me wrong, drifting is hard on a car, but it's not as hard as slalom (auto cross), or road racing. Drifting looks very spectacular, but the G's involved in the latter two are much higher than in drifting. In drift situations, kinetic friction (spinning/skidding tires) determines the G-force limit. In road racing and slalom, it's usually static friction (non-spinning/non-skidding tires) that determines the maximum G-force. Static friction allows for a lot more G-force than kinetic friction.
I've been to a LOT of drift competitions and taken part in many myself, and aside from tires and shattered egos, I've never seen breakage of any type. (That's not to say that things can't break or get worn out though).

That's my opinion on drifting. It does not take into account erratic manovers or botched drift attempts, which of course can add strain and breakage compared to successful drifts.

Dorikin

07-25-2003, 01:48 PM

Originally posted by AC_A340-500

That's my opinion on drifting. It does not take into account erratic manovers or botched drift attempts, which of course can add strain and breakage compared to successful drifts.

Those are guarenteed to happen during the learning process, so that must be taken into account

Neutrino

07-25-2003, 04:40 PM

Originally posted by AC_A340-500

Don't get me wrong, drifting is hard on a car, but it's not as hard as slalom (auto cross), or road racing. Drifting looks very spectacular, but the G's involved in the latter two are much higher than in drifting. In drift situations, kinetic friction (spinning/skidding tires) determines the G-force limit. In road racing and slalom, it's usually static friction (non-spinning/non-skidding tires) that determines the maximum G-force. Static friction allows for a lot more G-force than kinetic friction.
I've been to a LOT of drift competitions and taken part in many myself, and aside from tires and shattered egos, I've never seen breakage of any type. (That's not to say that things can't break or get worn out though).

autocross is not slalom...true sometimes it has a slalom portion but autocross is not slalom...i also severily doubt that drifting is easier on the car than autocross

btw you say that you are quite experienced with drifting....may we see some photos of you in action

AC_A340-500

07-26-2003, 07:57 AM

Neutrino

07-26-2003, 08:00 AM

put [img] /img] tags around the links.....that will show them without uploading them

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What the hell will I break???