Hi guys. So. I'm 23 years old, I'm a mechanic and I LOVE cars. I especially love Jap cars. This weekend I went to the BDC Battle Of Britain and I loved every second of it... but now I want to get out there in my own drifter that I want to build myself... I'm thinking a BMW compact or any bmw tbh... I'm a big lad and would love an MX5 but can't see that working for me right now... Do I need to be looking for any particular engine to begin with. I'm not going to spend a fortune on a car or good engine when all I'm going to do is thrash it around and as yet know if I'm any good at it... any help/advice/tips would be great!! Thanks in advance...
Really helpful. Good job Welcome to the forum Jedi! ^_^ I'm glad to see you managed to get into drifting! In terms of cars, you seem to be on the right track. MX5 When you say you're a big lad so MX5 is out of the picture, I'm 6'3 and ~36" waist and I managed There's various things you can do to make them better, a decent bucket seat makes a world of difference in terms of support and potential to get the driving position lower. In terms of engine choice for MX5 (if it's not completely out the picture) - Early Eunos 1.6 came with 115bhp but watch the crank pulley for any wobble as the keyways on the "short nose crank" engines are prone to failure. Later MK2 1.8s came with 145bhp (I'm sure) with VVTI and they've got plenty of grunt and will take one HELL of a beating. - Add Coilovers - Torsen (not viscous) or Welded Diff - Timing Advance on early engines - ROLL BAR! TRLane etc are some of the best on the market. - Watch for rust! - Rack spacers and later "Destroy!" Knuckles. BMWs In terms of BMW Compact, I saw someone on here suggesting to avoid the E46 compact unless it's got a 6 Cylinder in it - something to do with the 4 Bangers not having enough grunt to overcome the grip their set-up provides. E36 compacts seem to be pretty well subscribed regardless of engine set-up with the 319ti offering 4 banger fun and run for days. Otherwise I can only go by what I've had. E36 Saloon - M52B28 2.8 engine, 1.8 Gearbox and Welded diff and Cheap Coilovers. Provided you don't have any cooling issues and you make sure you keep on top of the water that finds its way into the plug bores AND keep on top of rust, you can pick up a fairly good one for around a grand. - Get a decent seat for you. - Weld the diff. - Keep an eye on the temps. - If it's not a road car, chuck all the weight out of it you can. - Cheap coilovers. Most of all, Enjoy Drifting
@mad.matt thanks for your input dude... I'm 6'1" and around 44" waist. I'm determined to get myself into an mx5 one way or another... whatever car I get is a toy and definitely not going on the road any other suggestions for bigger cars? I like Lexus gs300 but they're all auto's... not sure drifting an auto is as easy as it sounds?
The bigger Lexus' are certainly driftable - GS300/430, LS400/430, SC300/Soarer but as you say, often are auto. Auto drift is Do-able in these cars and is certainly a way to start up and then you have the option of doing manual conversions later on with either Toyota W58 or R154 boxes (Others are available) or with BMW box conversions. Also worth a look is the IS200 - though somewhat gutless, it's a solid foundation to teach you to actually DRIVE the car, rather than it drive itself. BMW 5 Series of the E34 or E39 are often used for drifting too. Anything BMW comes with the solid part supply and are generally pretty cheap! The path less walked would be that of Mercedes. They do offer a SOLID 6 Cylinder Diesel in the OM606, with PLENTY of aftermarket support (especially in Europe) and you only need to look up Black Smoke Racing to see the hilarity they offer.
