**Setting Up a Proper Drift Car: A Step-by-Step Guide**

As a formula drift champion, I'm excited to share with you the process of setting up a proper drift car. In this article, we'll be moving to the back of the car, where we'll discuss the importance of upgrading the rear end and suspension.

We brought in Jason from Engineering Explained to help break down exactly what it takes to set up a proper drift car. To assist with the workload, I've also enlisted my friend Wesley Stramer, who is a UTI grad and has worked with me on the Formula Drift program in years passed.

Our first step is to pull out the old diff and get a new upgraded rear end installed. We're going to take this factory, flimsy mount out, toss that away. Moving onto this nice Billet piece that is going to be a lot stronger and keep that diff locked and loaded. By upgrading to a bigger rear end, we can handle all the extra power from our drift car. And with the addition of a limited slip differential, we'll have more control over the car's rotation in corners.

The purpose of a limited slip differential is to send more torque to the wheels with more grip. In drifting, this is crucial because you want to maintain both wheels rotating at the same speed. As you come into a corner, the inside tire will have less load on it, but with a limited slip differential, we'll be able to send more torque to that outside tire, and your going to be able to maintain that drift.

I've also acquired a new carbon fiber driveshaft from The Driveshaft Shop. This will give us the maximum amount of torsion out of any driveshaft available. Torsion is the amount of twist that this driveshaft will have before it breaks, and a carbon fiber one can get up to thirteen degrees of twist. This means we'll be able to limit the amount of shock that goes through the rear end and the axles, which will keep our mechanical failures to a minimum.

With our new ACT 6-puck clutch, we're going to be getting a little more shock than our old organic disc. So now this carbon fiber drive shaft will help keep it from breaking anything in the back. Moving onto the suspension portion of the rear, we need to get our mounts in place first. This is the factory mount as you can tell; it's a little bit of stainless steel, real flimsy. We're moving onto this Billet aluminum, super reinforced, very rock solid, to keep our adjustable arms in place.

This is our new adjustable rear control arm. What this does is allow us to change the camber and the toe in the back of the car, which we did not have before. But I can also change the wheel base by shimmying the upright on this shaft. Now, let's talk about toe and camber on a drift car: what you want is a little bit of toe in, and close to zero camber.

In drifting, the rear axle is going to have the tires fairly close to zero camber, and the reason for this is because as the car accelerates, you're going to have body roll and the back of the car is going to be leaning down onto that rear tire. As that spring compresses in the rear and those tires move up, they're going to induce an amount of negative camber. So, that negative camber dynamically is going to assist in the corner.

So, as you're turning into it, it flattens out and you maximize that contact patch. With toe, you always want it to be a little in, because it helps the car track straight and drive forward when you're on the throttle. If you have toe out, it can cause the car to oversteer.

We've finished the install of our new Techno Tuning adjustable suspension and Wilwood braking system, and we wanted to bring the Datsun down to UTI Long Beach campus to get on their alignment racks so that we can put the final touches on this kit to make sure that this car drives like a dream. Alignment is super crucial; it gets all your wheels pointed in the right direction.

You'd be surprised that a lower horsepower, but properly aligned car can actually outperform a higher horsepower car without a good alignment. We're all lined up, last stop, everybody's favorite: Donuts!

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enMy name is Chris Forsberg and I'm a formula drift champion.Now in this episode we're going to be moving to the back of the car.We brought in Jason from Engineering Explained to help break down exactly what it takes toset up a proper drift car.To help me with the workload I brought inmy friend Wesley Stramer, he is a UTI gradthat's actually worked with me on the Formula Drift program in years passed.First step is to pull the old diff out andget a new upgraded rear end installed. Sowe're going to take this factory, flimsy mount out, toss that away. Moving onto this niceBillet piece that is going to be a lot stronger and keep that diff locked and loaded.We've upgraded to a bigger rear end to handleall the extra power, and we also now havea limited slip differential to make it muchmore controllable in drift.The purpose of a limited slip differentialis to send more torque to the wheels withmore grip. But in drifting this is important because you want to maintain both wheels rotatingat the same speed.So as you come into a corner, the inside tire is going to have less load on it. With a limitedslip differential it's going to send moretorque to that outside tire, and your goingto be able to maintain that drift.I have a new carbon fiber driveshaft fromThe Driveshaft Shop. This will give us themaximum amount of torsion out of any driveshaft available.So torsion is the amount of twist that thisdriveshaft will have before it breaks, anda carbon fiber one can get up to thirteendegrees of twist. Now that amount of torsionwill actually limit the amount of shock that goes through the rear end and the axles, whichwill keep our mechanical failures to a minimum.Because with our new ACT 6-puck clutch, we're going to be getting a little more shock thanour old organic disc. So now this carbon fiber drive shaft will help keep it from breakinganything in the back.Now moving onto the suspension portion of the rear, we have to get our mounts in placefirst. This is the factory mount as you cantell it's a little bit of stainless steel,real flimsy. We're moving onto this Billetaluminum, super reinforced, very rock solid,to keep our adjustable arms in place.This is our new adjustable rear control arm.What this does is allow us to not only changethe camber and the toe in the back of thecar, which we did not have before. But I canalso change the wheel base by shimmying the upright on this shaft.Well for toe and camber on a drift car: What you want is a little bit of toe in, and closeto zero camber.Now in drifting the rear axle is going tohave the tires fairly close to zero camber,and the reason for this is because as thecar accelerates you're going to have the bodyroll and the back of the car is going to beleaning down onto that rear tire.Now as that spring compresses in the rear and those tires move up, they're going toinduce an amount of negative camber. So that negative camber dynamically is going to assistit in the corner. So that as your turninginto it, it flattens out and you maximizethat contact patch.With toe you always want it to be a littlein, because it helps the car track straightand drive forward when you're on the throttle. If you have toe out as you apply the throttleit just wants to keep rotating the car andit makes it a little more difficult to drive.Now with drifting a street car and a track car are going to be a little different in howyou set up the spring and shocks. For a track car you're going to going to the absoluteextreme with the softest spring possible in the back and a very stiff shock to controlit. On the street you typically will want a little bit stiffer of a spring to handle all thebumps and the whoops, and then not as stiff of a shock so that the ride isn't so bad.The one link that controls the left and theright side of your suspension is your swaybar. We upgraded our sway bar with a Suspension Techniques piece that gives us a lot morecontrol to keep that front end planted onthe ground.An anti-roll bar, or sway bar, is used tocontrol body roll. When you go into a corner,and the body starts to roll over on this side, this is essentially going to be raising upthis inner tire. So as this tire goes up,it pulls on this section of the anti-rollbar that forces to rotate. And as this rotates it tries to lift up that other side. Now thereason you want to do this, is because itmaintains the wheel geometry. You're goingto have the anti-roll bar which keeps thecar level, and then you can maintain thatcamber angle you set from a static position.We actually do a really stiff front sway barto keep that front end planted as the caris going sideways. But we do a slightly softer one in the rear so that we can get that rollto catch the car from going into a spin.Well we finished the install of our new Techno Tuning adjustable suspension and Wilwood brakingsystem, and we wanted to bring the Datsun down to UTI Long Beach campus to get on theiralignment racks so that we can put the final touches on this kit to make sure that thiscar drives like a dream.Alignment is super crucial, it gets all yourwheels pointed the right direction. You'dbe surprised that a lower horsepower, but properly aligned car can actually outperforma higher horsepower car without a good alignment.We're all lined up, last stop, everybody'sfavorite: Donuts!