The Gold 280Z: A Street Car Turned Drift Machine

My name is Chris Forsberg and I'm a Formula Drift champion. Well, the gold 280Z is one of my favorite cars I have. It's actually my street car, but it's not the easiest car to drive. And we wanted to do a couple of upgrades to make it that much more fun on the streets.

We've got a huge list of parts going into this car, not only suspension-related but also drivetrain and better brakes. Beyond installing all these parts, we brought in Jason from Engineering Explained to help break down exactly what it takes to set up a proper drift car.

Now see where this car would work just fine going in a straight line when you're cutting through the corners, you really want to have specific alignments to get all the grip in the front that you can. And this chassis actually has zero adjustments in there rear and very limited adjustments in the front, so now we're going to be able to set up our camber, caster, and toe so that we can dial this car in for the perfect feel.

First part of the front end is this control arm from Techno Toy Tuning, this has adjustable track width which allows you to extend this lower control arm to reduce your scrub radius. Jason: "So Forsberg has increased the length of his control arms and in doing so he's increased the track width. Proportionately, we're doing the same thing as lowering the center of gravity, so the load transfer is going to be less to that outside tire and you'll have more grip."

Now by pushing out the wheels you also allow for the wheel to turn more, so you can have more steering angle, and this allows for greater slip angles. This is important because it's what allows us to get the car turning in the right direction.

Next up is the caster arm, also known as a tension rod. This is what keeps your wheel from moving back and forth and allows you to dial in your caster. Caster is the angle of the steering axis when you're looking at the car from the side, so if we have our caster angle like that, that's going to be referred to as positive caster.

If you're looking down on this, it's going to look like your steering axis is up here and your contact patch of the tires down here. So as you rotate that wheel, the contact patch is going to come out here, so as the tire is out in this direction its going to want to force it back to straight ahead. This gives you good steering feedback, good steering feel, and it's gonna build progressively as you turn into it and then as you let go of the wheel its gonna return it back to straight ahead.

Our next piece is a new outer tie rod end with this adjustable height pick up point. This allows us to correct the bump steer with a lowered vehicle. Bump steer is the effect when you go over a bump in the road with the wheels turned and the wheel actually continues to adjust because the tire rod pick up and the lower control arm are not on the same plane.

Toe is the angle of the tires looking down on the car from above, so if you look down on the front axle and the tires are pointed like this, that's referred to as toe out. If those tires point that's referred to as toe in. In drifting, you're gonna want to have a slight amount of toe out, and this helps with turn in so as you turn the wheel the car reacts very quickly.

The front suspension of a drift car is typically pretty soft, because you want the spring to be able to adjust those bumps, but you need a really good shock to handle a soft spring so that when you do go over those bumps don't get a really porposie-y effect and have the car go bouncing down the road.

Our next new shiny part for the frontend is this billet hub from Techno Toy Tuning. To match up with a Wilwood vented rotor, these old cars obviously have very outdated brakes, and when you're adding this much power and grip, you wanna make sure you can stop too!

To finish off the front end, we've got a new set of Hankook RS3 tires, matched up with our SSR MS1 wheels. We went with a sixteen by nine wheel in the front to give us a little more clearance for this extra steering angle.

Alright well that was fun, thanks for watching and thank you to Jason for coming out and helping out. Yea, this has been awesome, thanks for having me and I hope you guys learned something. If you want to see more videos make sure to click around and don't forget to subscribe!

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enMy name is Chris Forsberg and I'm a Formula Drift champion. Well the gold 280Z is one ofmy favorite cars I have. It's actuallymy streetcar, but it is not the easiest car to drive.And we wanted to do a couple upgrades to make it that much more fun on the streets. We have a hugemess of parts going into this car, not onlysuspension related but also drivetrainand better brakes. Beyond installing allthese parts we brought in Jason fromEngineering Explained to help break downexactly what it takes to set up a properdrift car. Now see where this car would work just fine going in a straight linewhen you're cutting through the corners you really want to have specific alignments to get all thegrip in the front that you can, and this chassis actually has zero adjustments in therear and very limited adjustments in thefront so now we're going to be able toset up our camber, caster, and toe so thatwe can dial this car in for the perfect feel.First part of the front end is thiscontrol arm from Techno Toy Tuning, this hasadjustable track width which allows youto extend this lower control arm toreduce your scrub radius. (Jason) So Forsberg hasincreased the length of his control armsand in doing so he'sincrease the track width. Proportionatelywe're doing the same thing as loweringthe center of gravity, so the load transferis going to be less to that outside tireand you'll have more grip. Now by pushingout the wheels you also allow for the wheelsto turn more so you can have more steering angle, and this allows for greater slip angles.Next up is the caster arm, also known as a tension rod this is what keeps your wheelfrom moving back and forth and allowsyou to dial in your caster.Caster is the angle of the steering axis when you're looking at the car from the side, so if we have ourcaster angle it like that, that's goingto be referred to as positive caster.If you're looking down on this, it's gonna look likeyour steering axis is up here and yourcontact patch of the tires down here, so as you rotate that wheel, the contact patch is going to come.out here so as the tire is out thisdirection its going to want to force itback to straight ahead so its gonnagive you good steering feedback, good steeringfeel and its gonna build progressivelyas you turn into it and then as you letgo of the wheel its gonna return it backto straight ahead.Our next piece is a new outer tie rod end with this adjustable height pick up pointthis allows us to correct the bump steer with a lowered vehicle. Bump steer is theeffect when you go over a bump in theroad with the wheels turned and the wheelactually continues to adjust because the tire rod pick up and the lower control arm are noton the same plane, so your toe isphysically changing as you go through compression.Toe is the angle of the tires looking down on the car from aboveso if you look down on the front axleand the tires are pointed like this, thisis referred to as toe out. If those tirespoints that's referred to as toe in.In drifting you're gonna want to have aslight amount of toe out, and this helpswith turn in so as you turn the wheelthe car reacts very quicklyNow the front suspension of a drift car is typically pretty soft, because you want the spring tobe able to adjust those bumps, but youneed a really good shock to handlea soft spring so that when you do go overthose bumps don't get a really porposie-y effectand have the car go bouncing down the road.Our next new shiny part for the frontend is this billet hub from Techno Toyto match up with a Wilwood ventedrotor, these old cars obviously have veryoutdated breaks, and when you're adding this much power and grip, you wanna make sure youcan stop too!To finish off the front end, we have our t3camber plates installed up top.These will allow us to fine-tune the camber of the front end by adding negative camber, which willkeep that tire planted flat as weincrease our steering angle.Camber is the angle of the tires when looking at the car from behind. So if the bottom of the tire isfurther out than the top of the tirethis is referred to as negative camber.Now in drifting you want pretty aggressivenegative camber and this is because asyou're cornering you're going to havethat force and it's going to cause thetire to rotate onto its contact patch soas you're in a pretty heavy corner thatcontact patch is gonna be maximized androll onto itself so you can maximizegrip going through corner.And to finish it off we have a new set of Hankook RS3 tires,matched up with out SSR MS1 wheels. We went with a sixteen bynine wheel in the front to give us a littlemore clearance for this extra steering angle.Alright well that was fun, thanks for watching and thank you to Jason for coming out and helping outYea this has been awesome, thanks for having me and I hope you guys learned something.If you want to see more videosmake sure to click around and don'tforget to subscribe!