I know this has been talked about before, but I have looked through a lot of the relevant search posts. I already have $800 toward a drift setup, and would like suggestions on specific products, though I think I already have a good idea about a few products. Here is what I have jotted down on a suspension setup:

Tein HE
Tanabe sway bars
Tanabe upper arms (there are better brands)
Strut tower bars (cusco good?)
Tension rods (battle version)
Tie rods (tein?)
Possibly some better bushings (dunno about brand though)
Subframe spacer? (not quite sure what that is yet...)

I realize that this is easily a $3000 suspension, but I will make 2x or 3x that this year. I was thinking about a swap, though I now know if should come last, thanks to you guy's advice. I have read some of your setups in the other threads, though some people are just on whatever they can get.

I do have my permit, though I dunnot have my license yet. I was thinking of saving my money up so I could keep my car stock, until I can really learn on a stock car. But what would you do with $7000 sitting around and a stock 240? Thanks for the help again.

ag04

 

basically you can better or equal quality parts than everything in that list, from the top to the bottom, in most cases, for less money too!**

okay first off i dont really like tanabe sway bars, the only set ive ever examined were thicker than stock, but so light-feeling im pretty sure they were hollow, and i just liked the feeling of the kind i bought instead. i paid extra and got cusco, a big thick and heavy bar, but whiteline is equally great, even suspension techniques will work fine. remember thicker is not always better!

a lot of those parts can be found used if you look for them. i picked up tein tc rods about 9 months ago for under $100 off ebay, and some rear subframe spacers off a wrecked s14 for $20.

strut braces: ebay ebay ebay. its pretty hard for a company to fuck this up, not exactly a complicated part. i bought nice apex and cusco ones for bling factor, but i could have spent that money better on rucas (rear upper control arms) or chassis bracing or something. those three point strut bars are nice, theyre all over ebay.

cheaper companies: there are new companies coming up that are producing quality suspension pieces for a lot cheaper than the bigger guys. spl, tougefactory, dgtrials, etc etc, they make the same quality parts for less than you would pay for JIC or kazama goods.

coilovers: personally, i dont really dig tein construction, comparing them to cusco, jic, tanabe, and even d2, theres a cheap feeling when you visually inspect their parts. as far as anything else, im still rocking shocks and springs, but a friend has the HEs and he says the car feels really good. however, if youre doing a bargain suspension, rock whatever you can find, cause coilovers are a bit too bling for a total budget of about $800. however if you put all that money into coilovers, (which i think would be a bad idea, as you can always get them later and buy a bunch of other parts in the mean time) i would get the new d2s ($800 if you didnt get in on a group buy) or save for jic flt-a2, you can find em for s chassis for around 1000-1300 if you look hard enough.

bushings: mill your own out of aluminum presto, theres your drift setup, haha. for s chassis, energy suspension kits are good stuff, but you wont end up using some of the bushings if you end up going with replacement parts that use spherical bearings(tension rods, etc etc).


tie rods: i dont have these yet, but i want to get of the longer ones bad. there are a bunch of sets floating on ebay right now, but a lot of them dont come with the spherical bearing ends that really tighten up steering, like the kazama ones... so hot! most rods alone will allow you to get greater angles mid-drift and really help your turning radius, and are much stronger than stock to withstand the rigors of hard driving, which equal less down time, but i wouldnt put these ahead of the suspension, this is more like a.. "finishing touches" part, like you dont need the ability for greater drift angles if youre still learning the car.






**if i had $7000 and a stock 240, i would spend some money on suspension, but leave the majority of my funds for tires and entry fees. learn everything you can about the car as is, up to, for instance, the exact threshold of traction with street tires. learn the car way, way, way before you start adding anything to it, if nothing else so you can see how well (or poorly) youve spent your money on the modifications. i had my car for 2 years before i took a wrench to it, and since i started working on it i can see how its improving step by step, and every bit of it makes for more experience, which is the best investment by far.

sorry for long post!

 

honestly do:

1. JICFLTA1US or Tein HE
2. differential (VLSD or better)
3. TC rods
4. subframe spacers


but honestly ud be suprised what u can do with a stock car

 

Dude see if you have freinds with diff suspension setups, I had Tein HE's and when I ordered them I was so happy. When i finally drove around on them, I was like shit this isnt my type of setup, so go around before spending uber amounts of money on something that wont be to your liking. Shit for all you know you might slide better on Tein SS's or some other not so aggressive damper.


-Eric

 

Thank you guys for the posts, this is really what I was looking forward to! There aren't many 240s in this town, and of the people that have them, most can afford a little more than an exaust or don't even care about them (that makes me cringe). If I catch someone in a parking lot, then I'll ask them, though I imagine that I'll have to learn about this alone. Once again, thanks a lot for the info.

ag04

 

Tein Flex is not a bad setup if you can find one used.

 

Tein HE are a good coilover. 8/6 springs, valved nicely when you put em at about 8-10 clicks out of 16. very good product, resistant to rust. and for the price, they are impossible to beat. After actually seeing and playing with JIC's product, I don't like it at all in quality . the A2 is nice, but aluminum = :thumbsdown:

Tanabe sway bars. Hrmm.. Now that the better endlinks are avaialble, i would just stick with the whitelines, or do LARGUS if you are ready for it. Remember, I have stock swaybars on my car, and LOVE them!!! The hicas swaybar is pretty much all you need in my personal opinion for anything less than 4th gear drifting.

For the rear arms and Tension arms, I wouldnt' do anything other than DGTRIALS or SPL PARTS. Both of these have the incredible product. DGTRIALS have the Largest rod-ends of any of the competitors product, I love them! (I run SPL / Battle Version / DGtrials ALL on my car, and DG products are the best, by far, anybody can come to the s hop and look at my car and see for themself ) The price is VERY competitive also! Like I said, SPL or DG. Nothing else comes close.

YOU DO NOT NEED ALL OF THESE PARTS TO BE A DRIFTER! SAVE YOUR MONEY AND USE IT TOWARDS SEAT TIME !!!!!

Strut tower bars, 46.00 ebay special front and rear buy it now. Do eet!!

Tie rods are good to get tein. They automaticlly are larger and beefier, plus they get the little spacer install that you can put in and hold a larger steering angle!!! Works awesome! If your car is super low (like mine) and you are trying to move the roll center back the origional distance fromt he CG, then you can look into the kazama tie rod ends. but lots of money!

There is no need to replace the tie rods unless yours are screwed, stay with stock otherwise, that money can be spent practicing!!

For bushings, Energy suspension now makes all the bushings for the S13. They are really high quality also! For subframe spacer, i reccomend SPL PARTS 1!! ythey have the kazama clone and they work excellent on my car>


Thanks for playing, let me know if you need anything else!

 

matt is right though, there is no replacement for skill.

a common misconception is you have to have this 'drift' setup to make it work, when in reality your setup will always be limited by your skill.

its better to learn to drift your car stock, then when u find the limits and things you dont like, purchase the parts to make it better. progressively changing things over time lets u understand what each part does, and makes you into a better driver. that way when things arent right, break, go wrong, you'll know what happened and what to do to fix it.

on the same note a skilled driver can do amazingly well in a vehicle with a crappy setup, be it that the driver can compensate for a messed up setup. i was able to drift an extremely tight, pretty fast course with economy radials all around, motor not running strong, subframe twitching left and right (non-existant bushings). messed up brakes, etc. but by watching you'd hardly know it.

luckily in florida we have rainy season. some of the best local guys all started in the rain. you can go slower, save tires, run longer without cops, etc. it teaches you the basics, and teaches finesse. go out bone stock, find a slick parking lot, and learn the basics. GO SLOW REGARDLESS, and dont ever try to impress anyone. hopefully over the summer we'll end up having some old school practice sessions.

drifting is an exhibition of skill. one must have skill before one can exhibit it.

 

Wow, these extensive posts are really informative. Now that you have suggested it, I am considering just getting some coilovers, subframe spacer, strut bars, maybe tension rods, and maybe an lsd. Then as I get more skilled, I will get some more stuff, but as you guys recommended, I will save up, and set money aside for tires and seat time.

You said empty parking lots are a good start, and maybe empty roads out of town too. I could meet up with you guys and go drifting as long as my dad will tolerate it . Though it's going to be an hour or so up to tampa. I suppose I could find some people locally to go sliding every once in a while .

Is the spin turn knob any good? I have noticed it one a few cars, it's supposed to help ebraking. As for intake, what would you guys suggest? I was thinking of a k&n or an aem. As for a basic exaust, I was looking at an EVO 2.

I was thinking about getting an extra set of rims in the distant future so I can carry another set of tires. All I have are the 17's that are on it right now which are only 7.5' wide. I was thinking maybe 8.5-9's's on the rear and putting a 215/50 on it. Stretching the tires are supposed to help I read.

Thanks again, I feel like such a newb

ag04

 

Save your money, invest it, take a year or two to practice, do the autox thing and the drift thing when available...then once you become a better driver take the invested money (which should be substantially more than what you started out with) and buy your suspension components one by one....now go back and re-read what garage battle wrote, it's right-on.

Don't go overboard on the street drift though, you would much rather spend your money on car parts, entry fees, and tires than court costs, tickets, and insurance