alpineracer

hello all, i was going to sell my fc but have since decided that i am going to keep it and turn it in to the ultimate touge machine. so my question that i am posing to you guys is if you were building this what would you do to it? please list everything including specific brands and why. i know that i need full suspension, engine swap (it is na right now),and since it was inlvolved in a light front end accident i am going to throw a wide body kit and bumper on it as well. i know that swaping engines involves alot such as rearend and tranny and all that but i am willing to undergo the hardships. i will keep you all posted on the progress of this project. so lets hear what you all have to say, any and all recommendations are welcome. thanks

youngbecker

sounds like a good project, i would get a set of TEIN coilovers, any ones that will suite your budget will be good, TEIN makes a good product

ColinRX7

all about brand names isnt it









so im assuming you have 20,000 lying around to take on this endeavour?

teknics

lol, mines at $20k and i havent even finished the suspension, and i dont have a widebody.



im thinking $30k if not more. Jim5543 spent $40k+ and his was about as close to "ultimate" as you can get.



kevin.

alpineracer

not all about brand names i just asked for brand so that i didnt get a bunch of replies that said just get coilovers and what not. i asked for brands so that i would have something concrete to compare. and i do have the funding for this project. not all at once granted. but i will do about one stage of the build every month. aka one month i will do suspension and the next engine and then body or something like that. thank you for the replies though. and about the tein, i have been looking at them, however i have been having some trouble finding too many other other coilovers to compare them with. so any one who has some other ideas on coilovers would be great. not saying that i wont end up with tein i just want to make the most educated decision possible.

j9fd3s

how much power do you need to touge?

alpineracer

power is not so important to me yet, especially for touge. too much power right away will get me into some serious trouble seriously fast. i am considering an rew swap, i know very involved indeed, but it will give me sufficient power stock and like i said, i want to build the ultimate touge fc and this is the enginge to go with i am thinking. the engine will most likely be my last step though.

j9fd3s

yeah i think you want to loosely follow this order



tires! (get good ones, or get shitty ones and learn how to drive the car), 15" wheels are ideal for a non turbo to start with. you want somewhere in the range of a 205-225 tire

shocks (agx's are great, koni sport is better once you get some espring in there)

springs (if this is a street car, eibach pro kit is good, if not you want a coil over kit, with 350/250 or 400/275's the stiffer you go the worse it is on the street, 350/250 rides better than stock and handles great. you want to skip most of the name brand coil overs as they are junk. tien is ok, jic is garbage)

brakes: flush it out with some good new brake fluid, good pads are a good idea (stay away from hawk pads unless its 100% a race car), braided lines help etc.



setup: since this is still a street car you want about -1 to -1.5 camber in the front, keep a little toe in, and as much caster as your camber plates let you have. in the rear you may need a camber adjuster to keep it from having too much negative camber in the rear, its ride height dependent. ride height should be between 1-2" lower than stock. its a street car, streets have bumps. too low and the rear shocks start bottoming out, and the geometry gets funky too.



power: start with making sure everything is working right, and the air and fuel filters and spark plugs are fresh. then the exhaust, ideally you want a 2.5" pipe with a straight thru muffler, however this is loud and might not look cool enough. on an na you really just need to get rid of the cats.



tuning: might want to look into a safc/safcII/etc leaning the thing out a bit helps in the power dept, on an na this should put you about 150-160rwhp. if you want to go turbo later, stop modding the na here.



anything you can do to make the car lighter will make it faster, there is a point where the car gets to be annoying to drive on the street though, is it worth 5lbs to not have the carpet? so use your head a little bit.

alpineracer

well i have already stripped the car. while it is still a street car, it is a very hardcore street car already and my goal is to make it about as hardcore as the street will allow. thank you all for your replies. as far as tein coilovers go i am thinking about the super drift coilovers, any comments on these? how about silk roads?

One320B

j9 has had the most relevant advice I'd say so far. Honestly, if your new to drifting, just deal w/ your tires and brakes first. The rest you will have to setup for your style of driving honestly. Not everybody drives the same way.



It's best to get a pair of old tires, and just practice sliding the car around parking lots, not full out drifting, just get some decent speed, pull the hand brake and see how you(and the car) react. You will need to build your suspension based on this.. real touge cars and d1 drivers feel out suspension a million ways from sunday to get what they want. When you do buy suspension, go adjustable..as long as you have control on the geometry of the setup, you should be able to find something your comfortable with.



As far as power, turbo isn't necessary right away. If your motor is ok, and runs good...just go from that. Get some tires, service the brakes and make sure its got a general tuneup.



Bodywork, especially wide-body, on a drift machine starts getting expensive,lol. Get ready for busted fenders, bumpers, and even busted wheels.



oh, AND KEEP YOUR WHEEL LINERS, lol..and better yet, make stronger ones (I'm currently redesigning the wheel liners to allow a little more room w/ a little more protection)... going sideways and picking up a nice sized rock that goes right through a fiberglass fender will be pricey,lol...