E30 Zone

So I'm researching the best suspension setup to go drifting in. I'm on a budget as I'm still a student, you get what you pay and although I wish I could spend a grand on a nice set of coilovers, I can't afford it! So is there a good setup for a reasonable price? What other tuning parts are available for the suspension, all I'm finding is bushes ARB's and coilovers/springs/shocks. What setup are you guys running? All input is appreciated,

Im just in the middle of making the jump to coilovers from shocks and springs, tbh the best option on a budget is a good set of shock and spring setup as anything else more is going to get expensive

GAZ do a GHA set of coilovers for about 600quid which is the cheapest your going to get coilover wise but there are plenty of options check out RPM in the traders section.

Cheers for that si, I'm thinking about BC racing coilovers, installed them on my mates civic and he said they were great, he paid 550 I think, if the e30 ones are around the same price I might be tempted, also heard when you lower the back to much it results in the wheels camber changing, anyone know how to correct or avoid this problem?

i bet they'll be more expensive specially if they are full coilovers

it will change quite a lot, e30 are known for it, camber correctors are your answer, check out ireland engineering, rouge engineering and rpm again

there are a couple of ways to do it check out those sites

the BC are kick ass and used a lot in the drift world, but you need to fab and its stoll not going to end up being cheap. I too am a student and I too am on a budget. I currently have a set of Avo adjustable shocks with 60mm-80mm drop avo springs. Ill run RPM adjustable top mounts and probably e46 m3 rear top mounts. I just got a set of superflex poly bushings. Next on the list is to make myself front and rear strut braces similar to the RPM ones (beefy and effective). I'll also be looking into a set of adjustable eiback or H&R swab bar's. With that the car will be super stiff and ready to drift. Then once you get the cash together you can upgrade to a set of GAZ coilovers.

Not sure what power plant I'll be on but I still need to source myself an LSD.

I like your setup! I'm thinking of going with the fk akx kit, its a non adjustable spring/shock kit and so far has had good reviews, I should be getting a eibach arb kit aswell. Loving my e30 more and more I look at pics I used to drive hondas, love jap cars way to much so I'm going with a sr20det swap or a rb25 if funds allow, and dude the pic in ur Sig is totally fookin sick! How you finding the avo setup?

I just picked up the avo's yesterday... I'm collecting everything to do the full suspension swap in a day. if you plan to set up for drift and as a DD then you will want some range of adjustment and height for that matter. For drifting you want a slammed car, and when your low you want stiff. Being stiff and slammed on the road, England in particular will NOT be fun, not to mention the amount of times your gunna get pulled. For swapping from drift to road, definitely get adjustable, it will allow more give in the suspension and keep you out of trouble/ in a straight line.

softer on the front and stiffer on the rear

ive just found some jom coilovers for 200quid if your skidding on a budget there ideal i drift also and think it depends on how advanced you are at the sport. there no point spending thousands if your only just starting out. your money is better spent on seat time and then improving things that break and need attention. much the same as track driving, better to know the car and be able to drive it then build as your going along.

Those jom coilovers look crap, just source some good dampers, order your springs from faulkners in the required spring rate and then buy the coilover conversion kit from rally design. Add to this some adjustible top mounts and you should have a good quality coilover suspension setup for sub £500.

I was going to get the fk kit this week, then my battery decides to die and not hold charge so I need a new battery now, that's going to set me back a good 70quid so now I'm aiming to get my kit by christmas, can't afford coilovers so a simple spring shock setup with a eibach arb kit and upgrade my bushes, I am new to drifting so once the car is in a reasonable state il get some track time, there's no way I'm drifting stock suspension its like a 4x4 I'm tempted to buy my mates mtec replica kit but no doubt il break that shit on my 1st run lmao

i dont want to offend half the zone but lopped springs are free or if you want to be posher lowering springs which are available second hand on here will drop the car enough to make you feel less like your getting a nose bleed from altitude sickness.
the art of drift driving and fast track driving is to go and do it. trust me ive been there with drifitng i built a well specced s13 before i could skid biggest mistake i think i have made ££££'s on a car to then go and learn, learn by taking part and sorting your car to your required spec. just my 2p's worth.
as for the jom coilies yep cheap and nast but get the car low on a budget which my car is all about welded diff cheap lows and maximum tyre smoke and that why i bought the old girl

I fully agree, seat time is king but £200 suspension is false economy. As soon as you develop , you will so out grow the cheap suspension.

If you buy a second hand set of good quality dampers (£100) , budget £100 for you springs from faulkners (this gives you the option to go for what ever stiffness you want , rather than the 25% increase stiffness bs) and the coilover conversion kit sub £100.

For not much more than the JOM kit you get a far superior set up.

My car came with KW dampers, so all I needed was the springs from faulkners and the conversion kit.

Just my 2p

oldroydsr4 wrote:I fully agree, seat time is king but £200 suspension is false economy. As soon as you develop , you will so out grow the cheap suspension.

If you buy a second hand set of good quality dampers (£100) , budget £100 for you springs from faulkners (this gives you the option to go for what ever stiffness you want , rather than the 25% increase stiffness bs) and the coilover conversion kit sub £100.

For not much more than the JOM kit you get a far superior set up.

My car came with KW dampers, so all I needed was the springs from faulkners and the conversion kit.

Just my 2p

+1

That and a set a old rear tyres and a welded diff and you have a great toy to learn with (so long as the car is track only!). A stiffer rear ARB can be added later to make it even easier to get the rear-end out.

BTW, Great tips on how to drift on a budget in How to Drift: The Art of Oversteer by Paul Morton.

I know a lot of drifters up inc a few prodriver, basic a 200bhp car, budget suspension so it does the job rather than worn out suspension, welded diff lots of used worn rear tyres

Then lots of practice

Jason

I hear you, going to look around for some good 2nd hand shocks and see about the springs, what spring rates does everyone suggest ? My cars a auto 316i so iv got 100bhp n a gay box so a engine swap is on the horizon...hopefully,

zenyo wrote:I hear you, going to look around for some good 2nd hand shocks and see about the springs, what spring rates does everyone suggest ? My cars a auto 316i so iv got 100bhp n a gay box so a engine swap is on the horizon...hopefully,

You'd be surprised what you can do with very little power. Drifting is all about breaking traction at the rear. Putting down raw HP is one way to break traction and slide the back out, but there are other ways too. I used to have a huge amount of fun at very low speed in an old pick-up with little more than 80hp. The trick was bald tyres on the rear and little or no weight over the rear (live) axle. Slippery smooth or damp tarmac helps too. Joining your rear suspension arms together via a stiffer ARB is one way to approximate a live axle since this will make your independent rear suspension less independent. Welding up the diff destroys a good diff but ensures that your rear wheels can no longer rotate independent of each other (they must rotate at the same speed). Going round a corner requires that your outside wheel must turn faster than your inside, so welding the diff up makes sure that one or the other (usually the inside) wheel will break traction and you'll be off into oversteer heaven in a jiffy. Combine an extra stiff rear ARB with a welded diff and bald rear tyres and you'll be able to watch your arse overtake your nose in no time at all. All in a days drifting.

But for heavens sake don't do this on a road going car or you'll be taking out motorists left right and centre round a roundabout

BTW, handpaper modified his rear ARB to make it stiffer, have a look at his thread here.

As for rear springs, I'd suggest starting out around the 500lbs/inch mark (for springs in the stock location). This will depend, TBH, on your personal preference and vehicle weight. Others will refine this figure for you I guess.

Happy Drifting.

Agree with the idea that doing is better than spending money! I drift my trackday car (an excellent way of learning good car control..), but before I went down that particular slippery slope, we (4 of us!) started out spending £50 (total!) on a properly cabbaged old manual 735i with a LSD...

Proper barge, loads of body roll, horrid steering, worn out bushes and shocks and it p*ssed water out like Niagra falls, but it taught us the basics for next to nothing, just topping up the header tank every 30 mins or so...!

I guess my advice is - before committing lots of cash, have some fun! It can be a great laugh for not much outlay... But if you want to be a little more serious, soft at the front, stiffer at the back and a welded diff works a treat.

Agree with Geoff as well - not much power needed for lots of arse out action!

Most of all - ENJOY!

above post is what im on about, why spend thousands on a 'drift' setup when you ahvent had a go, my road car/drifter stands me at 700 quid is far more fun than my 3k 200sx and is far more commitable as i dont mind binning it.
e21 jason yup i do agree newer suspension out ways knackered old crap.
all i was trying to say to the original op was dont spend millions to find that perhaps drifting isnt your bag tis all.
and also your rocking an e30 316 auto....... i wouldnt butcher it at all go and get a cheap soleless e36 is or 320i for peanuts. abuse it then when you have learnt the car good and its knackered then look at swapping engines etc. so many builds online start as'my drifter will be adding 1million hp' yadda yadda yadda then halfway through the builder gets bored/goes off the car/realsies that perhaps said hp was to much for learning and gives up.
start cheap, you wouldnt build a rally car if you couldnt drive it would you ;)

bellgtti wrote:above post is what im on about, why spend thousands on a 'drift' setup when you ahvent had a go, my road car/drifter stands me at 700 quid is far more fun than my 3k 200sx and is far more commitable as i dont mind binning it.
e21 jason yup i do agree newer suspension out ways knackered old crap.
all i was trying to say to the original op was dont spend millions to find that perhaps drifting isnt your bag tis all.
and also your rocking an e30 316 auto....... i wouldnt butcher it at all go and get a cheap soleless e36 is or 320i for peanuts. abuse it then when you have learnt the car good and its knackered then look at swapping engines etc. so many builds online start as'my drifter will be adding 1million hp' yadda yadda yadda then halfway through the builder gets bored/goes off the car/realsies that perhaps said hp was to much for learning and gives up.
start cheap, you wouldnt build a rally car if you couldnt drive it would you ;)

Lmao that's true, I'm going down the old car park at the bottom of the estate just to practice and have some fun, I won't back out of this project taking it slow and eventualy it will get there, after all I need to have Atleast 1 rwd car in my stable its all a learning curve and I won't know anything until I'm out there, how do you upload pics? I stripped out the car and left the seat with my dog bad bad very bad idea il get a pic up when I find out how

ok i know how to upload pics, read the sticky cant fookin find that photo manager though, anyone got any good links to it? anyway heres a rather large pic

Sorry for laughing but I can't help myself.

Skin the dog and make a seat cover out of it - that'll fix it

GeoffBob wrote:Sorry for laughing but I can't help myself.

Skin the dog and make a seat cover out of it - that'll fix it

Don't mock robo-dog.
It has its laser eye on you!

Lmao haha robo dog, my dogs in shedding season I could actually stuff my seats with his fur and still have enough to knit covers, Akitas shed way to much, well Atleast its motivated me to empty and clean the garage, nice dry place for the e30 to rest

What do you guys think of bilstein b4s and Faulkner springs? going for a nice 60/40 drop with stiff stiff springs rates still not decided though

B4's have the same stroke as the stock damper, rather choose B6's or B8's and don't lower any more than 40mm.

From one of the other threads:

GeoffBob wrote:Condsider a damper with 120mm of stroke (typical). The damper rod is intended to extend to near enough half its stroke while standing (static) upon the OEM specified springs. That means the damper offers approximately 60mm stroke in either direction (compression and extension, or jounce and rebound depending upon your preferred terminology).

Now, lower you car by 50mm (by fitting shorter springs) and you will reduce the stroke of the damper to 10mm on compression, while increasing the stroke to 110mm on extension. A far from ideal position for your suspension to be in!

Learning basics of drifting doesn't require power really. Most of the time you'll be doing donuts and figure 8's in 1st gear anyway.

I've got a 320i with -60mm jamex springs and a welded diff. I use scrap rubber 165mm - 185mm wide pumped up to 50psi.

That does me for now. Wet or dry 1st will spin, 2nd goes in the wet easily, but in the dry in 2nd I need to keep the speed up to keep the wheels spinning.

Did the same in my old tramp motor e34

Basically if your learning and dont really care about the care (harsh to say) Chop the springs dependent on how many coils are in to start with you can go from there, what will annoy alot of people here, I managed to double mine up on my e34.

Basically - Chop springs
Weld diff (well)
Loose all wieght!!!
Used rubber 165-185mm
Lots of psi in the rear tyres
Never lift!

Pretty much what jack said

Geo wise, like im doing on my E30 touring for the bdc is, Neutrel set up for everything at the rear, lots of castor and camber up front, remember for drifting you want to be in control. The items i said above fine for learning with low power, once your 200hp+ you want grip to go drifting.



This was my second day in my e34, only had small chop on springs, lots of psi, stripped and welded diff, and that was more then capable for ages whilst I was learning (not saying im a god at it either)