Chassis Preparation
After the alignment, the car was then brought to DMF Drift Garage for seam welding to stiffen the chassis for a rigid platform. In preparation for the process, the stock RB24S engine was taken out of the car also in preparation for the new engine transplant. Seam welding minimizes the chassis flex making the car easier to control and more predictable in a drift. It also helps maintain the alignment done on the chassis. A custom rollcage was then installed in the car for further stiffening and safety after the seam welding process.
Suspension
In order to have a proper footwork to put the car to the ground, a good suspension is required. The stock rear cradle was taken out for an R32 rear cradle to be installed, which would allow a better differential housing to be put in place. To handle the height and damping, a set of XYZ Racing Super Sport Coilovers from Makna Marketing were installed. A set of pillow-ball suspension plates was installed to allow adjustment of front camber. A custom front underbrace done by DMF was also put in place to further stiffen the chassis. It was finished off with a Cusco front tower bar.
For better adjustability, it is recommended to change also the front torsion bars to allow the adjustment of caster; and rear lower arm for rear camber adjustment. These two parts are just some more additional parts to make the car easier to drive and drift better. There are more adjustable parts that would make it better but also makes the cost more. We decided to forgo these for the meantime as we are trying to build a basic drift car.
Brakes
One of the most important things that you need to consider when you plan to make your car perform better is to upgrade your brakes. As they say, if you don’t brake, you’ll break your car.
We decided to upgrade the brakes coming from an R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R. These brakes come with cross-drilled rotors in all fours, four-pot front calipers and twin-pot rear calipers. These come with PCD 5×114.3 hubs, which allow for a wider choice of wheels and provide a lot of stopping power. The surplus calipers we acquired came with a nice red powdercoat finish giving it a very aggressive and fresh look after they were cleaned.