Newbie and very green

Hey all! I came across your info while visiting a car show and was totally stoked! I have watched some drifiting videos on Youtube and was hooked thinking I wanna try that!

A little about me- I'm an old school street / drag racer originally from Florida. I've got a "street legal" 74 Nova that runs 11's on the motor, a 73 Nova resto-mod project and my daily driver is a 79 Olds Cutlass wagon. I'm a graphic designer and illustrator in Utah County and run a business called Street Rod Designs. Some of you may have seen my booth at some of the bigger car shows. In a nutshell I do Hot Rod design and illustration, decals, graphics, wraps, T-shirt design and printing, automotive based graphic design, etc. My website is still under construction but you can see some samples of my work at www.streetroddesigns.com

Recently I got in touch with the guy that built the Bubba Drift El Camino and discussed with him some things I need to do to get my wagon (G Body GM car) set up to drift. Just wanted to rub shoulders a bit with you guys too and hopefully next season will get the car in a couple events. Hopefully there's some room for a domestic grocery getter amongst the group. Unfortunately my background is going in a straight line pretty fast not swinging a car sideways around corners, so I'm gonna be on a learning curve for the next little while. Forgive me if I ask some stupid questions as I become more familiar with the sport. Any advice is always welcome.

Glad to meet you all!

My Wagon pics as it is currently...








...And where it's headed over the next few years...





[url=http//:www.streetroddesigns.com]http//:www.streetroddesigns.com[/url]

It would be interesting to something that big sliding sideways! Welkome aboard

Thanks! It's actually not that big, it's a "midsize" car, same platform used for the El Caminos, Malibus and Monte Carlos of the day. Roughly 3600 lbs factory weight and I can shave a bit of that off. Weight distribution is fairly even too so it should do well in an autocross situation. Not sure about how weight bias works best in drifting?

I thought that thing would weigh in at atleast 4 grand. Rex 7 weighs in at about 2200 lbs. Looks like it has a low CG, that will be the most helpful, that and a stiff frame.

I know compared to the typical imports my car is a bit on the portly side, hopefully the higher horsepower will make up the difference. I'm considering pulling my motor from my drag car to put in the wagon. It's dynoed at 562hp and 511 lbs of tq at the flywheel, but this motor would require a beefier rear end in the car. We'll have to see how finances go this year to get it ready for next season.

It is a full frame car rather than a unibody. It still has more flex than a person might expect. I think just adding a roll cage will make a huge difference.

How many ponies does the average drifter have? I watched a few of the videos from the club and it doesn't appear that you're going that fast, seems more like it's just a matter of trying to get the car to slide and keep the wheels spinning? Again I'm new and I haven't been able to see it in person yet so I'm not real familiar with everything.

Mine is running about 250 hp to the wheels and about the same in torque. generally the speeds are around 40-50 mph, depending on your rpm range. Is yours an auto? It can be hard to control the revs with an auto.

would love to see that car next event!

awesome!!! I love old school wagons

It is an auto, however the kickdown linkage isn't hooked up. Remember, this thing's old school so no electronics anywhere. If I manually shift down and leave it in 1st or 2nd gear it'll stay there all day until I shift it. If I get hooked on this and get more serious about it I'll install a manual valve body, though right now I don't think that's necessary. Currently if I nail it around right hand hard curves (like the I-15 heading north entrance ramp from 500 E in Am Fork) in 1st gear I can get sideways, left hand turns it usually just blazes the left side tire. Once I get the rear end situated with some steeper gearing and a posi it should slide both ways.

A friend recently told me for drifting a locker rear is best while for autocross some sort of limited slip differential is better. Any thoughts there? Not sure I'm excited to have a "spool" fully locked rear on the street, and I do want to autocross it too.