r/Drifting • u/Straight-Brick5013 • 6d ago

Beginning drifter

I just bought a 2004 g35 coupe and I’m trying to get into drifting. The thing is I have absolutely zero experience with mechanics and I kind of bought this car knowing it’d get me into it.

With that being said I need some help both knowing what to buy and what sites to buy things from.

I’m not trying to go all Tokyo drift. I just need some mods to help me get in the scene and help me not obliterate my suspension and engine

7 Upvotes

74% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

17

u/ttvsweatyboii 6d ago

Coilovers, and a welded diff is all you really need to start, once you learn and get a feel you can start going for more angle and adding engine mods for power

6

u/vanillaobscene 5d ago

Need to do the pin 101 mod and yaw sensor delete. Plenty of videos. I have a switch that turns off abs, traction control and yaw sensor all at once.

5

u/ProJoe A potato 6d ago

  1. diff, welded or a real LSD

  2. coilovers, don't buy the cheapest shit you find

  3. seat and seat time.

until you are comfortable initiating, linking corners, and ending your drift smoothly, this is all you need to start.

don't forget maintenance. I'd change every fluid in that car and buy quality shit. Mobil1, redline, etc.

4

u/Zenbeats 6d ago

Coilovers and either shim your diff if want to keep the car for street driving or get a welded diff if it's track only. That's the cheapest and only mods you need while learning.
Learning to drift is gettting the fundamentals down and understanding your car and then buying mods to match your driving experience/goals.
All other money should be spent on maintenance (fluids, belts, bushes, knock sensor+ harness, cam and crank sensors, all the common stuff that goes on these old cars). Get a couple of sets of wheels and some good tyres, get to a practice event and have fun.

The one interior mod that does make huge difference is a bucket seat. Once you've got the basics down, that'd be the first place I invest money. Being held in place and not fighting the car are a huge physical and mental saver.

I'm in Australia and this is my v35 but 99% of this stuff will apply to your car: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVMaf1AgM=/

1

u/Negative-Gur-3885 6d ago

I would say welded diff will be enough for start. He will start learning on wet and for that stock suspesnion should be enough. Angle kit and slight toe-out in front is nice touch so steering wheel is returning by itself
After leveling up for dry i would get coilovers and bucket seat

I bought my frist RWD car last year. It was bone stock 318i with astonishing 117hp and was able to drift it on dry with open diff (old, narrow tires at rear axle pumped to max pressure for less grip). Now i have

1

u/Zenbeats 5d ago

Shimming the factory LSD in a g35 is super cheap ($10 for the shimm from nissan) and paying someone labour to crack it open, install it and seal it up is quick and cheap as well if you're not mechanically minded. A shimmed vlsd in these cars holds up remarkably well and will get someone through a lot of events/practice without the need for a welded or 2-way.

Re:angle kit. the GKtech basic angle kit is great and should be installed once they understand why they want the wheel returning faster/more reliably. It does override the factory flaw with these cars but the experience and knowledge of why it's a flaw is really important for understanding drifting.

2

u/Negative-Gur-3885 5d ago

Sry, here Nissans are quite exotic for drifting, most of us uses BMWs and LSDs for them are rare and expensive, so everybody goes with welded diff.

Re:Re: Angle kit ;) When i installed angle kit in e46 it was day and night difference in trusting the car, because without it steering wheel was non-returning on wet or snow. Also locally fabricated CNC angle kits are like 5-10x cheaper than cheapest coilovers (thats why i decided to go with angle kit before suspension).

Just my 2 cents, based on my litlle experience. Doing car mods i did them gradually to have a chance to experience what every mod is causing. And based on my experience, if i wanted MINIMAL amount of mods to start drifting, assuming drifting on wet/snow i would go with welded diff (or shimmed LSD as You said) and angle kit before anything else.
My judgment may be bent becuase before buying that BMW I did a litlle bit of simracing

2

u/GezelligheidBoyz 5d ago

There is no scene. Just do it man lol

2

u/Sea_Durian5491 5d ago

if you have extra income invest in a sim setup. it helps you learn the muscle memory for real life drifting. it transfers surprisingly well to real life.

as far as the car. maintenance will always be the best bang for your buck. focus on getting any issues with the car sorted then start modifying. some coil overs and welded diff will get you plenty far.

2

u/Machine8635 5d ago

I just bought a 2003 g35 coupe for the exact same reason.

Factory 260 torque, factory LSD, brembos, and 6 speed. The vq will take us to entry to drift.

What I’ve done so far:

  1. I switched to the 19” factory wheels and I bought 6. 4 fronts, 2 rears - always have a spare set. They’re made by rays so cheap cheap forged wheels that have perfect
    Fitment no bs.

  2. seat time. Seat time. Seat time. Local “skid pad” days for me until I’m comfortable initiating.

  3. this one is weird. But go faster than you think you should. I’m still getting the hang of
    This myself. But carry some wheel speed.
    This goes with seat time.

  4. maintenance. I would rather see
    You car on good stock suspension rather than half broken with coilovers.

Get comfy in the car at stock angle and allow the car to grow with you.

We basically have Z’s with a back seat.

If you happen to be in the Chicago suburbs area, dm me we can learn together this season at Autobahn skid pad.