If you can't buy it, make it yourself...My Custom Gear

There are a lot of new gear sets people are making for Countersteer transformations. I even ordered a couple of them to try. I in fact am about to get one more version now. But I have recently been really intrigued by one I found in Japan. I contacted them to see if I could buy them, but they are not ready yet. So I finally decided to make one myself. I know it proalbally wont be the best. Infact I have just installed it and it's loud and probally won't last too long, but I figure it will good enough to test with.

So after a lot of thinking and a lot of cutting and grinding, this is my custom CS- SD gear. Below is a little step by step of what I did. But now that I have done it once, I have some good idea how I can make it better. But I guess that will have to be version 2. Anyways check it out....

I'll have to see how it drifts now.

Please don't contact me about making another one for someone else, it's too much work, but if you want to give it a try yourself.... GO FOR IT and let me know how yours comes out!

Crazy and Awesome at the same time...

WOW! I don't know if I would dare drive my Driftmaster in the rain, but with their custom front gear, it drifts so nice. Somebody roll up there side windows...LOL!

TGIF

I was trying to think of something good to post, but couldn't think of anything, so I thought I would go random....

Here's a picture of my Katskinz Cows collection at work. How's that for random? LOL!

CS Session 3 Test and My Results...

This past Sat, I had a long session getting to tryout various front to rear gear ratios on both my CS Cyclone and Driftmaster CS.

First I compared the grip I had on the Cyclone with the a 40/15 vs 32/23 set up. To get it to work right for me I had to modify the engine mounts so I could run a crazy 80/15 Spur and Pinion. This worked out to a 1.87 to 1 ratio. This made full lock countersteer drifting, but the rear end was just didn't have enough traction for my style of driving. After trying a few other ratios, I ended back at more conservative 1.668 to 1 (40/15 vs 32/20 with a 80/17)Which works pretty good, but still just not enough traction in quick transitions. But I think with some more suspension tuning, this might be the way to go for me.

Next I set my attention to my Driftmaster shaft-drive. With this I started off with the same 1.49 to 1 ratio. (42/15 vs 39/18). The car had much improved grip over the belt car, and was super fun to drive. The counter steer still wasn't that great. But then I got hooked up with a new 44T (which made it 1.56 to 1), this along with some more rear toe, and stiffer rear spring, made a pretty good improvement on countersteer. But still maintained all the traction I wanted. It was now super fun to drive. Again, I don't think this setup is ideal, because it could still use some more under or over drive. But for now it's still pretty fun. Below is a quick video Katsumi made of my car running at Arai.

From my test, and my driving style I am guess a good front to rear gear ratio is about 1.6 to 1.7... but I think depending on your driving style it could be way different.

I think with a little more practice this set-up is still capable of constant countersteer. I just need to get use to using a little less throttle. After we filmed, it got the hang of it a little better...

Ask for smoke and there it is...

In my last post, I was saying how the countersteer set-up looks so real and that all we needed now was some smoke. Then I discovered the SG Drifter guys have done it.

This is so cool. Not sure how they do it, but it looks like they can control the amount of smoke that comes out, with how much throttle is applied. I hope someone comes out with a kit like this.

This with on a countersteer car would be perfect!

My CS-headed Supra...

Well, I am still thinking over the gearing like, mention in the last post. I switched out some gears and am ready to make a comparison. But until, I figure that out. I thought I would post up some more images of my CS headed Supra. Katsumi and Masa posted up some pretty cool images on there blogs. So I stole them to post here too...



This car below was my inspiration, now all I have to do is figure out how to get some smoke going....

Very nice Countersteer Drifting...

I was just about ready to give my conclusions of what I think works at Arai, but then I just watched my friend's Jhon's crazy countersteer video on youtube. It looks sick! I don't understand how his setup with a front ball diff, 1:99 to 1 ratio and crazy final gearing work (according to my math it's 5.33 in the rear?), but it definitely works for him. I noticed, at Arai we had some different ideas, but in the end I guess it really does depend on your driving style. I'll have to think about this stuff some more.

Anyways, check out his new video. good stuff and even more amazing to me with his setup...Great driving Jhon!

It's Back for Countersteer duty...

Back a couple of years ago, I built a Jun JZA80 replica, with a targa top and a driver that had his head move with the steering. It was pretty cool, but without a Dbox and still running normal AWD drifting, it just didn't work out that good. But now, with countersteer drifting, this shell has found a great spot. I love it! It drifts good, and it really looks pretty cool when you are up close and can see the drivers helmet look in the direction it is going...

Plus it's Yellow in honor of our new World Champion Lakers! Whoo Hoo!!!

It will be back in action at Arai this Sat... Cant wait, yestedays session, taught me a lot and I didn't even have to make too many changes. I'll fill you in on what I learned as soon as I have time to sort though my thoughts...

More JDM inspiration...

Here's a pretty cool video from Japan I found a couple of days ago...
This shows some nice countersteering. I like it because the the traction looks good and there transitions look pretty realistic.

Fine line between Countersteer and no traction...

While now I am still looking forward to testing out the cars Sunday. (too bad I might miss the Lakers though....Hopefully they win tonight, and I can record the Sunday game and track it with the old iphone app)

Anyways I just reduced the gearing on the Cyclone form the (1.81 to 1.70) and I am liking the extra traction in the back. Below is fellow Arai member Ulyz' Cyclone at Arai, this past weekend. (running a 1.67 ratio) Looks good. Can't wait to try mine. Seems like there is a really fine balance you need to find in the overdrive ratio to chassis setup... Hope I can find it soon.....

Here's Katsumi's video of Ulyz... enjoy

The same but different... Belt Drive vs. Shaft Drive

Well this isn't really a comparison, but I did want to post up where I am at with my Belt drive CS Cyclone and my Shaft drive Driftmaster CS. After doing more work on both steering systems, the cars have pretty much the same steering angle. (pretty cool since I haven't seen another LCG with that kind of steering before)

Both cars are getting close, but just are not quite there yet. I know I have been trying a lot of things, and one week I post one thing, then come to find out next week the opposite is better. It's tough working on new ideas, but so far:

The CS Cyclone (1.81)has good countersteer, but lacks rear grip for transistions. This makes it hard to control sometimes. But the steering angle looks great. (current setup 39/15 33/23 but planning on going 39/16, 33-2/23 soon)

The Driftmaster CS (1.21) has good rear traction, but lacks a lot of counter steer. But it is still really fun to drive and it actually looks more realistic with less countersteer. (current setup 42/13, 39/18 but looking for a 44)

Both are good in there own ways, and both really fun to drive, but still both I think can still be better.




























This Sunday I plan an going to Arai Driftland again for some more testing. I have a few things I want to try. It will also be good get some input from the other guys.

(One really cool thing about a CS setup, is since you use a lot of camber and a wide track isn't necessary for speed, you can slam the body down low. I love it!)

D-Like Countersteer dori!

Here's a brand new video from the D-Like guys in Japan. This time it features a SD shaft drive car.
Looks pretty good...



Think I'll try a little more front camber...hummm

Shaft Drive Counter Steer

A few weeks back I had my 2nd session with the CS Cyclone, and it runs pretty good, but still having a hard time tuning in the rear grip in transitional. But at that same time I drove my friend GD's Yokomo DP and it was pretty darn easy to drive. I really like how much grip the rear end had even with countersteer. The Countersteer wasn't a lot, but I think it can definitely improve. Since then I basically threw together the gear I acquired and it is seems pretty good too. (Just some simple camber and caster changes.) It's the F:42/13 - R:18/39 combo most shaft drive people are using. (like I said before it's not a simple install though, lots of customizing to get it all to mesh right)

But all in all, I am really having a easier time trying to figure out the shaft drive. My Driftmaster CS is getting there... Hopefully I can get to Arai to put it to the real test.... (plus it looks so cool having countersteer on a big aero S14 body!)


Front shimmed 42T on a 1-way, and a drilled shaft for the 13T

Rear countersinked 39T on a solid, and lots of shims on the 18T shaft.

me testing GD's Shaft Drive... "I like it!"