VR-4Squid

Depends how much power you've got, and how wide your tyres are.

I had 190kw@wheels and 235/40/18's and after fitting the steel transfer case it would occasionally break an axle.
Dropping the clutch in 2nd with the car rolling is much less likely to break something than doing it in 1st or at a stand still.
With that sort of power it'll pull 3rd no problem. I never tried 4th.

Not a stupid question at all.

The alloy transfer cases are much weaker, I split mine clean in half the day after the above video was made. Replaced it with a steel cased one and it lasted 4 years of abuse.

The viscous diff's don't have a great lsd action, once they get hot they'll just spin one wheel which is no good for drifting.

Here's a little advice from someone who's actually done this (for 4 years):

Weld the centre diff, don't muck about with the viscous coupling eliminator mentioned above.
Remove the front axles, you'll need to put the outer cv's back into the hubs to hold the wheelbearings together and use frost plugs to block up the holes in the gearbox.

If your vr4 has an all alloy transfercase (most likely unless it's an Evo0) you'd best get a steel case one and matching output shaft before you start.

If you still have 4ws you will need to get rid of it. Similarly if you have a viscous rear diff you will need to replace it, either with an open diff welded up, or preferably with a plate lsd from an RS.
If you have an Evo0 with the 4-bolt rear end life is made much easier as you can simply use a mech lsd from an evo1-3 in the stock housing, using the evo inner cv's and the rest of the 4-bolt axles - these will take a fair amount of abuse.

If you have a 3-bolt rear end, buy a pair of spare axles. How long they last depends on how much power/torque you have.

That's all pretty easy, go out, have fun, replace the odd axle.
Unfortunately it all gets a lot harder now - the E39A's main downfall as a drift car is it's piss poor steering lock, rack spacers will gain you a bit, but it's not long before you start rubbing the chassis rails at full lock, and there's no easy way around that.

Converting to north-south creates a tonne of problems, mainly because the steering rack is in completely the wrong place, the easiest solution (and I use the term very loosly) is to use a nissan subframe/rack/hubs/etc but that's a hell of a lot of work.

In short, for a bit of fun: do it. If you really want to drift, get a nissan/toyota.


Here's a vid of the first skid I did in mine many years ago, lol

No never adjust the bottom of the strut, only adjust the height of the 2 locks at the base of the coil spring.

What?

The spring seat should only be used to adjust spring pre-load, you DO want to adjust the bottom of the strut to change ride height - why else would it be adjustable?

I've seen 16gs make 160kw - 220kws. Only difference, i/c pipin and I/C type, intake manifold (cyclone/eci multi), t/b.

Same ecu, same tuner, same fuel, same dyno, same gear ratio.

The car with the top end supporting mods obviously made more power.

5kws here, 10kws there... It all adds up.

also keep in mind, 3.9 ratio boxes will show more power on the dyno than a 3.5 box if done in the same gear.

My 16G made 189kw @ wheels on 15psi with 264º cams, 510's & evo afm, s-afc, 38mm w'gate, 3" exhaust from o2 housing back, no muffler, stock intercooler and piping on 98 octane.
Would really like to get a link ecu into it and see what it can do with a proper tune and some more boost (have also swapped the cooler and piping for 'evo 0' stuff)

Suprised no one has asked what compressor cover OP will be using, a td06 cover will make more power than a td05 cover that's been machined to fit the bigger wheel.
Similarly the amount (if any) that the turbine wheel is back-cut will make a big difference also.