A little introduction: me and my firebird drift car

Hello! My name is Matt, I'm a mechanical engineering major who's been building a 4th gen firebird as a drift car.

Though it sounds odd, I did a bit of research into suspension geometry as well as chassis and drivetrains, and seeing as how mustangs of the same vintage are so popular, why not an F-body? They almost always outperformed mustangs stock for stock, and they came with better motors and suspension design, and in my opinion, they were more "Japanese" looking to begin with

On top of that, they're extremely well balanced as the motor is so far back, and have a pretty extensive aftermarket in terms of suspension components, roll cages, tube fronts etc.

My car started as a base model 1996 firebird, with a Buick 3800 and a t5 trans. I picked that combo because I didn't want an lt1, but I prefer the earlier body style over the ls1 year cars. The 3800 is an extremely stout motor that loves boost, hell, look at the grand national! My particular setup is an l67 with forged pistons, stock heads with fully redone valvetrain with higher ratio rockers and a bigger cam. Currently running some custom turbo manifolds to a gt3582, running an external gate with a 3 inch exhaust. Goal is a reliable 350-400 wheel horsepower(seat time is key lol), but the setup is supposedly good to over 600 pretty safely.

I went a little overboard on the bodywork, making a fully custom body kit complete with s14 side skirts, a poly front lip from a Camaro, and I'm currently working on some over fenders that are supposed to be sort of based around an origin type 3. Its currently running a set of 17x9.5 enkei winsome 3p's up front with some rota cr-Kai knockoffs out back, but I'm also rebuilding a set of riverside dronells for it that hopefully will help give it a bit more of a unique look being a lesser known 3 piece wheel.

In terms of suspension, currently running extended lca's with poly bushing, as well as some jenson Keyes cut knuckles. That setup gives a decent amount of angle, but since I'm in school for engineering, I've been working on a pretty wild angle kit, hopefully I'll be able to get a prototype cut out after next season(it still needs some tweaking for the knuckle).

It still needs some more work, mainly a little bit of work on the brakes, some tuning, and some more paint/bodywork, but it's definitely nearing completion. Since I've been in school it's taken a lot longer to finish due to monetary and location issues(the car is 4hrs away) but it's getting really close, so fingers crossed for the 2024 season!