Gig for annealing: From an old VAZ 2105 a cool mass car was assembled for professional drift

This story is about how a fan of Japanese cars unexpectedly decided to realize his old dream and learn how to drift. To do this, he bought a used VAZ 2105 and, based on it, began to create his own drift-mobile or “cramps”, as the professionals say. There are many ambitions, even more plans – but there are already notable successes.

Lada – a car that is very difficult to surprise someone. If earlier they were the ultimate dream, the result of many years of work and savings, now AvtoVAZ’s “classic” is no longer in value. But young people give a second life to the “grandfathers Zhiguli”, because rear-wheel drive and an acceptable price make the classics very attractive for amateur drift – an automobile sport in which the car rides “sideways” in a controlled drift.

Yesterday’s schoolchildren, having barely got a license, buy their first Lada to train, quickly turning their cars into “Fighting Classics”. Broken, crooked and rusty, these cars are a kind of reminder to the owners of their thorny road in the drift. The hero of this material Artem, has always been a fan of Japanese cars. He is not interested in the Lada as a car, but he was unexpectedly interested in the Zhiguli classics as the basis for a creative project and, it seems, such a project was a success for him.

Artyom decided to build a show car that will attract every single sight, the so-called “eye-stopper”. At the same time, he did not plan to turn the car into thrash or “garbage” on wheels, on the contrary, he wanted the car to cause only positive emotions. Therefore, Artem decided that the car should be neat, smooth and beautiful, he must sound thoroughbred and go the same way, in a word, a real mass car should come out in Russian. For such a project, a whole car was needed – not broken, not rotten and in good condition.

They were looking for a suitable car for a long time – they called the ads, studied a lot of broken and tortured cars, until they came across the VAZ, which immediately caught on with magic numbers: 2105, 2005, mileage 55,000 at a price of 55,000 rubles! So the project got its name.

Enlisting the support of the well-known pilot of the RDS (Russian Drift Series) Nikita Shikov, Artyom set about fulfilling his dream of creating a stylish and non-standard project based on the Zhiguli. Nikita not only provided his own workshop “Angar 13” for work, but also constantly helped with practical and technical advice on construction. Artyom’s idea was enthusiastically accepted by his other friends and colleagues, some of whom covered this project in their blogs and pages on social networks.

One of the important stages of the construction of a non-standard automobile project is the search and installation of the “right” or just interesting non-factory engine. Artyom was lucky to find and purchase as a donor for his #fiftyfifty VAZ 2104 with a two-liter 210-horsepower engine from Toyota Altezza, together with engine control units and a 6-speed manual transmission.

A little later, when it became clear that the project was becoming more and more fashionable, an even greater wow effect was needed, then Artyom put an automatic box from the same Toyota in his Lada. Toyotov’s motor “breathes” through a filter of zero resistance, and “exhales” through a full exhaust route with a diameter of 63mm.

The car was “dressed” in a quality kit from one of the Russian workshops of the MCA-team from the city of Serov, they added it with a “lip” and a “spoiler”, put it on wide wheels from an SUV, lowered it with sports shortened springs, and pulled the car into bright black green vinyl in the style of the drift team Fail Crew, which is supported by Artem’s friend – Nikita. Logos of friends and partners who believed in the #fiftyfiftydrift project and participated in its implementation were placed on the sides of the car.

There were also noticeable changes in the passenger compartment – instead of a dashboard, a tablet and several sensors (oil pressure control, coolant temperature, etc.) now flaunted, the tunnel was redesigned for automatic transmission, a sports steering wheel trimmed with alcantara was installed. Convenience for passengers is a compromise: the rear seats are removed, sports belts are now attached to their frame, with which the pilot and his navigator can buckle up while sitting in the sport bucket seats.