What's the best lightweight driveshaft out there?

[ToplessFormula]

I'm looking for people's suggestions on a high quality lightweight driveshaft.

I had a new aluminum LS1 driveshaft in my 95 Formula but peeled it apart like a pretzel today. I don't want a steel shaft because I'm looking for something lightweight. Obviously, I need something strong as well.

Any ideas or suggestions? Does anybody have any actual/personal experiences with some quality driveshafts? Company names and prices would be great.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[Injuneer]

What kind of HP are you making? That will determine what you need in the way of a driveshaft. There is very little HP to be gained by skimping in this area. I've had a failure with an ACPT super heavy duty carbon fiber shaft, basically a waste of $750. Switched to a Mark Williams 3" chrome moly unit, less weight, same strength as mild steel.

[ToplessFormula]

What kind of HP are you making? That will determine what you need in the way of a driveshaft. There is very little HP to be gained by skimping in this area. I've had a failure with an ACPT super heavy duty carbon fiber shaft, basically a waste of $750. Switched to a Mark Williams 3" chrome moly unit, less weight, same strength as mild steel.

I'm guessing that it's putting down 275-300 HP at the wheels. I plan on running a 383 in the distant future so I would like a driveshaft to handle more power than I currently have.

I've thought about chrome moly. What did that shaft set you back?

The driveshaft was my weak link. I have a Moser 12 bolt now. I actually figured that my conversion u-joint would fail if anything did, because it's greaseable/not solid.

[Black97]

Whoa what did you do? With stock horsepower you broke an LS1 DS?

Are you sure that thing didn't have a flaw or something?

[ConElite]

My only guess to breaking a DS with stock HP is Doing a 5000rpm clutch dump on Full-on Slicks.

[ToplessFormula]

3,500 RPM's with P275/40R17 Mickey Thompson Drag Radials.

[Injuneer]

The Mark Williams was $625, but that included a $225 forged tranny slider/yoke, and HD solid 1350 u-joints. Sitting behind my engine with 5K clutch dumps, through 3.73 12-bolt to 26" ET Streets. Then I swapped in the TH400 and needed another DS, again MW. That one is for sale ($425), but the will not fit a stock A4 or M6 because of the TH400 tailshaft length, and TH400 slider. Currently have an even shorter MW shaft, since the Gear Vendor was added to the TH400.

I just saw a link to a Strange chrome moly DS for under $300, plus the slider. Might be worth looking into.

[ToplessFormula]

Thanks for everyone's input. I ended up getting a Spohn Extreme Duty driveshaft. They recommend it up to 1,000 horsepower so I "should" be OK. I've managed to break things that should be OK many times before though. I suspect that I'll be OK this time around. I have purchased Spohn products before and I'm impressed with their quality.



Here's a link to the shaft I purchased: http://www.spohn.net/product.cfm?productid=1328



Thanks again.

Here's a pic of the driveshaft:

[Z Ya Later]

There have been reports of the LS1 DS breaking in LT1 cars without much more than DRs and a semi-high RPM clutch-drop before. This isn't that surprising to me. Good choice on the Spohn DS.

[RAF7789]

.....


Here's a link to the shaft I purchased: http://www.spohn.net/product.cfm?productid=1328



Thanks again.

Here's a pic of the driveshaft:

HOLY $#!T well done!! i salute you.

[Black97]

Look how thin walled the DS is!!!

[Injuneer]

Buddy of mine with a moderate HP blown LT1 has a picture almost exactly like that one. Another friend snapped a Lingenfelter 3.5" aluminum DS at about the 700HP level. This is not the place to save weight.

[ToplessFormula]

Buddy of mine with a moderate HP blown LT1 has a picture almost exactly like that one. Another friend snapped a Lingenfelter 3.5" aluminum DS at about the 700HP level. This is not the place to save weight.

If I ever thought that I was going to have a problem like this I would have upgraded years ago.

I doubt that I'll have a problem again though.

I was also amazed at how thin the walls were.

Maybe they need to use stonger cardboard?