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Jared's '79 5.3 244 Project: The Qwikbrik

Did some measuring for a driveshaft tonight, and cut half my shifter bump out of the floor to get better transmission clearance.

A one piece driveshaft would need to be 51-13/16? long, and given my gear ratios and planned tire size, critical speed on that steel shaft would be 110mph. Guess that means I?m looking at a 2-piece driveshaft (and that I got really lucky when I had this car up at 140mph in the Nevada desert years ago.)

Im doing just fine with my single 3" driveshaft. Taken up to 130mp without issues.
 
Two piece. Your kid is going to ride in and drive this car (someday).
I doubt you’ll maintain those critical speeds, but safety is safety.
 
Spent some time on the phone with Denny's driveshaft today. He recommends a one-piece steel driveshaft, but with a few caveats. He strongly recommended changing from a flat flange on the diff to a pinion yoke.

He said he's seen a number of failures with the flat bolt-on flanges that he thinks can be attributed to the flat flanges introducing a little bit of runout in the shaft. He also said that my driveshaft length is nowhere near requiring a two-piece shaft.

Everything he makes is balanced to 10,000rpm. He also recommended a tube material that's got a higher torsional strength than regular mild steel tubing, so I'll probably do that too.

Anyhow, I'm aware I'm probably overthinking this, but after seeing the carnage on the other car, this is one area where I don't want to cut any corners. Or floorpans.

Denny's was the only shop out of 6 or 7 I've called that actually had a conversation about what I was doing and why I didn't just want the cheapest option, and talked through all the available options instead of just trying to sell me something right then.
 
Yeah I would not do a 1 piece unless you plan on making a tunnel for it, if the car is going to be as low as that wagon.
 
Ive used dennys driveshafts before. Great group of people. My one piece doesn't rub and I have zero vibrations. I also used solid u-joints for longevity. Get your angles correct and you won't have issues. Im also pretty sure Im using 1330's in the wagon.
 
Finally got off my ass and ordered some stuff for this thing again. I was out riding the bike today and thought about how fun the 244 would be.

Ordered the Midwest Chassis T56 yoke. People seem to feel like it's a better option as some fit loose. This is designed for an F-body T56, which is what I've got.

Ordered a pinion flange for the 8.8 as well.

Those two things make it so I'll be able to measure for a driveshaft. I did find a local shop that says they can do 2-piece units, so I'll just go through them. I had a 3" one piece in this car with the T5, and it rubbed badly where the ebrake cables go through the body, and the car wasn't even really low. Don't want to deal with that again, and I want the car to be considerably lower this time around.
 
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Finally did something the other day:

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Realized after I welded it all up that it would've looked better if I had flipped the angle iron pieces over. Oh well. They're still not the lowest hanging part on the car or anything, should be fine.
 
I approve of this progress.

Mostly because ever since you have signed up, I've avoided pronouncing your SN correctly as "prop-a-vater" and just tell myself its "plop a v8 in 'er" and now it has become exactly what you are doing.
 
I approve of this progress.

Mostly because ever since you have signed up, I've avoided pronouncing your SN correctly as "prop-a-vater" and just tell myself its "plop a v8 in 'er" and now it has become exactly what you are doing.

Bad news.... It's prop aviator...

Edit; I should add that it took me a year or two of knowing Jared before I figured that out.
 
it was propavater in my head for years, until i suddenly noticed that his avatar was a propeller.
 
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