Solid Driveshafts

[Deans Sprint]

Hi all, Once again I'm back on the Solid shaft tip!! Does anyone with the
solid shafts eg Scott Long(thanks for pics and specs but cant E-mail you
direct ,are you still there) Arno etc. know if the Ali adapter plates use a
tapped thread in the bolt holes. I am assuming not so have not drilled holes
yet. The conversion looks like costing, ?90 ish for 4 Golf driveshafts
,nothing to have adapters made (mate is cnc man) plus stainless steel bolts
?30? and a welder as I don't own one. What sort of welder would you guys
recommend to join the two halves of a solid shaft together. I have done
classes in gas and arc. Would I get enough penetration using MIG to make the
join safe or should I let a pro weld them together.
Cheers
Del (nice when it's finished) S130

[Arno Church]

Del,
In my case, the Ali adapters are threaded for both the CV joints and the 3
ear "flanges"
I've used 6062 ali ( dural will also do)
Do not use stainless steel bolts , they are too brittle, use either 8.8 or
12.4 HT bolts or their equivalent
Also do not just weld the 2 halves of the shaft together, rather have a
sleeve made up, about 30 to 40 mm long, that can slide tightly over the
shaft and weld that to the shafts, A welded butt joint in the shafts is
bound to fail
Arno

Hi all, Once again I'm back on the Solid shaft tip!! Does anyone with the
solid shafts eg Scott Long(thanks for pics and specs but cant E-mail you
direct ,are you still there) Arno etc. know if the Ali adapter plates use a
tapped thread in the bolt holes. I am assuming not so have not drilled holes
yet. The conversion looks like costing, ?90 ish for 4 Golf driveshafts
,nothing to have adapters made (mate is cnc man) plus stainless steel bolts
?30? and a welder as I don't own one. What sort of welder would you guys
recommend to join the two halves of a solid shaft together. I have done
classes in gas and arc. Would I get enough penetration using MIG to make the
join safe or should I let a pro weld them together.
Cheers
Del (nice when it's finished) S130

[snowyelan]

Del
I'm still here, just changed email addresses. I tapped the holes in the
adapters, mig welded the shafts,as well as an outer sleeve reinforcement. I
will second the stainless as being a bad idea for this application.
I have run into a possible problem with this setup and would like to know
what, if anything, you have done Arno. The shaft can float laterally and is
free to run against either adapter plate. I dont think this will affect the
function of the shaft, but it doesn't seem right to me. IIRC your setup has
been in use for several years, any cause for alarm with this you figure?

Scott Long
69 s4 se



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[saarhus]

Scott and all,

I too have been scouting out the VW cv-joints for conversion. One thing I
have noticed is that the flange that the joint bolts to is dished approx.
1/4 inch or 6mm (?) to give the shaft more room to move laterally. I would
guess that preventing ends of the shaft from bottoming out in severe bump
would be very large concern. The amount of dish necessary would be a
determined by the amount of lateral movement through the suspensions full
range of travel. Also, unless you have high angle cv-joints, you probably
want to check at full droop, that the maximum allowable angular displacement
is not exceeded. If it is you shuld restrain the droop, possibly with an
appropriate length piece of cable

Stan A

----- Original Message -----
From: "scott long" <***@***.***>

Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 1:47 PM
Subject: RE: [LotusElan.net] Solid Driveshafts

[Arno Church]

This was one of my first queries when I set about the modification

suspension is forever moveing while driving , the shaft can be in any
position (laterally,within
its movement range with no ill effects to function.
I must add that when I tiewrapped the rubber boots , i did centralise the
shaft so that the natural "spring" in the rubber boots can be in
"equilibrium" (big word for a South African who's first language is not
English!) I can not tell if this has an effect on the lateral position of
the shaft and , quite right, I have not experienced any problem
Arno

[snowyelan]

Hi Stan and all

The droop is worth looking at, mine needs to be restrained about 2 in from
max, less would do but better to have a bit of a safety margin. This may
sound like a lot but the difference a free pivoting cv makes over a pair of
donuts is probably closer to 3 in from the point a rotoflex restricts
downward movement to the point the strut tops out. The adapter plates have a
3/4 in or so recess in the center that allows for the shaft to travel past
the edge of the cv. I have installed one side and taken it through its range
of motion with no bottoming out. Thanks for the input on the free floating
aspect Arno, one less thing to worry about.

Scott long



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[gjz30075]

--- In ***@***.***, "scott long" <snowyelan@h...> wrote:

My adapter plates have a hole in the center, about 1 1/2" in
diameter, with a freeze plug covering it on the outboard side. The
hole is large enough for lateral motion at any angle and the
freeze plug keeps the grease in.

Greg Z.
'72 Sprint