Does in anyone in the UK have these for sale?

 

If not is anyone interested in a group buy?

 

Powertrain industries has a one piece steel shaft for $192.50 plus $60.00 for the core or a two piece for $375.00

 

The shipping is too much to make it worth ordering just one.

G'day Bruce,

 

one-piece propshafts may not necessarily be the solution. In fact, according to some, they are contra-indicated.

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/ubbforum/Forum6/HTML/000227.html

 

Me. I don't understand it - but here's a thread on which some serious technical b***cks was talked. Hope it helps.

 

Cheers - Maharishi Mahesh Gio

 

[This message has been edited by Gio (edited 18-07-2002).]

I think I have read every post on here or tt.net with the words prop or drive shaft. I think we shoud rename them 'vibe shaft's.

 

It seems like the three options are

 

1. Live with vibrations

 

2. Replace center bearing and rear gearbox mount.

 

3. Replace entire prop shaft and rear gearbox mount.

 

I have read of great success and some failures with both option 2 & 3.

 

It seems to me that replacing the entire prop shaft is likely to be a better solution which leaves the question of which shaft from where.

 

I asked Powertrain Industries whether I should get a one piece or two and here is their answer

 

"The one piece shaft is a performance shaft and is not as smooth as a two piece, because there is no rubber center support bearing in the middle of the shaft to absorb power transferred through the shaft. Most everyone say's they can't feel anything except that the car feels like it accelerates faster. As far as deciding which shaft to go with I can tell you that this year so far we have sold 154 non turbo shafts and maybe 5 people didn't like it. Me personally I would install a one piece if it were my car, but I'm not very picky. The only thing I can say about the two piece is it will be very smooth but no performance gain."

 

I am going to ask them about the speed issues as well.

 

If anyone knows where I can get a better deal on a new drive shaft than Nissan UK please let me know.

 

Thanks

Yep, me too Bruce!

 

I think my vibes have now just about gone away - just need to do a back to back test with another Zed and get someone's opinion on mine (another job on the list). This was after mount, bearing and prop balance.

 

Because of the educational bendy thing*, all this was done at different times and places so this was gradual improvement rather than overnight fix. But certainly would go through this process before lashing out on new prop.

 

antleeds reported great success with a firm in Bradford http://www.propshaft.co.uk/ and if I had to start all over again, I would start with this lot.

 

For 1 piece, personally I would be worried about the "whirling" (or whatever it is called. It's only about 6" from your left hip!

 

Good luck - Gio

 

* learning curve

Here is Powertrains response to concerns of reducing the max safe speed by installing a one piece shaft

 

"Critical speed is very important in driveshafts, but we have never ever had a driveshaft self destruct. The maximum speed limit in the US is 75mph. Now I know these guys are occasionally going much faster than that but if they go over 120mph its not for very long. The minimum safe operation speed for a driveshaft is 4000rpms, the shaft for your car is built with 2.75" tubing and is only about 45.00" inches centerline to centerline on the ujoints. So checking the critical speed on that shaft shows it can run safely at 6,600rpm which is a great deal over 4,000. I have no doubt that shaft is safe to run as fast as your car can go. I'm no expert so hope I answered your question. "

 

 

I am going to ask more questions but am I correct in assuming that with the 5th gear ratio being 1:0.752 that 6600 RPM on the drive shaft in 5th gear would be 4963.2 RPM for the engine?

 

At 23 MPH per 1000 RPM that would limit the safe top speed to about 114 MPH on a NA.

 

 

Not quite sure what he means by "minimum safe speed".

 

Also, I get (probably unnecessarily) cynical when someone describes a propshaft as a "performance shaft". It's a passive component and unless it had significantly less friction or was significantly lighter, I can't see that it would be significantly better (i.e. absorb less power) than the standard component. But I am NOT an engineer so this is just untrained opinion.

 

On the other thread I sposted above, there was a post from someone called spinning who works for http://www.spinning-composites.com

 

Perhaps e-mail him if he doesn't spot this thread?

Gio,

 

Thanks for the tip, it turns out that two pieces are much better than one. Here is my last email exchange with Powertrain Industries

 

From: John Allen

To: Bruce Ward

Subject: RE: 300ZX Z32 2+2 Driveshaft

Date: 22 Jul 2002 11:17:56 -0700

Yes shaft rpm in 4th gear is 6600 safe operation speed. Yes a two piece shaft has a larger S.O.S, more than doubles the one piece. We completely remanufacture the two piece with replaceable ujoints and new center support bearing.

 

 

[This message has been edited by BruceWard (edited 22-07-2002).]

Or... have no worries what so ever and get a carbon fibre single piece prop like me.

 

10 times stronger than steel

1/3 the weight

There's no critical rotational speed - better still if it _did_ go - it'll just break up into millions of fibres and not destroy your car.

http://www.acpt.com/driveshaft/driveshafts.html

 

..but double the price - $950

 

Still, its the doggies!

 

 

------------------

Simon