Drive shaft angle

[Chown]

Hi all,

I've bought an already converted Mk1.5 and I'm a little dubious of some of the engineering behind it.

I've already emailed Paul about the photos attached as for some reason the guy who did the conversion mounted the engine about 1 inch lower than what seems to be recommended. The car was built for track use so possibly he was trying to get the c of g as low as possible.

The drive shafts run at about 8 degrees when static and i wondered if anyone has any experience of running at this set up? The car is lowered about 40mm so it makes things seem worse but obviously the angle gets worse as the suspension goes in to bump.

Any help greatly appreciated

Thanks

[PaulM]

I wouldnt worry, you always want some angle on the driveshaft, else they get a bit noisy. On FWD cars they work up to 48degrees, so 8 isnt going to bother them IMO, the worst case is that it shortens the life of the CV joint, maybe from 100K miles down to 80K miles. Not really an issue for most people.

[Chown]

Thanks for the reply Paul. Feel a bit happier about heading off for my first track day now. Gonna be tricky with this trigger like hybrid turbo thats fitted. Should be fun!

Thanks again

[Whore of Babylon]

Whan swapping do you aim for a nice parralell shaft to the hub? or is it good to have some downward angle?

[adamh]

aim for parallel. generally speaking of course!. if it became an issue raise the suspension instead of having it lowered.

[PaulM]

some joint slike an angle on them (to load the joint), else they get noisey due IIRC due to the ball bearings being 'free' and then having to load up each revolution