Aluminum Driveshaft


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By GREENBIRD56 - 17 Years Ago
Frakes told me about visiting the "darkside" and now I'm alway cruising the HAMB front page to see if any good fifties Ford stuff shows up......

They have had a thread running about using aluminum driveshafts - has anyone run one in their y-block powered car or truck? If you were running a transplanted 8.8 rearend the Mustang parts would be a natural match-up. The aluminum part has a lot less rotating energy in it to vibrate and reduces the "unsprung" weight of the rear suspension. There are apparently chebbie pickup aluminum shafts around but they have a composite on the interior and can't be easily altered.

There was mention over there of using a shaft from Quartermaster - roundy track race car parts house - and getting a used part altered by them to fit a '32. 

http://www.racingclutches.com/index.phtml

By Doug T - 17 Years Ago
Installing an aluminum drive shaft isn't too likely to make much difference to a street driven car although it does move things in the right direction.  The rotating energy of the drive shaft is a tiny fraction of the total picture because it isn't that heavy to begin with, its diameter is small so the moment of inertia is also small, and when you really need it in low gear it isn't rotating very fast anyhow. In a drag racing frame of reference for a street car, you are using the rotating inertia of the engine and especially the flywheel to launch the car.  But once launched then you want the lowest possible rotating mass because then all the energy to move the car is engine produced.  This it the primary reason that roundy round cars want low moment of inertias.  So they use light flywheels and small diameter double disc clutches Because these features are a big reduction in overall moment of inertia.  A secondary reason for the manufacturers is lower gross weight for the car hence better milage by a little bit.  This isn't to say that an aluminum drive shaft shouldn't be done but it could be pretty low on the priorities list.