grumpyvette Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 let me explain what Im saying and why, the driveshaft safety loop is mandatory to be placed, in the car and where its placed . its way to late if you bust a drive shaft at 80mph while your passing someone on the interstate, the u-joint busts and you find yourself rolling over and over because the driveshaft pole vaulted your car into a sideways roll to say"CRAP I SHOULD HAVE INSTALLED THAT $350 DOLLARS WORTH OF SAFETY EQUIPMENT" the basic idea of a driveshaft safety loop is to keep the front end of the drive shaft from falling down in the case of a front drive shaft U-joint failure and jaming into the ground, pole vaulting the car and flipping it! if the rear U-joint fails the drive shaft normally makes a hell of a lot of noise beating the transmission tunnel, flailing around untill it works loose and slips out of the transmission, by the engine untill the driver turns the engine off,pushes in the clutch or having it falling out on the track! (trust me I know) but if the forward U-joint fails the rear end flails the driveshaft in a similar manor untill the car stops moveing, now ideally the loop completely incircles the drive shaft and holds it almost exactly in its normall alignment so that all you get is a bunch of noise and no damage to the car, placement should be carefully though out to limit the ability of the drive shaft from doing damage if it comes loose under power! http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=LAK%2D18000&view=257#largerimage btw dont forget http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=87837&prmenbr=361 http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=LAK%2D15003 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 heheheh, I just installed the loop this weekend $25 from Summit, minimal modifications... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Your Car is Slow Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 where are you getting driveshaft loops for 350 bucks...thats about 300ish more than you need to spend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 I believe Grumpy was refering to the cummulative costs of safety gear... Hoop, belts, extenguisher, other items... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted April 7, 2003 Author Share Posted April 7, 2003 safety equipment INCLUDES blow proof bell houseing drive shaft loop fire extinguisher helmet with face shield/break proof glasses fire proof gloves/jacket safety harness all of which you can buy with careful swap meet shopping for $350-$500 and ALL of which can SAVE YOUR BUTT! and if you normally exceed 450hp/120mph/12 seconds or less ID HIGHLY RECOMMEND A ROLL CAGE and FULL FOUR WHEEL DISK BRAKES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 now ideally the loop completely incircles the drive shaft and holds it almost exactly in its normall alignment so that all you get is a bunch of noise and no damage to the car, placement should be carefully though out to limit the ability of the drive shaft from doing damage if it comes loose under power! Oh yeah, I checked the rules for the imports, and the front edge of the loop must be within 6" of the front U-joint. There is a handy little flat spot under the Z car that places the loop at 5", at least on my 280Z/L28ET/T5 with a custom driveshaft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Your Car is Slow Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 haha..ok..that makes more sense I was thinkin that was WAY expensive for a driveshaft loop LOL!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted April 8, 2003 Share Posted April 8, 2003 Here's another way to do a driveshaft loop in the Z: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/pparaska/drivelinemods.htm#driveshaft_loop This gives more room to run exhaust up tight in the tunnel with that version, versus the typical universal loop from Summit, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 My install has a modified torque tube design between the transmission & differential that basically encases the driveshaft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 I'd love to see pics of the torque tube installed, etc.! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 Pete: It is a very slick design. Two problems, though. I don't have any pictures of it as yet and I promised John that I would keep the design proprietary since I'd be messing with his bread 'n butter if I published photos. Once we've proven that it works (it hasn't gotten the lead foot test yet) he'll decide how he wants to proceed in relation to marketing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 I understand. Unfortunately, for those of use that don't use his design for mounting the engine and trans, I'm wondering if it'd be marketable. It'd have to be somewhat universal for differing driveshaft lengths, transmissions, etc., wouldn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted April 10, 2003 Share Posted April 10, 2003 Pete, Right now it is designed to work with a T56 & '88ZX R200. Length is easily adjusted if the two major components remain the same. If either the tranny or diff are changed then all bets are off because then the mounting mechanisms at either end will require some amount of modification. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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