Aluminum Driveshaft for Z28?

[z28 justin]

I have a 95 Z28, and want to replace the steel driveshaft with an aluminum one. The cheapest I've found is a 3.5" from Lingenfelter for $299. I was wondering if anyone had found one that was any cheaper or better? I'm only putting down about 310hp to the wheels and 330lb-ft. I just had my rear end upgraded with a better limited slip and new gears and am planning on getting a stage 2 SPEC clutch, so I figured I would upgrade the shaft while I was at it. Any suggestions would be helpful, thanks.

[trigger]

What are your goals for the car?

Heres a quick breakdown:

Mild Steel

+ Steel is cheap, steel is strong

- Steel is heavy

Aluminum

+ Aluminum is light

- Aluminum has no fatigue limit, eventually it will break.

A Chromoly Steel

+ Best of both worlds, strong and lightweight

- A little more money

Carbon Fiber

+ Strong, non destructive when broken, unlike an alum. or steel driveshaft which will tear things up

- EXPENSIVE. street driven cars that will subject the CF driveshaft to rock chips and what not should walk away now. Chipping and what not will severely weaken the driveshaft.


With that being said I am using a chromoly shaft in make car.

[Default]

You can always just grab an aluminum driveshaft off of a LS1 F-body. It wouldn't be as good as the Lingenfelter one, but it's still aluminum.

[trigger]

Personally I would stay away from an ls1 alum. driveshaft. Besides aluminum is for popcans not driveshafts. :h

[ta12sec]

LS1 DRIVE SHAFT WILL BE FINE

[trigger]

If the person is not interested in actually ripping the car and drag racing sure the stock ls1 driveshaft might be fine.

As for alum. being fine I stand behind my statements that aluminum is for popcans not driveshafts. Al. has no fatigue limit and will eventually fail, even more so with the stock thin junk al. ls1 driveshaft. Each time a force is applied to that aluminum driveshaft it gets weaker and weaker. A better choice would be a mild steel or a chromoly steel driveshaft.
Please back up your claims that an ls1 al. driveshaft will be fine. My guess is you must work in some sort of materials engineering. Or perhaps you received your degree in metallurgy?

[ta12sec]

i assume you have a degree in metallurgy maybe you can post a picture of it . All the engieneers at gm probaly didnt do any research probaly had some old coke cans and made a few out of that for their concept cars . Its a 310 rwhp car not a 500 or even 400hp car. I imagaine within the next year every stock ls1 f body will start breaking their weak pop can driveshafts as they fatigue i mean i guess i should replace mine since it must be horibly fatiuged . It doesnt sound like a 700 hp nitrous car. IN that case id tell him to call dennys. Did shade tree mechanic or hot rod tv have a special on the evil aluminum driveshaft this weekend?

[trigger]

Well you know what they say about assumption. I am currently working on my ME degree (part time)and work full time in a materials engineering lab.

It's not like I'm pulling this out of my ass nor did I say within the next year every al driveshaft will break. My point was this steel has a fatigue limit, you can cycle it an infinate amount of times and as long as you don't hit that limit it will last. Al on the other hand will weaken overtime and eventually break. Stock ls1 Al driveshafts have been broken by stock power or close to stock power cars that hook hard numerous times.


As for you trying to make me look like a moron by bringing up GM engineers, concept cars and every ls1 breaking a driveshaft in a year ..honestly, the Al driveshaft was a smart choice in that it works and it is cheap to produce. All I was looking for was something to back up your comment about the stock ls1 driveshaft being fine, which you failed to do. He asked about an aftermarket AL driveshaft then asked if there was anything better. I was pointing him in the right direction.

[z28 justin]

Thanks for the options guys but I guess I should throw in some more info on what I'm using the car for.

- I want a NEW driveshaft, LS1 would prolly work, but I just want one I can bolt right up without having to worry about it being dented or off balance, Ebay isn't the most reliable place

- The car is my daily driver in the spring and summer months

- It will see some track use 4 or 5 days out of the year, but I'm not going to be running slicks or Nitrous

- Links help. I like the weight savings of aluminum, but if you guys found a steel one that doesn't vibrate like a mofo at 100mhp, let me know.

THANKS!

[ta12sec]

310 hp + 330 ft lbs no mention of slciks and 6000 rpm side steps gms gonna have a lot of lawshuits when drive shafts start breaking since their not listed to be replaced in my owners manual . let me know how that degree works out for you.