I have a friend that works at Inland empire Driveline services. He makes driveshafts, and many race teams go to their shop for aluminum driveshafts. He said they're usually significantly lighter than the steel ones they're replacing, and are more than strong enough. He didn't recommend it for very high hp cars, but for my specific application, said it would work very well. All he would need for a prototype, is a few dimensions, and he could have it done in a few days if I buy the materials. I'm not looking for any kind of crazy gain, but less weight on the car, and less rotating mass makes it worthwhile IMO.

So what are your thoughts? Is there any downside that I am overlooking? Anyone have experiences with aluminum driveshafts?

http://www.iedls.com/driveshafts.html

 

FD comes with aluminum d/s...iirc my CF d/s is only 1lb lighter than the oem.

 

FD driveshaft isn't aluminum, but it's CRAZY light weight. I can easily pick one up with one hand. It's maybe 10-15 pounds, tops.

IMHO, it's a good idea, but it's simply not worth it. The stock driveshaft is pretty much indestructible, is incredibly light, and works great. I've never seen problems with U-joints on the stock driveshaft, either.

Dale

 

Yeah, I just found that through a search. Just out of curiousity, why did you get a CF DS?

 

Great thread, I've been looking in to a carbon fiber drive shaft. I found a site that claims 5% hp gain. http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/p...oducts_id/9398 But can not find any proof of claim. Most people say stock is light and not worth changing, but 5% sounds good to me. Does anyone have the weight of the stock, aluminum and carbon fiber? or dyno HP gain?

 

I can see lessening the weight reducing the drivetrain losses, but do lighter wheels and a lighter flywheel give better numbers on a dyno?

 

The stock driveshaft weighed about 14lbs on my scale.

A set of stock wheels, as light as they are weigh about 60lbs and have a much larger diameter.

Saving weight on the wheels makes a bigger difference due to the larger diameter.

The stock driveshaft is great, don't waste your time or money like Dale said it is a good piece. You won't see any huge gains either.

The flywheel is another place to spend money to save weight, it spins much faster than the driveshaft and has a much larger diameter. Stock weight is around 21lbs.

 

rotating mass is key... but not on an item with such a small diameter. Saving 5 lbs on a drive shaft will not yield as much of a result as saving 3 lbs off the outer edges of your flywheel.