question for all
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Joined: Jan 2001
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From: ft. lewis, wa usa
question for all
hey guys i got a question that is a little off the subject, but i want mikes opinion and comments too. has anyone heard of any carbon driveshafts and if so how much do they help the performance of a vehicle? just in case anyone is not familiar. it is a driveshaft that is made of this superstrong superlight material, so your engine doesn't have to turn all that weight. any and all comments welcome. thanx
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Joined: Mar 1998
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From: Virginia
Hi chech77,
Carbon-fiber driveshafts have been all the rage in Formula 1 for some time, where they measure their money in cubic yards, and 6 ounces saved is worth thousands of dollars.
Seriously, as long as the driveshaft material is strong enough and will stay in balance, the lighter the better. A lighter driveshaft isn't going to make a night & day kind of difference in the performance of your vehicle, and most likely is going to be way too expensive to consider anyway; the amount of difference in performance in an F-150 would be negligible, and not worth the expense.
Some vehicles come with or offer as optional from the factory, aluminum driveshafts, like Lincoln Mark 8's, for example. They tried using standard Tbird cast driveshafts, but they twisted and wouldn't stand up to the DOHC motor, so FoMoCo sent them out with aluminum driveshafts, as they have several other vehicles. As have other automakers.
The key here is cost-effectiveness; is the potentially tremendous cost of a carbon-fiber driveshaft worth the amount of weight savings and the lower reciprocating mass benefits. In most regular production vehicles, not by a long shot. A carbon fiber driveshaft is really a racing application due to the expense, I would think, others may feel differently.
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Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer
Carbon-fiber driveshafts have been all the rage in Formula 1 for some time, where they measure their money in cubic yards, and 6 ounces saved is worth thousands of dollars.
Seriously, as long as the driveshaft material is strong enough and will stay in balance, the lighter the better. A lighter driveshaft isn't going to make a night & day kind of difference in the performance of your vehicle, and most likely is going to be way too expensive to consider anyway; the amount of difference in performance in an F-150 would be negligible, and not worth the expense.
Some vehicles come with or offer as optional from the factory, aluminum driveshafts, like Lincoln Mark 8's, for example. They tried using standard Tbird cast driveshafts, but they twisted and wouldn't stand up to the DOHC motor, so FoMoCo sent them out with aluminum driveshafts, as they have several other vehicles. As have other automakers.
The key here is cost-effectiveness; is the potentially tremendous cost of a carbon-fiber driveshaft worth the amount of weight savings and the lower reciprocating mass benefits. In most regular production vehicles, not by a long shot. A carbon fiber driveshaft is really a racing application due to the expense, I would think, others may feel differently.
------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer
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Joined: Jan 2001
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From: ft. lewis, wa usa
thanks for the info, mike. would you know how much the carbon driveshaft would help the performance of an f-150 with the 5.4 and how much them things cost. i was looking in some other sites and they didn't say how much hp it gave or any thing like that. they mentioned it cost alot but didn't give a price. thanks.
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From: Virginia Beach, VA
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Superchips_Distributor:
Hi chech77,
Carbon-fiber driveshafts have been all the rage in Formula 1 for some time, where they measure their money in cubic yards, and 6 ounces saved is worth thousands of dollars.
</font>
Hi chech77,
Carbon-fiber driveshafts have been all the rage in Formula 1 for some time, where they measure their money in cubic yards, and 6 ounces saved is worth thousands of dollars.
</font>
Chech77,
Take your spare tire off and see if you can tell the difference. The driveshaft change would probably help less than that. If you are actually looking for performance, just about anything would be better bang for the buck. I'm not sure what those things cost, but my guess is enough to gain some real power by other means.