zo6landrocket

Who makes the best carbon fiber drive shaft and why?

WhiteDiamond

As far as I know only one company makes a CF drive-shaft for the Vette and LG Motorsports has a agreement with them to sell it. There are many good reasons to go with the CF shaft(higher criticle speed, lighter rotational mass,...), but it is expensive.

jan eric

Pfadt

MTIRC6Z

Hinson too.

zeshawn

when i asked I got a response that the CF drive shaft was 1-2 pounds HEAVIER than stock, there is only one reason to go CF is if you're making big power, enough to break the stock driveshaft.

badtbon

The Pfadt Carbon Fiber unit weighs 3.6lbs on my scale. It uses extremely strong hardware (The nuts that are supplied are 8740, the studs are 17-4PH)

Aaron Pfadt was asked about drag racing. His response:

zo6landrocket

What do you mean by NVH?

WhiteDiamond

This shouldn't be the case with a properly sized CF shaft. It would reduce any NVH associated with the driveshaft, as the criticle speeds are much higher in a similar diameter CF shaft versus a aluminum or steel shaft.

I guess it could transmit tranny NVH a bit better, but that shouldn't be the case unless the tranny has a problem anyway.

foremaw

Noise, Vibration, and Harshness

bx goat

So the PFADT shaft retains the OEM rubber mounts?

DSteck

Any time you start getting rid of pieces with dampening capability, you're going to gain transferred NVH. I don't think he was saying that the driveshaft will generate it, but just transmit it. Remember, the driveshaft is ultimately tied to the wheels... it's going to transmit anything those pick up, be it bumps in the road, vibration from the tire, etc.

zo6landrocket

So are you saying it would be better to use a rubber coupler instead of an aluminum one with the carbon driveshaft?

tjwong

Boy you got that right! I recently completed a TTiX job in a 08 Z and I upgraded all the parts from the flywheel back. That included a RPS triple billet carbon clutch, a 1000hp rated prop shaft, RPM supplied the urethan prop shaft couplers, RPM level 5 transmission, their rear diff with 300M output shafts,Quaife Differential and a set of Driveshaft shop 1000hp rated half shafts. There was a considerable increase in noise with this setup, not as bad as a old C4 that had its dual mass flywheel replaced with a single mass but definitely a very noticable increase in noise. I later installed a standard C6 shifter box which elminated some of noise but its still more than stock. But when then go fast pedal is mashed and 800hp hits the wheels you forget about the noise real fast

0Corvettes of Dallas - Parts

We sell the Pfadt one and its an awesome piece!

0Randy@DRM

We have had great luck with the ones from LGM. You can either run both rubbers, one rubber or none. I think they suggest running one rubber and one solid mount. We have done it about all the way possible. I run two rubbers in my racecar and it works very well!

Randy

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

Thanks Randy!

We ran them in the Challenge cars since 2004, as well as a number of other Corvette teams ran our shafts in their cars too. Track proven products that are guaranteed to last!

The biggest factor with these shafts was not weight, and ours comes in right about stock weight, but strength and twist. The main goal is to reduce twist and deflection in the shaft to better put the power to the ground and keep you on the road without having to worry about broken shafts.

We have been working with ACPT for our driveshaft needs in all of the race cars for a number of years now, back to the TransAm days.

zeshawn

and we got a bunch of people saying they are lighter, LGM says same weight, Hinson says theirs is 1-2 pounds heavier and some members saying making them sound lighter...

0Louis @ LG Motorsports

If you break my shaft, Ill replace it free of charge.

I dont care if someone says it wont break. I have customers that will break anything Its how you stand behind it when things do go wrong.

songman3

I used the LG carbon shaft in my build. I replaced one of the rubber couplers with the aluminium piece
.
The shaft fitted up fine and I've done 3k+ miles since it was installed, without any problems.

I haven't noticed any increase in NVH as a direct consequence of fitting the carbon shaft and the single aluminium coupler.

There has been a increase in NVH as a consequence of fitting the Exedy GTO4SD clutch, which very much changes the nature of the car.
All things considered, I don't find that too hard to live with, though others may find it intrusive.

The car without doubt launches in a far more positive and predictable fashion compared to the standard setup - the drive line feels far less 'soft' and has much less 'slop'.
I find it much easier to modulate the take off.

I decided to use the Carbon shaft because, quite simply, I think it is a better product than the standard offering - it is certainly stronger.

Regarding benefits and power gains from reduction of rotating mass of the carbon shaft - well my own two cents would be that there would be small benefit to be had in that area, because of the relatively small radius of the shaft.

Perhaps from the point of view of both cost and mechanics, the reduction in the weight of the wheels and the clutch would, pro rata, would show more benefits in the power stakes.
No doubt the forum's engineers and statisticians will have a sharper perspective than I, on that one!

tjwong

I have a LGM carbon prop shaft in a customers 40 Ford Deluxe hotrod. Its got all C5 powertrain with the exception of the engine which is a tall deck dart based small block displacing 427 inches with Brodix 18 degree heads, a BIG solid roller cam with Hillborn stack style EFI with 2.5" throttle plates and a MEFI ECU controlling the fuel and timing. This engine made over 750hp on a engine dyno, the original propshaft deflected over .300" on one hard street pull from first to second gear, the noise was hellacious, I thought the engine went away, but it was the prop shaft that was hitting the torque tube. We replaced it with a custom carbon fiber unit from Lou a couple years ago and no problems since.