qwank

Some of you may have seen this on the Facebook page already.

So I'm on vacation this week and decided I wanted to finally bring the '81 up to the NED.

Mostly stock L-81 with Headers, Side pipes, Richmond 5 speed, and the mechanical fan and smog pump removed. 17'' wheels. I also had a passenger.

My best run was my first run, 15.6 @ 90mph.

I got 3 runs in, going slightly slower each time. Had a great 3rd run launch but missed 3rd so ran a 15.9.

4th run I reved to 2500 Rpm and dropped the clutch. This is when my Right rear axle said "Fxxx you" and broke the outer U joint.

I don't care about the damage to the axle, shock and whatever else mechanical I broke, but the axle did come through the storage compartment and that sucks.

Here's some pics to enjoy, and lets talk about what I should replace the broken stuff with.

BKarol

Guess we won't be racing against each other this year. Good luck with the fix.

jb78L-82

Im assuming OEM u joints? How many miles on car? My 78 L-82 4 speed has 67,000 miles on the OEM trailing arms and u-joints with a ton more power in the rebuilt L-82 355. Your misfortune makes me VERY worried now but I don't race the car....

bluedawg

Half shaft and drive shaft loops, cheap insurance.

BKbroiler

I'm sure this will scare away the few people who would consider making a pass down the track. But, realistically, you were pushing your luck with (unless I'm mistaken) old, possibly original, u joints.
Thanks for reporting your results and hopefully the repairs won't be too painful.
BTW - for starters you need solid Spicer u joints, all six. Half shaft loops are cheap and easy to install (Dragvette.com).

qwank

I was going to email you but wasn't positive I was going to make it up until last minute. it was a great night too, only about 25 cars in the lanes at the busiest time. I got all my runs in in under an hour.

here's the thing. when I bought the car i had a bad u joint on the left side. I replaced them with solid Spicers. The right sides were brand new aftermarket so I didn't touch them. I should have known better since they were the style with a grease fitting. $50 five years ago may have prevented this, Or maybe something else might have broken instead.

Oh, and the driveshaft joints were changed to spicer when I installed the 5 speed.

I really wish I had these last night.

qwank

here's a picture of the failed joint and the broken shock. I'm glad the Bilsteins weren't installed yet.


here's another picture of the carnage. The shock mount bent and broke from the frame a little. This is going to be the hardest thing to fix, as it looks like I wont have much room to get a welder in there, it's really close to the body.

qwank

You posted while I was posting. thanks for the link to the loops.

qwank

That 6 link kit looks interesting. I wonder how it changes handling for every day driving?

BKbroiler

Just curious - how did you get the car home? Flatbed, I guess. Did it roll OK with the broken parts?

7t9l82

I was ready to swap u joints and figured the labor to press them out and got a set of aftermarket shafts .those suckers are stout . Very good investment.

qwank

I have free towing up to 60 miles with Hagerty. I was 43 miles away so it was a no charge tow. I tipped the guy 20 bucks though since he was pretty cool. He frequents the track with his cars also and he said he's towed a bunch of people out of there over the years. It was a flatbed that actually had a small enough angle that my car went right on without having to put wood down or anything. He backed down my driveway and we loaded the car right into my garage.

It did roll fine even though the wheel was tilted in. The rear bump stop was sitting on the caliper and I think prevented the car from coming down lower and causing the tire to go up into the rear quarter. I got lucky there was no body damage.

qwank

Yeah, I was looking at aftermarket shafts but right now I don't think it's worth the money. I'm probably not going to drag race this thing again unless I have a major engine upgrade.

gkull

Yup, it looks like the out U-joint broke first. Very sad, but dumping the clutch is never a good idea. i've drag raced my 5 speed both pro tree and sportsman. The best idea is to bring it up to 2500 and slip the clutch just to move forward, floor the gas at the same time as dumping the clutch the rest of way. No drive line shock. 427 Hot rod uses a slipper clutch idea. Where you dump it, but it slips.

I would not worry about tom's out axles or any of that big buck stuff. just quality parts