S3c driveshaft lengths

[The Horse]

Does anyone know the length of the original driveshafts ?
The nearside one appears to be 455mm long but I haven't yet taken off the offside and and looking for new replacements.
466mm seem to be readily available on-line, would the extra length be ok bearing in mind the concave recesses on the hub and diff flanges ?
Has anyone fitted non-original length driveshafts ?
Thanks
David

[zombeh]

V8 so ymmv:

When I bought my v8s one side had an S3 trailing arm fitted, it didn't seem to care very much and had been driving around like that for some time.

The shafts fitted to it when I snapped the end off one were
462mm overall length
449mm between outer circlip grooves
391mm between inner circlip grooves (aka please snap here marks)

The ones I fitted to replace them were from J&R part number bar2 for some sort of sierra and a westfield (they're about £25 each).

[The Horse]

Thanks
I think the V8S has a wider track hence the wider shafts which I also think are thicker in diameter and use the 108mm CV joints.
The nearside on mine is definitely 452mm in total length (subject to my cheap tape measure)
I've just been quoted £150 plus VAT to make one by J&R
I was hoping for a cheaper solution.
David

[zombeh]

it's wider, yes, but it still uses the same 100mm 25 spline cv joints. afaik the v6 cars have the same 7.5" diff so the inside ends will be in the same place.

The standard cv joints have +/- 8mm of movement in them and as long as you're not going to exceed that it'll be fine. It might be worth checking what position they're in with your shafts with everything level and how much space you actually have and how much it changes over the full range of suspension travel.

[zombeh]

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... (from when I snapped mine) confirms your 450mm being normal for a v6

[Kitchski]

I've got a used shaft somewhere. In fact, I've got a pair somewhere! I bought some custom ones when I fitted the LSD.

[The Horse]

I've got the second shaft off the car and yes they are both 450mm
I'e since had a quote for a new pair of shafts for £269 plus VAT from Driveshafts UK at www.driveshaftuk.com
I've ordered 4 new CV joints and will see just how tight or otherwise these new joints are on my existing splines before deciding whether to get new ones made.
Cheers
David

[GreenV8S]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone remember whether the OEM shafts used plunging CVs at both ends? I use one fixed and one plunging but I don't recall what the originals were.

[Kitchski]

GreenV8S said:

Just out of curiosity, does anyone remember whether the OEM shafts used plunging CVs at both ends? I use one fixed and one plunging but I don't recall what the originals were.

I can honestly say I've never seen a 'Lobro' style joint that isn't plunging (and I work on quite a few cars), so that's news to me! I guess a fixed one could replace a rubber donut joint, like those on a classic Elan? Definitely not seen one on a TVR though, and I've seen an S pull a plunging CV joint to bits through hard cornering. Suspension was a bit too high, though.

[GreenV8S]

Kitchski said:

I can honestly say I've never seen a 'Lobro' style joint that isn't plunging (and I work on quite a few cars)

On a fwd car the outer CVs would typically be fixed because they allow a bigger angle. The difference isn't obvious if you aren't looking for it - you might have encountered them but not noticed?

[Kitchski]

GreenV8S said:

On a fwd car the outer CVs would typically be fixed because they allow a bigger angle. The difference isn't obvious if you aren't looking for it - you might have encountered them but not noticed?

I've seen that with 'knock-on' types (like you'd get on a mk2 Mondeo), but they're not the 6-bolt Lobro style. I probably just haven't worked on anything that ran them. Originally I'm from the PSA stable, and the cheapest option with those was to change the whole driveshaft on an exchange basis