I remember somone complaining about this...

[Panoz26]

there was a comment made about the weight and thickness of the steel used for the Transmission Tunnel(s). Well, I am glad I decided to keep mine as it came from Panoz - just modified to make it easier to remove.

I did not do anything to the rear half, but, now, I think I need to replace after the following incident (but am glad that Panoz used quality material):

First, the cause:
IMG00167-20100903-1022.jpg

second, the aftermath on the cockpit side of the tunnel:
IMG00175-20100913-1642.jpg

So, I now am a proud owner of a nice 3" diameter drive shaft with a very bent up tunnel.
Devin

[Squerly]

WTF? What happened Devin?

[panozracing]

good thing I only replaced the front half with aluminum.

[Panoz26]

Originally Posted by panozracing

good thing I only replaced the front half with aluminum.

Exactly what I am saying.

[PanozDuke]

Devin,
What caused it to pretzel like that?

Mike

[Panoz26]

Originally Posted by Squerly

WTF? What happened Devin?

Well, the shop was scratching their heads on this one - but, very apparent, I had failure on the drive shaft. U-Joint Straps and Needle Bearing Caps remained attached to the yoke.

I was in 4th Gear winding out and going into 5th - got a wicked vibration and a sound from hell came about -- the shaft probably spun 4-5 times before I got the clutch in and coasted down RollerCoaster (VIR) and all the way into the Paddock.

The bend in the shaft swung it around a few times - obviously in the tunnel and then it smacked my battery - I cleaned battery acid of the car for over an hour - that sucked ass too.

anyway, I am not sure if the shaft was not balanced, if the U-Joint was overtorqued or if my driveangle was off - regardless - I am glad the steel held up and it did not enter the cockpit.

So, now I have a custom 3" driveshaft, new u-joint and straps - wondering now if I should have gone with a 1350 yoke, but not sure if it would really be that much stronger...

Need to measure the drive angle now and go test.

Devin

[NZGTRA17]

Originally Posted by Panoz26

Well, the shop was scratching their heads on this one - but, very apparent, I had failure on the drive shaft. U-Joint Straps and Needle Bearing Caps remained attached to the yoke.

I was in 4th Gear winding out and going into 5th - got a wicked vibration and a sound from hell came about -- the shaft probably spun 4-5 times before I got the clutch in and coasted down RollerCoaster (VIR) and all the way into the Paddock.

The bend in the shaft swung it around a few times - obviously in the tunnel and then it smacked my battery - I cleaned battery acid of the car for over an hour - that sucked ass too.

anyway, I am not sure if the shaft was not balanced, if the U-Joint was overtorqued or if my driveangle was off - regardless - I am glad the steel held up and it did not enter the cockpit.

So, now I have a custom 3" driveshaft, new u-joint and straps - wondering now if I should have gone with a 1350 yoke, but not sure if it would really be that much stronger...

Need to measure the drive angle now and go test.

Devin

Devin, I am sure you have already done it, but a very thorough inspection of the trans extension housing would be in order. This type of failure puts a big load on the back of the trans.

Another area too have a look at would be the watts linkage on the diff. This type of failure can occur due to excessive movement of the rear end. In our cars case this would probably require a broken heim joint (so I am sure you would have spotted or felt this.........!!) or the pinion angle to be way out.

I suspect my car has had a watts linkage failure at some stage as there are driveshaft "scars" on the frame tubing inside the trans tunnel. I found that my driveshaft was slightly bent when I got the car so I had the shaft rebuilt. Was much smoother at speed after that.

Kel.

[Panoz26]

Well, I just did a quick measure to see if I was off on DriveAngle - will do a more thorough inspection later -- but, resting the clinometer on top of the U-Joint to the diff, I appear to be exactly within "spec"...

Ill measure the angle on the shaft itself this afternoon.

<edit> OK, Just measured the drive shaft - it's standing at 1degree as well.


IMG00178-20100914-1155.jpg

[panozracing]

u think a phone app is accurate enough?

[Panoz26]

Originally Posted by panozracing

u think a phone app is accurate enough?

um, no - but damn close to give me a better feeling that my drive angle is not far off.... jees.

[panozracing]

not if its an apple product...lol

try a droid app.....