Aluminum Driveshaft

[alone_and_insane]

I'm looking at possibly getting an aluminum driveshaft for my car.

My attitude right now is, "well as long as it's torn apart, now is as good of a time as any to do it." I've looked into them a little bit, and I have some questions:

1. How durable are they? Predictably, there's plenty of people on other forums who say, "they're totally fine!" and a lot who also say, "they snap at stock power levels!" So there doesn't seem to be anything definitive.
2. Is it worth the money? Looks like it will be $100-$150. How much difference does that reduction in rotational inertia make?
3. Should I also invest in a driveshaft safety loop? I saw that some drag strips require them for anything running in the 13s and lower. My car did 13.86 with just bolt-ons.

For reference, it's an A4, 3600 stall, 3.23 gears, H/C plus full bolt-on LT1, should be 300+ rwhp

Thanks in advance

[farmington]

I got mine a few years ago for $75 and got new ujoints pressed in for under $30.
as far as strength, haven't heard of people breaking them until you get to really high HP numbers and very sticky tires.
go for it.

[Lucky SOB]

You won't have an issue unless you double that HP number. Your ring gear is the weaker link and even then I wouldn't be the least bit worried at 380 (that's what my car makes).

[JoeliusZ28]

Youll be just fine unless youre launching on a slick with a 200 shot.

[birdie2000]

Ran an LS1 aluminum shaft on slicks at 440rwhp on a blower setup with a stick. Driveshaft was never an issue. I think I broke literally everything else but the driveshaft was great lol.

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[alone_and_insane]

haha thanks for the info guys. So that answers the durability question...what about the safety loop? Do any of you guys run them? Do you think it's something I should invest in, especially if I plan to take this thing to the drag strip at any point?

[farmington]

I have a mid length torque arm and the mount sort of acts like a DS loop. Unless you are told you need one, its up to you.

[birdie2000]

If you can fit one, I'd always recommend to run one. Summit makes a cheapish one that hugs the tunnel that is good for most setups and doesn't affect ground clearance. If a driveshaft fails it can do a lot of damage so anything you can do to reduce that is worth it IMO.

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[alone_and_insane]

I'm definitely worried about fitting it with my uber-janky exhaust. Hadn't really thought about ground clearance, but I imagine that could be a concern as well. I was looking at these:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/up...ro?prefilter=1
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/bmr-dsl001h/overview/

[farmington]

if you're not in a rush, I have seen nice used ones on CL and ls1tech go for around $50

[birdie2000]

This is the one I have and like for basic setups:
http://m.summitracing.com/parts/lak-18022
Found mine used for like $45 locally a few years back.

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[alone_and_insane]

do you bolt that on in addition to that flimsy stamping that bolts across the tunnel? Or in place of it? That's what I like about the UMI one, it seems like it would actually provide some rigidity as well.

[birdie2000]

In place of it

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[Lucky SOB]

It's a nice to have, but again I doubt it would ever come into play in your scenario. Kolin's car puts 560 to the wheels and it cracked the posi in half... The driveshaft was fine.

[DanDalessandro]

You will need a driveshaft safety loop if running 13.99 and faster on slicks, and 11.49 or faster on normal people tires.(this is at Milan) At ubly, I was told I will need a driveshaft safety loop next time or I won't pass tech and my car is slow.