Carbon fiber front driveshaft

, i just installed the one piece carbonfiber front drive shaft and its is amazing, now i understand why everyrace team uses them. in the begining i thought it would have decent gains, but it was way way beyond that. not just a weight thing as its not a huge weight savings, but the way it displaces power to the front makes it some much more responsive and quicker. example, i live in beverly hills and drive Sunset blvd everyday so there are a few turns i can take at great speeds that kicks out the back end , not and intentional drift but because the rear just sways out, there was a sweaper that i could hit at 80 mph and now hit at 90 as the front end pulls so hard that it actually brings the back end in, i assume it can be hit even quicker, but i dont want to total the car figuring it out. its nothing i can explain from driving other 4wd cars, from my bentley, R8, 996tt or a wrx. although all these cars have different characticteristics as 4wd cars this new CF shaft is amazing. not only are you increasing the power to the front wheels, but you are getting a much quicker response, as power is displaced much quicker as CF doesnt flex where steel does, especially when you have a 2 piece with a joint. the R8 and the wrx is probably one of the best balanced cars i have driven, but this is something else. hard to explain in words, but if you know your car very well and have plenty of seat time on the G the difference is enormous. i drove the lp-560 and ill tell you right now this mod on the older g will allow it to out handle the lp-560 stock to stock vs the old g with just a CF front driveshaft, im not here to sell it as im making no money on the sales of it but i did sacrifice my shaft for 4 months to have them developed for someone to produce it and it handles 2000lbs of torque. it is a must have mod as its affordable and worth everypenny and more. i always try to bring something to the table that helps the community but this is the best one thus far. words can not explain it, where you see the biggiest gains is not in the launch, but in the turns. it helps the 4wd handling, something i didnt think it would improve, i honestly can not say whether the motons made as big a difference as the drive shaft did. that i how much better it is.

very cool.

 

I love carbon fiber.

 

Pics to follow I hope

Price?

Pics/Price?

Nice write up, interesting effect that I wouldn't have anticipated.

i think by installing a cf shaft, you are lowering the parasitic loss in terms of power transfer. Now, if you did that for the axles too... now that would also provide great reductions i would think. I think a cf drive shaft for even older diablos, murcies would be phenomenal as well...

I think a cf drive shaft for even older diablos

ooohhhhh

Nice writeup, I look forward to more info.

 

Aaron

 

ooohhhhh

gotcha ya thinking eh? lol

 

What was the difference in weight? The difference of even a pound or two does wonders. Its the same thing with wheels. Especially when wheels, axles, drive shafts are all auxiliary parts that tax the engine's engine hp. Any slight savings in weight would reduce the engine's need to overcome their weight... Its like lifting weights.. lighter the weight the more repetitions you can do... the heavier the weight... not so much..

please pm me price info

great write up man, thanks.

Where can one order these CF driveshafts?

Price?? Where can I get one??

 

Monarchy post some pics already!

very cool.

 

I love carbon fiber.

 

Pics to follow I hope

 

Here is a picture of the CF driveshaft

 

 

Stock

 

 

 

Price?

 

PM sent

 

gotcha ya thinking eh? lol

 

What was the difference in weight? The difference of even a pound or two does wonders. Its the same thing with wheels. Especially when wheels, axles, drive shafts are all auxiliary parts that tax the engine's engine hp. Any slight savings in weight would reduce the engine's need to overcome their weight... Its like lifting weights.. lighter the weight the more repetitions you can do... the heavier the weight... not so much..

 

The difference in weight is 3.6 lbs lighter from the factory steel one, the ends don't save much weight which is the heaviest part of the entire driveshaft. The shaft itself only weighs about 4 lbs. However the factory driveshaft is made of thin gauge steel which flexes a lot more than this solid one which transfer power a lot better. Eliminating the the joint in the center and using carbon fiber absorbs the power and transfer the power much better.

 

 

 

please pm me price info

 

PM sent

 

Where can one order these CF driveshafts?

 

Call Jason Heffner in Florida

 

Monarchy post some pics already!

 

Will try to get better pictures when I can get my car back on the lift. The earlier pictures aren't great because they were taken with the iphone

 

More Power to the Ground

 

Independent testing by a leading automotive magazine (Turbo) showed rear wheel horsepower gains of more than 5% with the simple switch to an carbon fiber driveshaft. This significant increase is primarily due to lower rotational mass of the driveshaft. Carbon fiber offers you more strength to resist extreme torque than steel with about half the weight. Just like the common use of lightweight clutch and flywheel units, a lightweight driveshaft allows more of you engine's power to be applied to the ground.

 

In addition to minimizing rotational power losses, carbon fiber's unique vibration dampening characteristics also help improve power output. Engine builder's are familiar with the power gains that high performance crank dampeners can provide. ACPT's carbon fiber driveshafts give you similar benefits by cutting power losses due to drivetrain vibration.

 

Driveline vibration is a common problem that can limit RPM. Carbonfiber driveshafts involvement in racing to apply expertise in aerospace composites to solve a vibration problem with IMSA race cars. In this front engine, rear transaxle race car, the driveshaft ran at engine speed. The metal driveshaft was experiencing harmonic whip, limiting usable RPM and forcing them to run the engine well below redline in each gear. a carbon fiber driveshaft that allowed a 1000 RPM increase in usuable engine speed and gave the engine a chance to work at its' power peak. The CF driveshaft as a major factor in winning the IMSA. Since 1987 many racers in all areas of motorsports have discovered the extra RPM and the resulting tuning flexibility carbon fiber driveshafts provide.

 

All driveshafts twist to some degree when torque is applied. The resistance to this twist is measured as torsional spring rate. Standard CF driveshafts have a torsional spring rate a little less than aluminum and about half that of steel. The advantage of a lower spring rate is less driveline shock and a reduction of stress on other drivetrain components, as well as increased traction. Every part of your drivetrain may benefit from the use of a carbon fiber shaft.

 

The continual twist when torque is applied eventually causes all metal shafts to take a set in the twisted position. Consequently the shaft ends become permanently out of phase by several degrees and vibration begins to break components. Carbon fiber, on the other hand, has a near perfect "elastic memory". Carbon fiber driveshafts can't fail by becoming permanently twisted.

 

As RPM goes up, all driveshafts begin to whip. At a certain "critical speed", unique to each type of driveshaft, this bending of the shaft creates lateral runout and vibration. The intensity (magnitude) and frequency of these bad vibes are determined by a combination of stiffness, density, size, and geometry. This vibration is a primary cause of drivetrain breakage from the transmission to the rear end. The "critical speed" of the carbon fiber shafts is much higher than steel or aluminum shafts of the same size. Exceptional harmonic damping coupled with high lateral stiffness and low density allow carbon fiber driveshafts to virtually eliminate vibration problems from shaft whip. in laments terms when steel spins as at high rate of speed it turns into a jump rope like shape, vs CF which does not. see pic below.

So, have you installed them to the rear as well?

What's the cost of both front and rear?

its basically in a nutshell a reduction in parasitic loss.

they sure look nice...

I was thinking these were the shafts from the front differential to the wheels. Now I understand it's actually a drive shaft piece. This from Heffner:

 

"The carbon driveshaft replaces the two piece unit that connects the front and rear. The facts that it is lighter and that it is a one piece instead of two piece are what make it better."

 

Sounds good to me... I think I'm going to order one based on Monarchy's glowing review.

Hate to bring this back to the top, but has anyone installed a CF driveshaft on their car since Monarchy posted about it? If so, what do you think?

Hate to bring this back to the top, but has anyone installed a CF driveshaft on their car since Monarchy posted about it? If so, what do you think?

+1

 

Had forgotten about this, suprised we havent heard more considering how many more people seem to be modding their G's now.

nice!

 

When was the last time Monarchy posted? I cant recall any posts from him this year...

Does anyone know who makes/sells the CF Driveshaft? I would love to get it and post my findings!! ;-)