Dan, if you remember you said you had the engine bolted down already. It is
my opinion that due to the safety strap most people place the engine too far
back in the car. By loosening the mounts and the safety strap you can shift
the engine forward over an inch, hook up the driveshaft and then tighten
everything down. You should be set.
Patrick Bowen
----- Original Message -----
From: Dan Buettner <danb@thelittlemacshop.com>
To: <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2000 12:11 PM
Subject: Re: OD vs. Non-OD drive shaft
>
> >Having done this swap a couple times, let me tell you a secret. The
> >driveshafts are exactly one inch shorter when completely compressed or
> >extended. However they have about 2 1/2 inches worth of movement in them
> >between compressed and full extension. Taken into account the fact that
> >your engine and tranny have enough slack to be pulled forward or back at
> >least an inch. I would personally not lose any sleep over using the old
> >driveshaft if an overdrive shaft is not available. However balancing
would
> >be a good idea.
> >
> >Patrick
>
> I'd mention that, when I installed an OD transmission in my '77, I
> was not aware of the fact that the driveshafts were different
> lengths. Thus I put the engine in, bolted it down, and went to hook
> the driveshaft up, only to discover that only under extreme stress
> would it actually squeeze into place behind the transmission. So I
> wound up removing it and swapping the one out of my parts car.
>
> So ... I would say that one *does* need to worry about shortening a
> non-OD driveshaft for use in an OD car.
>
> And I agree that balancing is a good idea.
>
> Dan
>
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