[s-cars] CF driveshafts

[Ray Tomlinson]

I recall that Blau sold refurb'd shafts, but I would rather visit the
proctologist than buy from Blau.  Oops, did I say that aloud?  Don't ask,
I'm not about to waste limited keyboard life on this issue.  Let's just say
I don't receive their flyer any longer.

Listers John and Mark Nelson (father-son team, mother and 20v listers)
actually refurb the "nonserviceable" joints used on the CF shafts.  Years
ago, I discussed with John the prospect of refurbing my CF shaft in my '90
90Q20v.  Shipping and downtime was an issue, so I opted to throw in an
all-steel shaft out of an earlier 80q.  Mark was one of the first listers to
build an ersatz-S2, and his father, John, had a shop in Incline Village, NV.
I am no longer active on the 20v list (I paid my debt to society), so I do
not know if they are still active.

Basically, if your car came with a driver's airbag, it had the CF shaft.
So, some of the early 80 and 90q's did not have airbags and were equipped
with steel shafts.  You can find used shafts for $80-100 for these cars,
and, IIRC, you can then rebuild the end CV's and inner u-joint for less than
$300 total - a fraction of the cost of a new prop shaft.

Unlike the steel shafts, the CF shafts use "nonserviceable" u-joints.
Instead of cir-clipped u-joints, the CF shafts use "staked" u-joints.  John
Nelson built a jig to cut out the stake stamps, r&r the joint and re-stake,
then re-align.  IIRC, he would require you to send him your shaft and he
would estimate rebuild cost.

Now that I think of it, I believe Trevor Frank recently obtained a
polyurethane center carrier bushing from Sierra Motorsport (viz-a-vis John
Nelson), so John must still be working on products for these cars.  Perhaps
Trevor can chime in here and provide John's contact info.

Cheers,

Ray


-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com]On Behalf Of Kirby Smith
Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2004 12:16 PM
Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Vibration


Thanks Ray.

I vaguely remember that there was someone who refurbished driveshafts,
but I probably saved the information into my cubic foot of unsorted
quatrolist messages as I can't find a reference in my saved email.
Johanson something, perhaps?  Anyone remember?

kirby