A little carnage

[martin0660]

Finally got my junk to the track Saturday. I've been out of country for work and desperately needed a test session before the NMRA race at MIR next weekend.

Was planning to work on a 12.00 set-up for True Street. Had a bit much in the launch RPM and was a bit conservative (high) on the tire pressure for fear of having a bog for the first pass ... Well, I blew the tires off, went 1.85 60' (usally 1.60 ish) ... car still went 11.89 at 118 MPH. Was happy with it for what I had in it.

Took 200 rpm out of the launch, took the tires down to 13.5, and went back for a 2nd pass. Put it on the two step, dropped the clutch and BOOM ...



New one to me, it blew up the slip yoke on the drive shaft ... I knew it wasn't going to be good as the tailshaft seal was laying on the track along with a few aluminum bits ... was still hopeful because there wasnt a lot of oil (just about 10 drops). Pulled the trans this morning and extracted the rest of the slip yoke ...



And got a look at the tail shaft housing ...



A little bit of luck, pulled it apart and the main shaft was still okay. This is a G Force with their main shaft, it it was damaged it would have been a little set back to my plans for a while ($$$'s).



Got a spare hounsing on, and it's ready to go back in the car tomorrow ...



I need to order a driveshaft and a few other bits, some chance I can still make MIR

FWIW, the car shut off when it did this, I thought that was a bit odd, but whatever. Strange enough, it wouldnt start after I got the shaft out either. We messed with it a while before someone suggested I check that fuel shut off thing ... sure enough it hit so hard it tripped the inertia switch

[brianj]

Yours is far more ugly than mine. Of course, mine was more of an impromptu race- I tore mine apart in the high speed lane of a major highway. At least you did not have the state police asking for your I.D.

[IDMooseMan]

Wow! Glad it looks like you'll be back in business soon.

BTW, did you purposely cover the last part of your license plate frame with that broken slip joint? What does it say?

[martin0660]

BTW, did you purposely cover the last part of your license plate frame with that broken slip joint? What does it say?

Wasnt on purpose, it is a NMRA plate frame, says "heads up and an ass kickin" (heads up racing)

[IDMooseMan]

Whew. Now I'll be able to sleep tonight. Thanks.

[mmb617]

Glad you didn't tear up any of your expensive G-Force parts. Who doesn't have a spare T5 tail shaft housing just laying around?

[Zap's 85 GT]

That is a weird failure. At first I thought there was a trans issue with how far the main shaft was sticking out the tailshaft housing, until you said it was g-force parts.

Did the safety loop contain the driveshaft?

[Hissing Cobra]

I've never seen that either. I'm glad it was a pretty easy repair for you.

[martin0660]

Who doesn't have a spare T5 tail shaft housing just laying around?

I'm sure anyone that has banged a lot of gears in one sure does .... I have several transmissions that the tailshaft housing was about the only part that could be saved

Did the safety loop contain the driveshaft?

Absolutely! It did exactly what it was supposed to do. At some level, the shaft never moved much, when the yoke exploded the shaft just dropped to the loop since the car never moved (it sort of quivered ) Of course when they dragged the car off the track it was beating the shaft against the loop, but it sure did it's job.

I can't tell you how many times someone said that this "was a new one" ... If you look close at the picture of the yoke, you can see the splines have a wear pattern sort of looking twisted like an axle does. The failure started right at that point on one part of the radial pattern. This shaft was in the car almost 5 years (I Think), figure I make 150 plus passes a year, all 6,000 rpm clutch drops, and I just stepped up the power ... I'm obviously going to start replacing the slip yokes on some interval and am looking into a billet steel one. lesson learned, I feel I got away lucky for what could of happened.

[IDMooseMan]

IDK Bob. If you use a billet steel slip yoke, won't that make the weak spot the transmission?

[Zap's 85 GT]

I'm sitting on a TKO main shaft for my 3550 in case I ever run into issues like this with my car. Ive gone a bit faster with my car but not by much, and you certainly get to the track a million times more often than I do.

[martin0660]

won't that make the weak spot the transmission?

The G Force main shaft is rated higher than a normal T5, but yeah it could. I can tell you I would rather speculate on what will fail next than have this happen again

[martin0660]

and you certainly get to the track a million times more often than I do.

That's the reality of this failure. There are a pile of hard launch passes on that shaft and I just went too far. I will add it to my winter inspection list like axles and see when it develops any signs of twist / spline wear.

[martin0660]

And we are back ... Ready to look for the next weak link

[306gt]

Did you check the main shaft to see if it got bent when the yoke came apart? That is a fluke thing. I have never seen that happen and I know I have broke my fair share of parts.
Glad to see it up and running again.

[mmb617]

And we are back ... Ready to look for the next weak link

Give it a little time, you'll find one!

Man your car sure looks good Bob.

[martin0660]

Did you check the main shaft to see if it got bent when the yoke came apart?

Yes, was my biggest fear. I have been driving it the last two days, no vibrations, nothing seems out of place. We will see Friday when I can get it under full load / power.

Give it a little time, you'll find one!

Thanks Mike! Sometimes it sure seems like someone is paying me to test parts

[jeffascmclaren]

Bizarre to notice this, but I noticed the torch straightened 15mm wrench in one of the pics. I love custom tools!

[mitymerc]

Sweet car! Is that a Maier hood? I know what you mean about having t-5 parts lying around...There a bunch in my garage, most seem to be missing 3rd gear for some reason....the worst was a Liberty that sheared all the teeth from the input shaft & split the main case.

[martin0660]

My hood is a HO Fibertrends, real nice quality at a decent price.

[droopie85gt]

I think I have the same work bench! Harbor Freight $19.99 special and mine is black overspray painted too! Harbor Freight FTW!

[martin0660]

I'm sure it is knocked off by now, but mine is an old Stanley "Work Mate" ... I use that stupid thing for a lot of stuff

[r85must]

Just curious what size the rear DR's are? Are those the tires you run at the track? We run M/T 255-60-15's and I thought they looked about the same size as yours. Congrats on a nice looking ride and a fast one too!

[r85must]

Had to say something so I would get a e-mail response when someone replies. I always forget to check that box.

[martin0660]

The rears on mine are 275/50/15 Nitto 555R. I only use them as a street tire. I race on either 26-11.50 DOT's or a 26-10 slick. One of the issues with staying with 15" stuff is the lack of wide 26" tall type street tires so DR's it is.