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Old November 23rd 2011, 16:06
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owdlvr owdlvr is offline
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Funny you should mention that Bruce. Ideally, I think the dual-universal joint system is the way to go. When I initially measured the drop I didn't think 3.75" was 'so big', but by the time you bend the rod and put it into the tunnel you realize just how tight it really is. When I was redoing the shift rod for the 3rd time on Sunday I actually pulled a steering shaft and it's joints out of a box to see if they might be useable in this application. Unfortunately too big, so I need to go and find some smaller ones.

For the moment I believe I have a well working shift system, but it's really hard to evaluate that while sitting on a bare pan! I've decided I will go with carpet or rubber floor mats, instead of a bare tunnel, so that leaves me the option of cutting into the tunnel down the road to improve on this. For now I've tack-welded my access hole shut, and will search out another VW shift rod and bushing support for improving it at a later date (if this doesn't work well as is).

I've also been thinking a lot about the front bushing setup for the trans. If this were a typical street car where you build it, and then it's "done"...I'd probably be quite concerned. In fact, I think I'd be redoing the system since failure is likely to occur way down the road at an inopportune time. But, I'm not building a street car. With my race cars I have a system where before and after each event I go over the car from bumper to bumper. It's put up on axle stands and all fluids are flushed, all mounting points checked, major component (engine, tranny, suspension, brake) nuts and bolts are checked. I average one event every 3mo, so I think that is probably a good enough window to discover a problem. With my Audi, after the first season I had a good record of how long things like rod ends and upper suspension mounts lasted. So after the first year I just rotated those parts out on a shorter window...whether they needed it or not. At $20 for two mounts, I think I can afford that here! :-)

The other thing I've been thinking about is the skid plate. I know I need to protect the nosecone / shift rod on the transmission, so there might be an opportunity to build in a 'failsafe' when we do the skid plate. I tossed this plate on just to see the coverage / get an idea. The real one will involve lots of trimming, etc. But for visuals, this will work as a start:



I'm thinking if I design the mounts for the skid plate well enough, I should be able to place this left over urethane piece I have in between the skid plate and the front transmission mount:


If the mounts fail, the nose of the trans would drop and rest on the urethane and skid plate vs. hanging off the shift rod.

I still need to think this through though. In order to be effective the Urethane mount needs to be within 15mm of the transmission...but that means the skid plate needs to be strong enough it won't bend up INTO the trans. So, maybe not a good idea...but a start!

-Dave
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