Awesome. A new noise!

[john keefe]

All you need now is to drill into the turbine housing, and install a high pressure, direct-injection fuel nozzle to keep it spooled up when you're off turbo, and make lots of flame and noise like WRC. Then it won't matter what combo trans/diff you're running. Just stock up on spares of everything.

[thesameguy]

What I would like to get to is alternative engine management. Ditching the distributor and going coil on plug mean I can play games with ignition timing... it's not *quite* anti-lag, but it does help take the lag out of turbo sufficient for street use. Unfortunately that earns the ire of California smog checks, so I've been sticking with EECIV. Eventually some critical part will go NLA and I can take a case to CARB... I think by the end of next year VAMs will be NLA, so that'll be my chance.

[thesameguy]

So...

Realized one of my two Autozone axles is missing bolts & gaskets, so that's going back to Autozone to get replaced. I'm annoyed I didn't realize that earlier. Although, truly, the car's not getting back on the road "right now" anyhow, so whatever.

Pulled the driveshaft and the Haulsee adapter off today (thank Dog for air tools!) so that setup is going to a driveshaft shop to get inspected and whatever else is necessary.

Emailed PTI about their yoke/diff adapter - hopefully it's something that's still available or can be made. I'm thinking I will probably order two, since it would probably make a future project easier.

I am going to talk to a machine shop about making a spacer that's 13/16" thick to sit between the diff and the PTI-equipped driveshaft, but I'm also going to see about getting a longer slip yoke. I feel like that has to be a thing.

I am almost certainly going to convert the rear brakes from Taurus/TC to Tim's Focus setup...

I am not having a lot of luck finding a V6 transmission around here, and I hate the idea of shipping one... I'm mulling over whether I will pull out the existing transmission to check the clutch bits or not. I hate the idea of taking things apart just to put them back together again without having parts available. OTOH, if I do that then I gotta replace the motor mounts at the same time as, man, it would not get easier to do that job than with the transmission gone.

[John Brennan]

OTOH, if I do that then I gotta replace the motor mounts at the same time as, man, it would not get easier to do that job than with the transmission gone.

Motor mounts are fairly easy with just a floor jack and a pair of jackstands... you can do them anytime.

[thesameguy]

Er, yeah!

I think I was conflating projects from when I thought I needed to replace the FMS or RMS or oil pan gasket, but my improved ("no rubber grommet") PCV system seems to have eliminated the leak entirely. So, yeah, just motor mounts. I should get those ordered!

This morning's mission is to find what u-joints are on the FMS AL driveshaft... 1310 or 1330 I'm sure. Caps are 26.9mm and span is... I have forgotten. Dammit.

Edit: U-joint is 1330 … 92mm across. (1310s are 82mm)

[John Brennan]

I should get those ordered!

Russ at Rapido has some nice, new, stock replacement mounts.

www.rapidogroup.com

[thesameguy]

Yeah, I think that's the route I'm going. I don't need more harsh.

But, ugh, someone needs to hook Russ up with a paypal or shopify account or something. Ordering over the phone! In 2019!

[thesameguy]

PTI never returned my email, so I called them this afternoon. Their Merkur -> 1310 adapter is still available but in limited quantity, so I ordered two. I have an immediate use for one, and I expect I'll use the other on the track car (if I ever get to building it...). They're $140 plus shipping, FWIW. That's due next Friday.

There is no 1330 option, only stock or 1310, so I will need a 1310 to 1330 u-joint to use that adapter with the FMS AL DS. Those are commonly available, so no problem.

Also called my local driveshaft shop (https://www.drive-lines.com/dlssac.com/index.html) and talked to a guy about options - extend the driveshaft, use a spacer at the diff, use a longer slip yoke. His opinion is that "always lengthen the driveshaft, everything else sucks." He was especially critical of using a longer slip yoke... "The joint should be no more than .75" to 1" out."

I think my plan is have Driveline Service extend the AL DS 13/16" so that it would work "natively" with the V6 transmission, and the have a machine shop build an 11/16" spacer to use "for now" until that swap out happens. It's not perfect, but pretty good. Unless of course they want an arm and a leg to build that adapter, in which case I suppose maybe I will just bite the bullet and spent bank on a reman/rebuilt option. IDK yet... it's still coming together.

[thesameguy]

Got my pair o' PTI flange yokes:



One of them will go on the car in question, but I got a second in case I ever get around to building out the track car.

What can I say other than they are exactly as advertised?

Edit: Moog #253 is a 1330 (FMS AL DS) to 1310 (PTI yoke) "heavy duty" u-joint, so I got that coming too. I think at that point I can hit up the driveshaft shop... Then put the car back together with new axles & u-joints and see if the noise persists. If so, I get I'm digging into the clutch, transmission, or diff. Fun!

[thesameguy]

Just so I don't forget, M-7050-B is the Ford Racing steel bearing retainer for a '94+ T5. That, and the Modern Driveline MD-401-2110 spacer/adapter make for a pretty solid solution.

Edit: So the MD adapter is ordered....!

[thesameguy]

So I got those axles from Autozone under the Duralast Gold brand, but I'm 99% sure they really Surtrack axles. Neither here nor there. But one of them came with cork seals ( viewtopic.php?f=30&t=35826 ) which I *think* were actually intended for a VW application, but they are perfect matches for the XR axles/flanges so I'm gonna throw them on and see what happens.

The Duralast axles did come with new bolts as well, but I'm uncertain whether they are for XR4Tis or VWs as well. I believe the CV part of the axle is actually shared with VW, so it could go either way. In any case, the Duralast axles came with Allen head bolts instead of the Torx bolts that Merkur used, so that's an odd detail. Where I'm at now is that *currently* VW uses triple-square ("XZN") bolts, and I'm interested in pursuing that option... XZN bolts would be a better option than Torx, Allen, or Hex, so if I can find the right ones, I'm going that route as well. Maybe throw a Jetta bumper up front to increase the VAG content a little more?

Maybe these:

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-cv ... gKFsPD_BwE

I don't know how long the bolts are supposed to be. 48mm feels about right, though.

Edit: VW part number is N91108201

[thesameguy]

Went by a VW shop this morning, they had the M8 XZN bolts on the shelf... Here's what I learned in case anyone cares.

The VW bolts are "48-50mm" depending on who makes them - I don't know what the official VW bolts are. The Empi ones I got are about 49mm, maybe 48.8mm. They also come in Allen heads - VW changed back and forth over the years. Whether Allen or XZN ("triple square") they are an 8mm bit. Prices run from less than a buck each to $5, depending on whether they're aftermarket or genuine VW. The Empi bolts were $1.25ea. Factory XR bolts are a strong 50mm.

The diff output flange:



The load spreader:



The CV body itself:



With a 50mm bolt there is about 14mm of thread engagement into the output flange, with my Empi 48.8mm bolt I still have 12.8mm engaged, which is plenty for an M8 bolt. Yeah, I'm fussing about a mm!

[thesameguy]

Something else so I don't forget:

1352-085-052 appears to be the Tremec part number for the '94+ input shaft.

"Input gear 10" 23t 94-01 must V6 / 94-95 Mustang V8"

I will probably just buy a new one, take it over to the machine shop, and have them turn down the snout... then hopefully I am smart enough to swap it, or rich enough to rebuild the whole gearbox.

[thesameguy]

Received the Modern Driveline '94+ spacer from CJ... looks... like a chunk of aluminum.



Some measurements:

The Haulsee adapter is 38mm thick
The MDL adapter is 17mm thick

One thing I notice is that the Haulsee adapter positions the slip yoke 27mm from the u-joint, which is further than the Driveline Service guy recommended... I wonder if Haulsee had a reasoning for this position, or whether the driveshaft would be better a few more mm in.... Eh?

Anyway, gonna go talk to a machine shop about making a ~17mm spacer. See how that goes.

[Ed Lijewski]

Chunk = billet.

YMMV