It's been awhile, so thought I should write an update...
Ever notice that when you're talking custom work, nothing is ever simple? To get measurements for the driveshaft, I needed to get the tranny crossmember from the guy who's shop dismantled the car. His shop closed a few months ago, and instead of giving me all of my parts back, he took some with him to his father's garage where he was going to continue doing some restoration work.
Now when word got out that he was closing his shop, motorheads for miles stopped by. The owner was rarely there, and his shop manager held a grudge, so people who stopped by just helped themselves to parts they found laying around. To make a long story short, when he finally agreed to meet me so I could pick up my parts, he gave me a tranny crossmember for an e-body instead of my a-body crossmember. Not remembering the different look, I blasted it clean, primed and painted it--a work of art, and got it to the new shop. Rory took one look and told me it was the wrong crossmember. Luckily, I found the correct part here at forabodiesonly.com (Thanks, Crackedback!) and with the tranny bolted up, we got a measurement for the driveshaft.
I called Inline Driveshaft here in SoCal, and he asked what pinion yoke I had. I was hoping to get by with the stock 8 3/4" yoke, but I was told that the stock yoke would be a seriously weak link for the power I'm expecting. So instead of ordering the driveshaft, I ordered the 3150 forged pinion yoke to install first.
So just slip the old yoke out and the new one in, right? WRONG! Despite days of penetrating oil, Rory had to take the differential off to get the yoke out. Good news was that the spline count was correct, and that gear spacing in my 742 case was set with shims and not a crush sleeve.
So after all that, new measurements were taken, and I placed a driveshaft order with Inline on Monday. New driveshaft arrived today!! 3 1/2" aluminum, with spicer u-joints and 3150 slip yoke. I'll take some pics tonight and post them...
