5-speed driveshaft details --Visio drawing-- Accurate? -Edit

[jgerry2002]

In my four hour support call tonight I had time to create a Visio drawing detailing how to shorten the driveshaft for the 5-speed conversion.

This is just the front half of the driveshaft.

I spoke with a well known vendor, he said they shorten theirs by 3.1" with the 320i flange. 3.6" would be accurate with the 4 bolt flange. He said the 320i flange is .5" thicker.

Let me know if this sounds right and let me know if my math is off.

A few comments for clarification added.

Thanks.

[02Les]

Neat.

I thought the 3-bolt (320) Guibo was thicker than the 4-bolt one, not the flange (?).

[Mike Self]

one used on the 2002...I think the drawing is referring to the flaneg thickness, not the guibo itself...

mike

[jimk]

You are correct on the thickness and on the new length.

And, before you have the drive shaft worked on, put a reference mark back on the middle joint and tell the shop how long you want the end result to be from the reference mark. If you tell them to shorten by x amount, that x amount will be on the shop floor and you won't know if the finished drive shaft is the correct length.

[jimk]

You are correct on the thickness and on the new length.

And, before you have the drive shaft worked on, put a reference mark back on the middle joint and tell the shop how long you want the end result to be from the reference mark. If you tell them to shorten by x amount, that x amount will be on the shop floor and you won't know if the finished drive shaft is the correct length.

[Tiger75]

I believe you should mount tranny and mount diff in the middle of the bolt holes and then measure the flange to flange distance before you shorten driveshaft. That worked for me. Then when first tranny was bad I installed a second 5 speed. Then the shortened driveshaft was not an exact match.. I had to loosen the diff bolts and slide it forward 1/16 inch. Not much but I would have thougt it would have fit exactly.

[jgerry2002]

Thanks JimK for the comment, I added it to the drawing.

Also, I clarified things a little.

If there are any other comments feel free.

We probably ought to post this to the 5-speed FAQ.

You should be able to come up with a standard distance to shorten things by. All 4-speed shafts are built to a specification, so 5-speed should be no different. I believe many shops take a loose approach to shortening it which causes a problem. 4-bolt flange vs. 3 bolt also causes issues.