E21 Project Thread - Part 2

[Bassboy3313]

I guess you could say that. Since the shop in Waukesha (that I was referred to by multiple people) wouldn't shorten my halfshafts, I took it upon myself to get it done. They need shortening because I am running a medium case diff in a custom subframe I had made. So, my dad and I have been doing it periodically after hours and on weekends at his work shop. Just can't have the bosses seeing is all. I figure since I'm getting all that done, might as well clean out the CV joints and put new flanges/boots/grease in them. W&N was the only place that had a complete boot kit for the e21. Others just had the boot and clamps and would of had to buy the grease and such separate for practically the same price.

[Earl]

How are you going to balance them?

[Bassboy3313]

I hear Ray has a dynamic balancer at his work I will ask him about. Otherwise I will just take them to a driveshaft shop and have them statically balanced. The way we are making them, the fitment tolerances are almost 0, so they shouldn't be too far from already being balanced. The only factor that could potentially throw the balance off is how the welding comes out.

[jc43089]

Also the speed of the axle rotation is significantly less than the driveshaft.  I don't think you would have any problem just running them.  I might be wrong but wouldn't the forces rise at an exponential rate to the rotating speed?  So if the rotation is 1/3rd to 1/4th the speed of the driveshaft depending on dif ratio the out of balance would have to be very bad to cause a vibration like an unbalanced driveshaft?  Or you would have to be going 200+ mph.

[B C]

150mph is going to be ~2000rpm axle speed

[straight6pwr]

dave - i once took my first e30 to this truck frame and axle place when my rear frame collapsed at the spring perches. they did a good job, but the thing that stood out is they didn't care what kind of car it was they were willing to just get it done. maybe worth a call for the axle building/balancing? 

Frame & Axle Services Co, 4220 N 126th St, Brookfield, WI 53005, (262) 783-4802

[Bassboy3313]

Frame & Axle Services Co was the first place I went to see if they would shorten the axles for me. They don't do that kind of work and referred me to Machine Service in Waukesha/Pewaukee that I mentioned earlier. Them and a couple other people referred me to Machine Service as well, but they didn't want to take that project on either. This is why I am now doing it myself. If Ray is unable to dynamically balance them at his work, I was going to go back to Frame & Axle t osee if they can static balance them. 

A few people that had the idea of shortening their own halfshafts or have actually done it said they weren't even gonna bother balancing them anyways. This is more of a peace of mind thing for me it seems.

[Bassboy3313]

So, I did a thing after a few guys here mentioned to try it.

Tried out some lamin-x on my taillight lenses since new ones are crazy expensive if you can even find them. Turned out decent. Didn't hide the cracks and blemishes as well as I hoped, but still better than nothing. Debated on leaving the reverse light lense white or not (not like they work anyways). What do ya'll think?

[straight6pwr]

looks great! i think it hides the cracks pretty well, at least in that photo

[Daggerty]

#Insta famous 

like the red but if you could get rid of the amber marker and do red with just the white reverse.... coming from a e36 guy so that might be my reasoning. 

I can do the axles for you, I do a lot of welding I can give you some nice beads but you have to take your shirt off.

Id be using a 252 millermatic.

[Jeff]

I can't find the cracks. They look good

[Bassboy3313]

Daggerty said:

#Insta famous 

like the red but if you could get rid of the amber marker and do red with just the white reverse.... coming from a e36 guy so that might be my reasoning. 

I can do the axles for you, I do a lot of welding I can give you some nice beads but you have to take your shirt off.

Id be using a 252 millermatic.

It's all a one piece lens, so can't just get rid of yellow signal portion. As for the axles, they have been machined and are in process of getting welded already. Thanks tho

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[Bassboy3313]

Axles all welded up. Time to get them balanced, painted and start assembling the cv joints.

[Jdesign]

The taillights turned out great. Nice job! It might just be my eyes, but those axle shafts look oblong, I would certainly make sure that when they are balanced, they are not off by a large amount. Maybe turning them in a lathe to make sure they are completely centric if that's the case.

[Bassboy3313]

It's just your eyes  Everything checks out within 0.005".

[Bassboy3313]

Since mitch asked, here is what I had to do to "rebuild" the shortened cv axles.

First thing was to clean all the old grease out of the cv joints. I soaked them in a can of parts cleaner for 24 hours then blasted them with my air sprayer in a can of mineral spirits. Blew them off with air hose and let them air dry.

I taped off the mounting holes and inner spline hole, then proceeded to pack them with new grease. I used half the pack of grease that was included in my new boot kits from W&N.

Once they were all packed with grease, I installed the rear cap and boots. It was nice that W&N pre-installed the boot and clamp so I didn't need to buy a clamp pliers. I put 3 of the mounting bolts through the holes to line it all up, then tapped it on lightly with a hammer.

I then went ahead and painted the axles.

Installing the joints onto the axles were tricky, but once I got the first done the last three became easier. With the remaining half pack of grease, I put half of that into the boot and the rest on in the other side of the cv joint. Slide clamp on, put axle through boot, lightly but firmly tapped the cv joint back onto the splines of the axle, installed c-clip, and tapped outer cap on with hammer, done.

[Jeff]

Them axels look amazing. Nice work!

[Bassboy3313]

Thanks Jerf!

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[m42b32]

I'll be doing this soon, thanks for the write-up!

[Jdesign]

Those look damn good. Nice work!