Guibo (flex coupler)

02LSE96LSC91SE84TC

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As I did my 8.8 swap and crossed the driveshaft obstacle I ran accross a few things I thought I'd throw out here for conversation. As some of you know we have 2 Guibos in our driveline. I now have only 1 and I'm sure its getting twice the stress now. I'm torn between a 1 piece conversion or just living with the 2 piece design which maybe can be stregthened? Anyways I learned awhile ago that many foriegns and some newer American cars use these Guibos. What I can't seem to find are exact dimensions to see if there is some interchange. The Driveshaft Shop makes adapters to eliminate the trans Guibo for its BMW custom driveshafts. Now if the BMW Guibo bolt arrangement just happened to match ours the custom 1 piece shaft would be a less expensive adventure as the adapter is already made by them. But also I found that there were stronger preferred Guibos on some model BMWs and many choose to use it instead as a upgrade. Its thicker and stronger. So from a stock driveshaft standpoint it could be improved to handle more abuse. Heres a link I found on the thicker one and where to get it.

Question is does it match ours? I suppose I could buy one to see. Anyone have some Bimmer friends that may have replaced thiers?



http://www.e30m3performance.com/installs/installs-2/guibo/index.htm

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=26112226527
 
Heres a pic of ours.

DS2.jpg
 
I did find one place that called 135mm. That actually is the exact outter dimension. Would be nice to know the bolt pattern.
 
Jason it seems you are still thinking of this driveshaft stuff. If I were you I would just do the one piece ds. Have Andy machine that adapter for you, order the new ds with the new existing dimensions and enjoy. At least if you are spending the money to have some work done you will also be getting a performance gain as well.


As for getting the size dimensions to find if the BMW adapter offered by DSS will match the LS guibo... Well they both are 6 lug which is good. Knowing that all lugs are equally spaced all you have to do is measure from outer lug to other outer lug to the centers and this will be your measurement to check with DSS to see if their adapters are the same or not. Should be a very straightforward process provided that you have a spare LS guibo handy to take measurements from.
 
Jason it seems you are still thinking of this driveshaft stuff. If I were you I would just do the one piece ds. Have Andy machine that adapter for you, order the new ds with the new existing dimensions and enjoy. At least if you are spending the money to have some work done you will also be getting a performance gain as well.


As for getting the size dimensions to find if the BMW adapter offered by DSS will match the LS guibo... Well they both are 6 lug which is good. Knowing that all lugs are equally spaced all you have to do is measure from outer lug to other outer lug to the centers and this will be your measurement to check with DSS to see if their adapters are the same or not. Should be a very straightforward process provided that you have a spare LS guibo handy to take measurements from.

I like to bullit proof my projects.

DDS proved to not handle my first driveshaft mod to well. Also they had not one but 2 Guibos of mine in hand to compare to adapters they already had made but choose not too. They never return the cut off and likely pitched the one. I wanted a 1 piece investigated, made that perfectly clear, they just in and outted my shaft. Frank isn't exactly easy to reach, often short on the phone and a likely 1 of a kind project isn't his priority. I don't blame him, I'd even use them again...just have to take some of guess work out of it. We discussed already Rob.

The pilot bore would have to match for the adapter to work beyond the bolt pattern.

Diameter of tube may come into play as a problem also. I am pretty sure 4" will clear now with my pinion adjustment, but would need to be varified.

I have convidence in Andy making me a adapter, but before I waste his time I would have to be convinced in the 1 piece. The price for the gain is big $$$.

Again I'm torn between perfecting the existing 2 piece design and the one piece conversion. To me perfecting the 2 piece design would be doing the mod over with mapping out exactly what needs to be done for me so I don't get disappointed and this thicker Guibo may complete that.


Also just wanted to share this with others who may be facing a Guibo replacement.
 
DS mods

I suppose that over the years, I've owned at least a dozen Lincolns. Some have been two-year-and-trade, and some have been 'keepers'. I'd believe that the rubber damping is some engineer's pet project and solid steel or steel/aluminium would not create any difficulty. A common part for high-HP drag cars is an aluminium U-joint girdle. I believe that with the use of these girdles, simple steel discs with holes in the proper places to take the girdle bolts, HD universals, and a one-piece high-strength shaft of the proper length and diameter, and you'd have your replacement. Just idle supposin' at this point!
KS
 
The pilot bore would have to match for the adapter to work beyond the bolt pattern.


When you have a metal on metal connection the pilot bore will not matter anymore. As you know, the only thing that pilot bore did was keep things aligned due to the soft nature of the guibo connector. When you go metal on metal connection such as with that alum adapter then as long as the bolt holes are precisely placed and of proper size then there will be no need for any pilot bearing. The pilot bore in the adapter would not be a concern. If it turns out to be too small then just clamp the adapter into a mill or even precisely align it into a drill press and drill the center point until the pilot piece from the rear of the trans has no contact with anything. Good to go.

As for the rest of your post... Price is a factor but you do seem to keep going back and forth with the 1 piece ds deal. It just seems to me that if you have already put this much thought into it then you probably will end up eventually doing it.
 
If you could send us the flex coupler we are interested in making polyurethane ones for these cars. We already are making them for the CTS-V and some others. Anyone interested?
 
Is there a regular u-joint style pinion yoke available to replace the 3 bolt coupler? What spline? Same as 8.8?
 

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