GM went back to a two-piece driveline in its '06 trucks. The only truck that still has a one-piece driveshaft is the11/42-ton shortbed standard cab. Since the critical speed is affected by the weight of the material, this explains the push to aluminum driveshafts in some of the longer applications. Driveshafts are made out of steel (1053), chrome-moly (4340), 6061-T6 aluminum, metal matrix composite (MMC) aluminum, and carbon fiber. They come in many thicknesses and diameters. We would not trust our truck (or our life) to another production OEM driveshaft. If you're going to run over the factory-designed limited speed, give Dynotech Engineering a call. This company builds some of the nicest driveshafts I've ever used, with shafts constructed out of all the above-listed materials, and will build you the proper shaft, engineered for the speeds you would like to achive. Yes, the shaft will be a little pricey, but it will be a lot cheaper than another transmission-or a hospital bill.
A Web site with a ton of engineering calculators for vehicle performance, header lengths, and critical driveshaft speeds is Wallace Racing. It's a killer site, and you'll be there for hours playing with the calculators.
'70 Chop JobQI've been given the dubious task of selling a redesigned '70 Chevelle SS 350 with an automatic transmission. It now looks more like a kit car and has a rectangular fiberglass body. The engine is supposedly freshly rebuilt with 2,200 miles on it. My question is about the engine. The only number I find on it is T0215CK1 or CKL (hard to read under the dirt). Can you give me any information about this engine? Thanking you in advance.Pamela Meath
A I'm not asking how you adopted this "work of art." It's unfortunate what some people thought would look cool years ago. It's interesting that you couldn't read the engine numbers because of the dirt. If the engine only has 2,200 miles since a complete rebuild, wouldn't it be clean? The CKL is the correct engine code for a '73 350ci, 145hp ,8.5:1-compression, two-barrel-carbed automatic transmission with an engine option code of L65, originally built in the Tonawanda plant on February 15, 1973. It is certainly not the numbers-matching engine for this car. I hope this has given the information you were looking for. Good luck on moving this piece of history.
If you have technical questions for Kevin McClelland, send him an e-mail at chevyhi@primedia.com.