after going through the search feature, i've been wondering if there is there an aftermarket drive shaft available for the 8? if so, who makes it and how much does it weigh compared to stock? how does it perform against stock as well?

 

Isnt the stock one made of carbon fiber? Cant see too much gain there...

 

yea, that's what i saw when i did the search, but isn't there anything better?

 

Hmm... what could be lighter than carbon fibre and yet as strong.... hmmm..... adamantium is your answer....

 

Mazda already did you the favor of giving you the "better" driveshaft. That's true of course if you have the 6 speed manual. The auto's didn't have a carbon fiber driveshaft.

 

cool. so no need to upgrade my drive shaft then

 

 

hahahaha...classic

 

yes the driveshaft is strong... but the axles....?

 

The stock driveshaft is ridiculously light! Being that is stock it´s lighter than many aftermarket driveshafts for other cars. I didn´t know it was carbon fiber until I did my clutchswap, you can only guess if I were suprised of the weight when it came off. A great job by Mazda!

 

Man...that is classic.

 

Don't worry about the driveshaft, differential, or the axles. You'll kill the transmission long before you hurt them.

 

i know.....i am classic

 

A good thread to read regarding the driveline strength is the 3rotorPR thread hosted by Manuel and Robert. If I remember correctly the driveaxle shafts are good to the 400 w.h.p. mark, the transmission has input shaft problems around 450, and they are now experiencing rear link issues at the 650 w.h.p. mark. They and I will be working together to develop titanium rear links and stronger axles.

CRH

 

I've heard it was just steel wrapped with CF

 

No! If you read the label on the driveshaft it says carbon fiber... not steel. And judging by the weight of it it´s definately NOT steel inside it.

 

If you are looking to loose weight, try a lighter PPF. It is really poorly designed.
The driveshaft is already so light, you can easily lift it with 2 or 3 fingers.

 

OK, I have to ask... what is PPF?
I hate acronyms.

 

I think he meant Power Plant Frame ?

 

Correct! That sh*t is heavy! I know SR Motorsport had a PPF in their catalogue, but they seem to have removed it from their website. Not sure about the weight of it though or how much weight that can be saved with a lighter one without loosing or reducing the strength of it.

 

Wasn't charles hill developing a titanium ppf a while ago? How's that going?

 

Cost should be the biggest problem. Durability is next.

to get something you gotta give up something. I guess Mazda already did a great job on the PPF already. very balance between strength and weight.

 

Nah. They went cheap. Rolled steel, folded over and spot-welded.
It would be fairly easy to make one out of aluminum box-stock. Even tube stainless would be a better choice. It just requires more machining.

 

what does the PPF do exactly?

 

short of duplicating the OE design in Ti a custom PPF has to be properly designed structurally, probably requires running a finite element analysis program to get the right weight to strength proportions