Brand New Incredibly Strong One-Piece Transmission Input Shaft!!

[Josh]

Is this available?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I believe Nick never got this to the point where he was comfortable selling it. Not to say the end result was bad, but he has very high standards.
He is using it in his car though.

[BLWNAWY]

It has only ever been on this forum where I've heard people talk about the coupler being a "mechanical fuse".... I don't believe that this is the purpose of this coupler.

As the original designer of Toby's "Bulletproof Coupler" in 2000, necessitated when my supercharged Chevy-powered BLWNAWY tore the splines out of its coupler "accelerating briskly" in 3rd gear, I may be to blame for starting that "fuse" line. I attributed the fact that the stock coupler splines do not go all the way around to being an intended "weak link", which would hopefully prevent damage to more expensive parts as it did in my case. (In my defense I'm an Environmental Engineer, not a Mechanical one.) I don't even know if Toby still sells his couplers, but when I did the cost was minimal, somewhere around $450. I greatly applaud your efforts to come up with a one-piece shaft. I did not have the financial or mechanical resources to try that, although I certainly considered it. At your projected $2,000-$2500 cost I would not hesitate to use your one piece shaft if I were going the high HP route today. Bravo.

[Josh]

As the original designer of Toby's "Bulletproof Coupler" in 2000, necessitated when my supercharged Chevy-powered BLWNAWY tore the splines out of its coupler "accelerating briskly" in 3rd gear, I may be to blame for starting that "fuse" line. I attributed the fact that the stock coupler splines do not go all the way around to being an intended "weak link", which would hopefully prevent damage to more expensive parts as it did in my case. (In my defense I'm an Environmental Engineer, not a Mechanical one.) I don't even know if Toby still sells his couplers, but when I did the cost was minimal, somewhere around $450. I greatly applaud your efforts to come up with a one-piece shaft. I did not have the financial or mechanical resources to try that, although I certainly considered it. At your projected $2,000-$2500 cost I would not hesitate to use your one piece shaft if I were going the high HP route today. Bravo.

Nick also made a run of these couplers in 2016, since they were no longer available. I use them with my LS swap kits with great success.

[Nicholas R]

Is this available?

No it is not.

Outside of use in my own vehicle, it's unlikely I'll be selling any of these. Liability is too high, production cost is too high, and the market is too low.

Also for what it's worth, after the coupler, the next weak point in the transmission is the cast aluminum case. I've got a set of cracked case halves in my garage to prove it.

[MikeWard]

It might be worth checking with GTO Racing in the UK, I believe they sell an uprated input shaft.

https://www.gtoracing.co.uk

[Nicholas R]

It might be worth checking with GTO Racing in the UK, I believe they sell an uprated input shaft.

https://www.gtoracing.co.uk

Indeed they do; if someone has sincere interest, I think they're worth looking into. Just be aware that the kits are primarily designed around the UN1-027 that was installed in the Lotus Esprit V8. With their kit you actually get different output shaft gears as well for 1st and 2nd because 1st is straight cut (so you're going to hear it loudly), and the ratios for both are altered to increase the length of the time in the gear. This is because the UN1-27 has a lower rear end ratio (3.89:1) than the gearbox used in the DeLorean (3.44:1) so 1st and 2nd are even shorter. The other thing to be aware of is that these gearboxes used a different thrust bearing setup on the fifth gear side of the input shaft. Instead of the single double thrust ball bearing, they used two tapered roller bearings (similar to the way the output shaft is setup). This would need to be accounted for if fitting into the DeLorean.

None of this is to say that the shafts aren't usable, just to be sure to ask the right questions when ordering and know what you're getting into.

With all that being said, there are still limits to the strength of the case of the gearbox. I've heard them say 500hp cars run these. Personally, I cracked a case of a DeLorean (Renault 369) gearbox with the power shown in the dyno sheet in my signature. (Granted the case of the UN1-027 box is known to be a bit stronger because of the different thrust bearing configuration).

[BladeBronson]

None of this is to say that the shafts aren't usable, just to be sure to ask the right questions when ordering and know what you're getting into.

These are the questions I'm going to ask of the guys at gas stations that tell me I "need to LS swap that thing!". You guys are famous.

[Holley'dDMC]

No it is not.

Outside of use in my own vehicle, it's unlikely I'll be selling any of these. Liability is too high, production cost is too high, and the market is too low.

Also for what it's worth, after the coupler, the next weak point in the transmission is the cast aluminum case. I've got a set of cracked case halves in my garage to prove it.

If possible, what would it take to get one from you? Ill happily sign a liability waiver. I could pay the machining cost, or whatever...
Im building a big-bore, high compression, high rpm prv thats going to be putting down power. The kit from gto racing is far too questionable to try to use in the 369, yours would be the most ideal.
My coupler broke recently and I really dont want to go back together with the same thing.

[Josh]

If possible, what would it take to get one from you? Ill happily sign a liability waiver. I could pay the machining cost, or whatever...
Im building a big-bore, high compression, high rpm prv thats going to be putting down power. The kit from gto racing is far too questionable to try to use in the 369, yours would be the most ideal.
My coupler broke recently and I really dont want to go back together with the same thing.

I linked this thread to you for reading, Not to try and convince Nick to sell you an input shaft. He has said more than once he is not selling them, and I told you this as well. I do not understand why you think this is an opportunity to purchase.
Like I mentioned in email and this thread i use couplers on my swaps and they are adequate. No need for much more than that especially if you are keeping the PRV.

[MikeWard]

The kit from gto racing is far too questionable to try to use in the 369

it has already been used successfully in a 369 by at least one owner in the UK, and having driven his car I know it drives a lot better with the uprated parts. As Nick mentioned though the straight cut 1st and 2nd gears are noisier.