Cactus

hey guys,

Just wondered what you all thought about carbon props? worth getting? where best to get them from? any experiences?

Cheers

Lateral Performance

iTrader: (20)

When you've done everything else you can to make the car go quickly, handle, & brake well, and you still have £1000.00 burning a hole in your pocket, it will make the car a few KG lighter.


Mark.

APIDavid

iTrader: (4)

Absolutely on the money there Mark.

And after the prop is on there - if you eat a 1/4 pounder burger and fries before you get in your car for the drag strip, the Grand is wasted.

David APi

David_Wallis

you will get a greater saving in that its a rotational mass that you are saving the weight from though - I think.

But as above.. You'd be better off spending it on a holiday

wrc350+

if you are spending a fortune on mods then a grand is nothing, ask the big boys, if you want it have it

911

For me it is like the Subaru carbon top strut brace.
Bling.
There are the engineering advantages you cannot escape them, but they are someway down the list, but the weight difference is possibly a 5 Kg saving?
A stock Impreza shaft assembly is surprisingly light.

A £1000 wouldn't buy me a holiday, but would be nice to have the money to buy some new parts every now and then!

finchyboy

If your a big you'r better off spending on a gyem membership honestly !!

wrc350+

stuff the holiday

poormansporsche

A few people stateside are doing this upgrade. Supposedly people with the cash are finding it to be a better modification than a lightweight flywheel. I don't know how. The most I could get out of someone it "Yeah it's not as big of a weight reduction as a lightweight flywheel but the weight is in a different place so you feel it more." I don't get it, but the common consensus is that it's a really great upgrade. Also if you order one from ACPT you should be able to pick one up for about 600 quid shipped mabbe less.

Just for the sake of an arguement I found the STI carbon fiber strut tower brace to be loads better than the cheapie front strut tower brace I had before. But I bought the STI brace used as I would never pay MSRP for that thing. 250 quid would be way too much.

cheers

garrett

Chelspeed

Rotational inertia comes from an equation which has a r^2 bit in it where r is the radius.

O-level physics revisited - think of a flywheel, remove a kg from the centre (r=1), then remove a kg from the outside (r=4). This second kg from the rim is the same as taking 16kg from the centre in rotational inertia terms (I think....)

That's why you remove weight from the outside of flywheels. But a flywheel is what 300mm diameter? A prop, whether carbon or steel is much less, say 100mm diameter. You'd need to remove a serious amount of weight from the prop to have the same effect as lightening a flywheel.

And of course the real problem with the carbon prop is that it's buried away under the car so before you can fit it you need to fit the perspex transmission tunnel cover.

APIDavid

iTrader: (4)

LOL

Queue here to get your perspex tunnel covers we do standard refraction and magnified refraction for the people with really small dicks.

Mark A

iTrader: (1)

How rude

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

There are things carbon fibre is good for and there are things carbon fibre isnt good for.
If it needs to be ridgid then dont use carbon fibre, it flexes, use aluminium.
For example, an aluminium strut brace is better than a carbon fibre one because it doesnt flex, which is what you want, rigidity, a carbon fibre dash is better than an aluminium dash because you dont have to worry about it flexing, and it wont burn your hands when it gets warm in summer

Tony

jim litten

Actually Tony, if prepreg carbon fibre is laid up correctly and finished in an autoclave then it won't flex, in fact it'll have one of the highest weight/strength ratios going, why do you think F1 cars are made of the stuff??

911

I'm with Chelspeed.
You do save some static weight as well as the flywheel does too, just not so much.

David_Wallis

Its not about how much you spend to get results.

Team ICE and RCMS use them, AFAIK AndyF and Paul Dont.

The prop on its own wont get you the results £1000 spent elsewhere would.

If the car isnt a drag car then I'd put it into brakes, and I mean silly brakes.

David

nas sti

The only way we will find out if its any good is for someone to sell me 1 cheap , and i,ll test it for them , with the original and with the new carbon 1
i sold some tein suspension to a guy on here a couple of months back and he had just fitted the carbon propshaft and said there was a massive diffrence on the car ? ie seemed to eat gears quicker and rev better .

any offers

David_Wallis

I think if I paid £1k for a propshaft, Id want to feel a big difference

Not saying their wont be, but call me sceptical.

Fuzz

You'll also find it transmits the power to the rear diff in a much smoother and more efficient way, straining the components a lot less.

and you can feel it David.. Trust me..

poormansporsche

Yeah many people say it's a big difference in power. I agree that it sounds fishy being as the prop shaft is quite light weight already but seems to do some good when replaced with the carbon shaft. For a road/track car tho I agree the money would be better spent on some very nice brakes.

cheers

garrett

stluciascooby

well I actually have just installed one and can say it makes bugger all difference of course I really couldnt tell you if it did i'm to busy just trying to keep the thing in a straight line
I purchased one because the old propshaft was ripped out of the the car in my last crash along with the center bushing support ext,ext so the one piece cf unit was easier to install and much cheaper to ship.
I have a torqeline one.
It does look the good and I can say launches seem easier but maybe the extra 250 hp help with that to.
Jon

Cactus

yea i have heard of torqline, some interesting stuff on their website CTG TORQline Composite Driveline Products

wrc350+

what do you call "silly brakes"

wrx_yank

i still dont understanf why you lot call them "prop shafts"


there is no propeller anywhwere near them, i thought they were universally called drive-shafts?

Fuzz

Just British English old chap.

Prop shaft is the one under the transmission tunnel.
Drive shaft is the one from the diff to the wheels.


Andy

911

Graham

poormansporsche

It propels the car?

cheers

garrett

finchyboy

I would think it would only be worthwile doing once the flywheel has been lightened then you could really get an idea of value for money compared to doing the flywheel. Just my opinion

Cactus

On their website it says its a 55% saving, which seems v.good

stephen craig

iTrader: (1)

Not carbon but is a one piece steel prop a good idea to do away with flex in the centre joint for track use only, any thoughts?