2003 Supercharged GT

[Tyson98GT]

My buddy has a 2003 mustang GT that is procharged. He was wondering what the benefits of an aluminum driveshaft. Would there be any horsepower gains??

 

[merc123]

Less rotational mass. I'm not sure about actual gains though on HP but possible a dropped ET

 

[DropTopPony]

A guy did an extensive test/write up with it and it gained like 3rwhp on the dyno on avg over like 5 pulls...and the Carbon Fibre one gained like 3 over the aluminum. I haven't seen it posted in a few years though.

 

[kstang69]

wow not very impressive...was it stock tho...supercharged would be at least twice as much i would think, i have heard you will gain back like 3-4% of drivetrain loss, which should amount to about 10hp on a stock mustang.

 

[DropTopPony]

it was a stock bullitt if i remember correctly

 

[ADRENLN]

if any hp was picked up on a d/s that would be great. im about to do a d/s soon.

ive always heard you probably wont pick up much hp, but it is less weight and rotational weight at that.

whats with the carbon fiber d/s? is that storng enough? who makes it?

 

[jstreet0204]

wow not very impressive...was it stock tho...supercharged would be at least twice as much i would think, i have heard you will gain back like 3-4% of drivetrain loss, which should amount to about 10hp on a stock mustang.

That doesn't really apply here. Greater improvments on a forced induction car relate to mods that effect the breathing of the engine. Also contrary to popular belief, I am a firm beleiver that drive train loss is static, not a percentage. If it takes 35hp to spin a t45 tranny with a 260hp engine, it will not suddenly take 70hp to spin it with a 520hp engine.

 

[40oz]

I wouldn't consider any benefit of an AL driveshaft to be "horsepower gained." It is more like "lower rotational mass," which means if you are gong to talk about how much HP you "gain" with an AL driveshaft, you should be talking about how much hp your new wider wheels cost you, as well.

 

[40oz]

Also contrary to popular belief, I am a firm beleiver that drive train loss is static, not a percentage. If it takes 35hp to spin a t45 tranny with a 260hp engine, it will not suddenly take 70hp to spin it with a 520hp engine.

Yes, because we all know that when pushing two pieces of metal together, the pressure applied has nothing to do with the force required to move them :/ I suppose you also don't believe pushing on your brake pedal harder has any effect on the speed at which the car stops? Seriously, if you are pushing twice the power through a transmission, of course it is going to suck up more power through frictional losses. Any suggestion otherwise is just voodoo mechanics. Push two pieces of metal together, and try to slide them across each other. Then push them together twice as hard, and tell me it isn't any harder to slide one across the other. What do you think happens when your gears mesh?

 

[jstreet0204]

Yes, because we all know that when pushing two pieces of metal together, the pressure applied has nothing to do with the force required to move them :/ I suppose you also don't believe pushing on your brake pedal harder has any effect on the speed at which the car stops? Seriously, if you are pushing twice the power through a transmission, of course it is going to suck up more power through frictional losses. Any suggestion otherwise is just voodoo mechanics. Push two pieces of metal together, and try to slide them across each other. Then push them together twice as hard, and tell me it isn't any harder to slide one across the other. What do you think happens when your gears mesh?

You need to get your facts straight. The examples you give are incorrect. There are different types of friction.

Viscous friction (friction due to fluids, ie air, tranny fluid, rear end lube) increases as velocity increases. So the faster it goes the more friction there is. Engines that accelerate faster will experience more viscous friction.

Coulumb or dry friction stays the same no matter how fast it is going.

The gears meshing, bearings, etc. are all dry friction, and do not change regardless of the of the velocity. Your brake example is also Coulomb friction.

There are both types involved in drivetrain loss, but I beleive that the viscous friction plays a smaller role in it. That being said the majority of the loss is a static number when we are talking about engines in the 200-500hp ranges then you will be more accurate using a static number unless you can tell me the Viscous friction coefficient of the driveline.

 

[DropTopPony]

if any hp was picked up on a d/s that would be great. im about to do a d/s soon.

ive always heard you probably wont pick up much hp, but it is less weight and rotational weight at that.

whats with the carbon fiber d/s? is that storng enough? who makes it?

PST makes aluminum and Carbon Fiber DS's for our cars...they are plenty strong and are not as wide as the aluminum DS so if you have clearance issues the CF will help.

 

['03GTinFLA]

I've been reading on some other stang boards of Autozone or Advance offering the AL DS for under $200 but they are out of stock so people price match with Summit. I'll try to get some more info later tonight when I try it.

 

[timeless2]

If you are interested, apparently the aluminum one for 1987-1995 years will fit with a yoke swap.

 

[DropTopPony]

Yes i remember that write up...and if you have an auto you need to use your yolks anyway so its an economical swap using a 95 AL DS...now if i can only find one locally for 169

 

[1fast03pony]

more hp = more heat = more lost hp in the form of heat... fact. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed... just transformed.. into heat.

 

[01Steeda]

Viscous friction coefficient of the driveline

i think it is 3.1439648392179523


just a guess