How to Make Custom Axles and Driveshaft Supports - AWD Mini Cooper Ep. 26
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2024
- We finally get to the goods of our project improvements, custom fabricated axles and driveshaft supports. One of the first things we noticed during our first few test drives 2 years ago was that the rear suspension was crude and did not perform well enough to make us happy. Due to the uneven length rear control arms, the suspension gain over 5 degrees of camber across the full travel. Although the custom parts worked, we opted to start testing some OEM options that may just be able to fit. To our surprise, the parts were a straight bolt on solution and knocked out one of our stage 1 requirements (Speedometer and Odometer functionality), reduced weight by moving from welded steel to cast aluminum, and less road noise due to less metal on metal mounted components.
Stage 2:
- Install sleeper 16g turbo - DONE (Video in the future with engine build)
- Finish tuning fuel and ignition tables (it's ok to about 12 or 13 psi, but we need to turn this way up)
- Setup flex fuel (done)
Stage 3:
- Build transmission to handle 400+ awhp (done)
- Upgrade clutch disk and pressure plate (done)
- TURN UP THE BOOST BABY (technically above wastegate pressure already haha)
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Wow! Those custom axles came out amazing. You also went super beefy on that carrier bearing mount. So cool man, awesome to see another detailed vid.
Thanks man. Yeah I definitely want it to be a solid for rally racing. I'd hate to get caught on a bump and break the mount. The bearing is easy enough to replace at least ;-)
Damn this shi is dope asf, never thought of a 4g63 awd mini
This is a great tutorial. Just what I was looking for. Also, wanted to let you know when you said you put the brake cleaner can under the welding area I got concerned as my brake cleaner can says "do not use brake cleaner near open flames, welding operations, or excessive heat. Vapors may decompose to harmful or fatal corrosive gases such as hydrogen chloride and possibly phosgene." Stay Safe.
Glad I could help. No worries ok the can, everything had been cleaned and long flashed off before I started welding anything. I'm certainly not a fan of breathing in chlorine or anything like that haha. I've also worked with phosgene and hydrogen chloride in the past and they're some pretty nasty stuff. I work more with H2S and HF now though. But that is a good clarification that I didn't have in the video. Thanks for looking out mate.
Awesome video!! I have to do the same thing but with much shorter axles. My build is an awd D16 honda acty kei van.
Very cool mate. AWD keis are pretty cool. l think the only truck my wife supports me getting would be a Kei truck haha
Keep me posted on how your axles turn out
Axle SHAFT!☺
Cool man. Im also looking to do mine im doing kswap 96 corolla im going with toyota/ honda accord axles but lite scared to do
Oh that sounds like it'll be a fun car when it's all done. Yeah it's a little nerve racking but if you align everything well, it should work out well. My axles are still holding up well after driving around for the last 6 ish years and rally racing
Please can you tell me are you still using that cv shaft or it breaks?? Thank you.
No breaks or anything yet. I haven't done extremely hard launches on it though since this isn't a drag car specifically
Pieze cilinders its make diferents diameters 4:30
That "easy" driveshaft support...??
@12:06 you can see brackets bolted to the car, just at the position where driveshaft support is welded in.
You could have used that to BOLT ON a much(!!) simpler drive shaft support. That would do the job for sure and would be really EASY. 🙂
That's a great point. I actually did that originally and drove around for a while, but the length was so long to get to that center point that it wasn't as rigid/solid as I wanted. In order for it to be stiffer, it needed to be bulkier and I figured let's just weld something here now so it's a forever bolt on solution (since this car will never be stock again anyway lol).
Even for the carrier bearing, I wanted something I could easily look up in a catalog for one of the 7 cars that this Mini is made from. It's hard to keep up with Mini, Mitsubishi, BMW, Honda, Ford, Hyundai, and a plethora of universal parts haha. It's one of the "let's make it messy/complicated now so it won't get messy/complicated later" type thing. If I bottom out in a rally, I can buy the part at AutoZone or have a spare one hand rather than have to fab something in a pinch to keep racing.
I've actually used this exact method on my buggy I'm building. Honda D Series engine and gearbox(130BHP) and Mazda MX5 mk1 hubs and half shafts. However I've broken the shafts 3 times now. But they always break at the end of the collar, not where the joint is. Could the heat from welding possibly weaken the shaft?
Very cool. Yeah you have to be careful because axles are usually heat treated and that gets messed up when you weld it. Typically you need to heat treat it for the most consistent strength. Is it breaking at the weld joint at the end of the collar or within the heat affected zone?
Have the axles still held up?
Flawlessly 😉👍
Did you ever finish the car and what did it cast in total
Do you know if your joint is better than a 45 degree joint? I've heard of both working well. Just curious if one is better than the other.
In practice, it shouldn't matter if the welds are solid, however, in theory, a 45 degree angle would push the axle sides apart. Depending on how much grip your tires get and how much torsional flex you get on the axles, that theory becomes more and more of a consideration
How are these axles holding up
Super well. No issues at all. So far, it's even survived a rally race earlier this year as well. Granted it's a lower traction environment
Can you please, please talk about creating splines? I am very interested in this topic and having a hard time finding information on it.
I'm trying to find some good resources for you but, in short, you would need to use a lathe to get the overall diameter set and then use a mill with a cutting wheel that matches your spline gap profile and a dividing head attached to the mill table. The dividing head allows you to make cuts at specific angles on a piece. So if you need 16 splines, then your dividing head will be set to 1/16 stops and you use the mill to make horizontal cuts on the shaft at each stop.
I know some good machining channels so I'll try to find one of their videos later tonight when I get back home. Hope that helps in the meantime
@@InitialDIYmods I would appreciate that, I actually recently found some information on doing just as you described, however my new interest is trying to create internal splines, hah!
Here are a few links that should get you on the right track. The easiest way assuming the part is open on both ends would be broaching, but a rotary broach can do it too if you custom made a broach cutter for it specifically fit to your inner spline requirements. If you wanted to make the inner CV spline match the axle vs the other way around for example.
This one covers cutting splines czcams.com/video/gDQLIEV3IpA/video.html
This one covers gears and indexing czcams.com/video/Q-XOM4E4RZQ/video.html
This one covers manual broaching czcams.com/video/ZRbOux9NfeU/video.html
This one covers rotary broaches/broaching czcams.com/video/GWyHJVOxKK4/video.html
Hope that helps
@@InitialDIYmods Awesome thanks for all the resources!
Happy to help and best of luck
This was really cool. But could you let us know why you did the axels?
I couldn't use any axles on the market that would fit with the Mini Countryman All4 trailing arms and the Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX rear differential. I needed to use the Mitsubishi diff to work with the transmission gear ratios and I feel these aluminum OEM trailing arms work much better than the steel welded trailing arms I made in a previous video which used the Mitsubishi hubs.
If you haven't watched the series yet, basically I got the engine swap and AWD conversion working, but the rear suspension geometry and weight was a big limitation on what I wanted to do with the car in rally and autocross events. I could get aftermarket custom ones made for $800 to $1000, but they would need me to cut the axles in half anyway, then tack weld them where I need, and send them in so they can make a one piece version. It would also take 6-8 weeks for companies I spoke with to make them so I decided why not just go full DIY. 😁👍
Hope that makes sense, but feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.
@@InitialDIYmods
I guess I should watch the series hahaha
I'll have to check it out thanks for the explanation!!
Are you gonna have the cv shafts balanced. Or is there no need?
Getting them balanced would be ideal, but I know they are close enough to not feel any harmonics at 100+ mph so these should be very close. If I can find a place that does balancing locally in Houston, I'd love to try it out and see how close I got for a home garage and fully DIY job. I'm certain they could be improved
Even factory doesn't balance axle shafts, diameter is too small to matter
Where is this project at now?!?!?!?!
Lots of ups and downs but overall, the build progress has really slowed down over the last year and I just haven't gotten done much of what I wanted to. Hoping to replace the rear main seal soon and make some other modifications like an ECU controlled exhaust cutout, E85 tuning, higher boost, final Dyno tune, fixing shifter slop, etc. So much to do and so little time it seems haha. Such is life I guess. Hope to get more videos out soon cause there really should be a good update on all the projects at this point.
@@InitialDIYmods Got to say i appreciate the response. All in due time I guess! I totally know what you mean as my TSI has been sitting too long itself and not enough of what I've planned has been done yet. Ups and downs is the story of life! Can't wait to see the updates, or i should say, im excited for them! Will be staying posted!
how's the mini running?
It's doing ok. The build progress has really slowed down over the last year and I just haven't gotten done much of what I wanted to. Hoping to replace the rear main seal soon and make some other modifications like an ECU controlled exhaust cutout, E85 tuning, higher boost, final Dyno tune, fixing shifter slop, etc. So much to do and so little time it seems haha. Such is life I guess. Hope to get more videos out soon
I want to put a fiat / iveco diesel engine in a w126 300se
That would certainly be interesting
Chapuza
If it works, it works 😉👍
Yo do you still have the Amazon link for the pliers? Had no idea these existed!
Hey mate, here are the CV boot pliers I got for this video. amzn.to/3z9mEOc
Definitely worth the $25 or so dollars. These are the clamps I bought as well. I bought a few sets which had me covered with spares as well. amzn.to/3IKb53h
I make sure to bring to any race events as well just in case. A real life saver if I pop a boot off while rallying.
They make take a few tries to get the hang of it, but make sure it's tight before you use the pliers other wise it won't be tight enough. Best of luck
Yo man! I’m looking to do a boosted 3.8 build in the near future and looking for guidance!! You still look on here? Where can I reach out to you so we can chat
Yeah for sure mate, been a little slower to respond lately but I'm still around haha. We also have an IG that many prefer to message through as well as email. Happy to help however we can. Shoot me questions or anything and we can give our recommendations specific to your situation