I got my Spydershaft aluminum driveshaft installed today. My first impression is that it's VERY loud. There is a very loud clunk every time I shift into first gear that I didn't have before, and at around 3000 rpm, the interior noise level goes up dramatically. The noise even drowns out the exhaust. It's not too bad at cruising speed, but under WOT, it's loud. In all fairness, I do have my car stiffened up quite a bit, but even so, I didn't expect this much increase in cabin noise.

On the positive side, it does seem like the engine spools up quicker. And the very annoying driveshaft clunking that I had has mostly gone away. I still get a little bit, but I'd say 80% of it is gone.

 

You reference a loud clunk when you shift into first, but then say that the clunking you had before is gone.... I'm missing something here......

 

When I shift into first, it sounds like the vacuum door on an old car with air conditioning clunking shut. It's a muffled sound, but very loud. It's not a sharp, raspy sound.

The clunking I had before was a result of the sloppy FoMoCo 2-piece driveshaft, and was coming from the rear of the car. It was more of a clanging sound.

 

the 2 piece design hides a great deal of "noise" fromthe rear end in general. So you will hear more road noise, but it shouldnt be loud enough to drown out the exhaust.....i dont see any adj. UCA or LCA in your sig...you do realize that the pinion angle is not going to be the same for each driveshaft and should be adjusted....

 

They didn't mention adjusting the pinion angle. I do have an adjustable UCA, so I'll have to look into that.

 

Yep, check the pinion. I'd shoot for the rear pinion pointing 2-3 degrees lower than the tranny. In other words if the tranny is dead level, the front of the rear end should be pointing 2-3degrees below ground level. Pinion angle is the source of many a noise, I know it was for mine when I put on the Roush rear springs.

 

if both drive shafts are straight shots from the rear end to the trans why would the angle change??

 

The stock 2-pc is not a straight shot from trans to diff.

 

+1....some people have put their new 1 pieces DS in and not change anything but lowering and other things will dictate the need to adjust it or not also.

 

+1 I put the Che Adj UCA in with the SpyderDS install, but set it at the same length as the stock UCA, and the angle was 2º (difference between the Ds and pinion angles) so we left it as was...

The best site I've found on the subject

 

As Monk says, here's the thing. The pinion angle was within specs. At least on my car with the chassis stiffening mods I have done (especially the torque limiters), there is some noise being transferred up into the cabin by the one-piece shaft. Those of you without the mods I have may not notice it at all. But with my mods, there is very little NVH dampening left.

We did find that the BMR driveshaft loop was rubbing up against the Hurst shifter in 1st, 3rd, and 5th gears. A little shimming took care of that problem, and now my first gear thunk is gone. That may have also contributed to some of the noise I was hearing.

All in all, I'm happy as a clam with the Spydershaft. The car does seem to rev faster, and a lot of the clunking noises caused by the slop in the factory 2-piece shaft are gone.

 

I replied to this post on S197forum.com...

 

Sounds like you need louder exhaust.

 

Next week's mod

 

I've heard that shifter/loop problem a couple times before. Usually a few washers to shim the loop away from the shifter solves that one.
Glad everything worked out well.
no doubt with all the stuff you did at once it's going to be a big change in the feel and noise level within the car but those are some of the trade-offs when removing all of ford super spongy bushings and getting better handling. i personally thought my car was too **** smooth when i bought it. I couldn't feel what the car was doing and it made me feel uneasy when ragging on it. i like to have some "input" from the car.