[alfa] '91 Spider Driveshaft saga

["Karl Robrock" <robrock@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,
I am finally getting around to finishing up my spider. I tackled way too many
projects at once (new upholestry, new carpets, new tranny). The car runs
great, interior looks great, but the tranny rebuild is causing me problems. My
intermediate driveshaft had a bad sleeve in the front end, and rather than
replace the sleeve, I bought a used driveshaft from APE with a better sleeve.
The output shaft on my tranny was mashed, so it was replaced with a "good"
used unit (and I quote the good intentionally). When I first put everything
back together, I drove the car down the street about 20 feet, and it started
vibrating violently. What I found was that the end of the output shaft has
pieces of metal chipping off and preventing the output shaft from pivoting in
the sleeve on the driveshaft. I removed the driveshaft, cleaned out the chips,
a touch of new grease, and reinstalled. Lasted about 300 ft that time. I
pulled it apart, tried to sand down the end of the driveshaft with a
sharpening stone, cleaned out the chips, reinstalled. Same deal again,
although it doesn't lodge so bad as to knock the driveshaft into the tunnel
sides under the car any more - I can actually drive indefinately, it just
squaks really badly. I have resonances all over the place in the shifter, the
drivetrain. I assume I need to have the driveshafts rebalanced (some people
have told me not - I'm aware I can rotate the rear 180 degrees and this might
improve the situation). I'm not convinced I'm completely pleased with the
tranny rebuild, but time will tell. The source was reputable, in any case.
Can anyone provide some useful advice? I do not want to have the tranny
rebuilt again. I am getting tired of working on that car and not driving it.
:(

Karl
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