[Hray]

Bob: I have never seen a spare like that one, does not have brand identies on it, but it is a donut rim and tire, rim is very narrow and tire for sure is emergency tire. someone must have paid a penny for it, I did unscrew the mounting wing nut to remove it.

Auto rama is just a target, while i may pinch pennies, I am not going to let down on the quality of the work done just to make auto rama. If I make it fine if not then I for sure will be a long ways down the road near completion by then. I am capable of doing show quality work when I want.

Back to drive shaft for those interested. I still do not exactly what trans I have, and since most of my experience is with old cars, 60 and older I was not acquainted with this new trans stuff and the newer way to bolt up drive shafts so did not know what would interchange.

The drive shaft that I built came from a automatic trans car, It fits just fine in this 5 speed stick, I would say it has a fine spline on it. I did lots of measuring and did not find any differences in the size of the rear u joint housing on the fords, so just maybe they are all the same at least in regards to this 82 t-bird rear end I have in the car.

I used to put drivelines on a lathe and cut either the front or rear off to shorten the driveline. Without that I use any means possible to get a nice square cut. Prior to cutting I run a straight edge down at least three places from end to end and also place line up marks about where I am going to cut the shaft. Then cut the shaft. then I make another cut about 1.5 inches from the rear piece. then cut some lines in to just about the end connector. then with vise grips I can peal off the remaining shaft material like a sardine can. then take a grinder and clean up the old welds. I file the inside of the shaft to clean it up. i will use a square to make sure the cut is square. if not then I grind it until it is completely square to the sides. then press the end piece back on the shaft and I have at least three marks to line up. this will make sure the ujoints stay square to each other. then reweld it.

I have made maybe 2 dozen of these over the years and so far have never had to have any balance or trued. also none of them have went over 100 mph. I figured if they ever vibrated I could take it in for balancing and truing if needed.

If anyone would like photos of this let me know and I will post them. if not I will save the space in that internet domain.

Ray