Lightweight aluminum drive shaft installed.
 

I installed my new Axle-Exchange aluminum drive shaft that weighs only 12lbs yesterday. I also took a video of how cool my car sounds with it in. My car sounds like it has a supercharger now as the faster the drive shaft spins the more it sounds like a supercharger whine. :) See my review and video on my build thread.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24596

Where might one acquire an aluminum drive shaft? Direct from Axel-Exchange, or someplace local, performance shop? Any Pictures?

TKS

I got mine direct from axle exchange at axle-exchange.com

Super epic thread revival: since I see you're still active, how is the driveshaft homing up? How was the comparison from stock? Doing this mod soon, not a lot of information on the forum about it.

I no longer have it as I thought the TRD short shifter mixed with it was the issue for why the short shifter wasn't working properly. I took it off and sold it. The issue ended up being the trans bushings. Ended up selling the TRD short shifter too. Definitely don't recommend the short shifter. I haven't gotten around to buying another drive shaft. It's a cool mod. Makes the revs slightly free-er. Makes a cool noise like a supercharger almost since the aluminum is hollow and picks up some vibration. Is it worth the $, I'm not sure, but I enjoyed it and would buy it again, especially if I can find a used one or there's a sale. It's fairly simple to install.

Thank you for the input! I was expecting it'd make a difference with on/off throttle delay and harshness, did you notice any difference there? Like when you hit the gas, I was thinking it'd smooth out the transition since you're removing the carrier bearing

How is it for vibration? I tried the Driveshaft Shop aluminum drive shaft and it vibrated so bad I sent it back.

I can speak for the carbon DSS auto driveshaft and it is amazing. I managed to buy it used for a steal too.

Carbon fiber has the advantage of being able to absorb vibrations.

Motor mounts fix that way more than driveshaft

If my mounts were bad, I'd agree. These motors really don't weight enough to merit solid mounts unless you're running FI. My old 3000gt vr4's engine on the other hand..

You're wrong. The stock mounts are too soft and the primary contributor to the rubber bandy feeling drivetrain. Many of us have swapped out to the STi mounts (NOT solid) and seen a huge improvement.

I'll give it a shot and see! Being wrong in this case would really make me happy, thank you :)

I have the Perrin engine mounts and agree that they make everything crisper and more direct with very minimal vibration and noise. When I had the aluminum drive shaft I didn't notice any more vibration, just a slight increase in noise.

I bought the Aluminum driveshaft off Stockysnail about 4-5 years ago. It does not produce vibration but provides a louder experience that appears/feels like it's putting my fi power to the wheels faster and more directly. Im also running the Perrin shifter bushing along with the Whiteline. I'm certain it is louder than the CF version and holding up well.

Do you know exactly what was interfering with the TRD shifter? I have that installed and was thinking about getting a one piece shaft. I was checking the current clearances. Theres a good half inch of space from the drive shaft to the bottom of the shift lever pivot. Less at where the shifter shaft crosses over the ujoint yoke.

Do you have a good source for these? Are they cost effective?

I had a one piece aluminum driveshaft with kartboy short shifter. The shift “fork” was hitting the u joint. I just ended up grinding down the fork a little bit where it was hitting and never hit again.

Did you have any clearance issues with the aluminum driveshaft and perrin shifter bushing? I saw someone said that the bushing caused contact on the larger diameter DS. I just got an aluminum DS that I'm going to install but want to buy the perrin bushing to install at the same time since it sounds like it will be easier.