Mid year driveshaft and half shaft restoration

[Jerry C.]

Looking for someone to restore driveshaft and half shafts, both big block and small block to meet NCRS specs. Thanks in advance.

[Richard G.]

Re: Mid year driveshaft and half shaft restoration

Jerry;
Its not clear to me what NCRS specs are.
Some use OEM style tubing and re-welding the yolks back on for the very best restoration (i.e. expensive).
If your tubes are not pitted they can be cleaned up and make to look pretty good.
Manual specifically states no tool marks, like if they may had been skim cut on a lathe.
There is no way I would recommend cutting the OD of the tubing as it would reduce the strength.
Its possible this was used to clean up badly corroded tubing. Still there would have to be a undercut by the weld.
Just another place for a stress fracture to start. Not a good idea.

I spun mine on a lathe and used emery only on the shafting. Cleaned up the ends on a power wire brush.

Pictured below is what my half shafts looked like after restoration;

You can see where I painted the area where the weld heat marks should be.
Lame? Maybe, but I thought it looked good.
Guess it depends on one's budget and requirements.
Maybe a judge could add some input on the point deduction at various levels of restoration?

Also shown are examples of the early and later 1963 sintered iron yolks.
One has the machining on the face where they bolt on and the other is as cast.
I am confident you can't tell them apart after installation.
Rick

[Tony S.]

Re: Mid year driveshaft and half shaft restoration

Nice work. A couple of points on early C2 half shafts. 1. The U-joint caps were originally flat, not stepped like yours (and mine). It's a configuration issue. 2. Have you researched the presence of blackout on early C2 half shafts? Blackout was commonly used on early C2 half shafts. That can obscure pitting on your tubes. I personally like seeing production-style blackout on chassis suspension components when I'm judging chassis. Good luck.

[Richard G.]

Re: Mid year driveshaft and half shaft restoration

Tony
Thanks for the input. One can't see the zerts, installed in the crosses, in the photo. I will have to add them to the point deductions. I looked all over and failed to find USA joints with out zerts. The piece of mind was worth it to me. I didn't catch the differences on the cap's face before you pointed it out. Original retaining clips may have been black not the gold color of mine. And didn't mention the blue joint seals. I would guess originals were black.
As far as the blackout goes, I just couldn't get myself to do it! (Yet . It is simple to add and a pain to clean up.
Interesting enough GM blacked out the bottom of mufflers I purchased in the late 70's. It's still on there. Helped they were only ran for a year and stored for 38! Put 255 miles on the car this summer! Still driving after all these years.
Rick