HELP please - putting a 915 into a SWB - axle set-up?

[haycait911]

***continued here: 915 trans into a SWB - step by step conversion

well, I'm to the point where I'm trial fitting the engine/trans and I need to figure out how to convert the larger diameter drive flange of the 915 to the smaller flange on the SWB trailing arm. I've done searches and can't seem to find any ideas/procedures. I know others have done this, but how?

at this point I'm thinking to take one of each axle to the machine/driveshaft shop. have them cut both axles in half, and weld one of each together, maybe with a sleeve. this would give me two axles, each with a small and big CV. not very elegant but would probably work.

any other thoughts out there? any input much appreciated. Don.

[MBEngineering]

HI haycait911
Not quite what you have but the same drive shafts prob', I have been down the same route and the customer made some adapters or changed the output flanges for smaller ones, I would have to ring him to find out.

http://www.ddk-online.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=22931

regards mike

[MarKoBrow]

I am doing something similar I think. I am putting 930 axles in my 67 and realized that I too have hubs that are to small. I am looking forward to hear suggestions also that would allow there use.

[356RS]

Don,
I was in the same boat also. I took my early SWB stub axles to a good machine shop and had them cut off the early CV cup and then I gave them a later one from a 73 up and had them weld on the later CV cup to the early one. Picture below. It worked great. The only thing I had to modify a little was the emergency brake cable mount area on the SWB arm.

[haycait911]

thanks Mark. a couple of questions:

where did they do the cut and weld?

I assume you used standard 915 axles. any issue with the length? I see they're somewhat longer than the 901 axles. or is the difference corrected with the 915 in place?

how long ago did you do this, I see you're not too far from me. I'm thinking to send my stubs to your machine shop, finding a 'good' shop around here might be a challenge.

[356RS]

The cut is made on a lath, at the point were the CV joint flange cup area meets the bearing area of the stub axle. Let me find some extra stub axle pieces I have from one of the cuts and I'll take a picture of it.
On the axle issue, I used a set of "Sway-A-Way axles, 16 1/4 inch. long with increased spline length, 2 1/2 inch. for the 930 CV joints. Since I was installing the 915 gearbox in a 356 I needed a little different length.
I did all this work about 8 years ago and the shop that did the work is still doing special mods like this.
I just called McKenzie's Performance in California (714) 441-1212) and they also can do a "Reflange" on your early SWB flanges. They said it would cost about $75.00 each.

[haycait911]

can it be this easy? went over to Kevins911's place tonight. ( man, he's got a lot of transmissions laying around. ) we were going around and around on this. finally got around to pulling the drive flanges off a 914 trans. they fit my CV's ( 94mm ) and fit perfectly into my 915, replacing the 110mm flanges.

all measurements seem to indicate this should work. the flange face to flange face measurement on the 901 versus the 915 is about 3/4 inch wider. easily taken up by 4 CV's.
also borrowed an engine case to do a mock-up. only drawback I see is that I'll be using the weaker 94mm CV's. but I'm only expecting about 230 crank hp from my 3.0 so they should last. FWIW I think I'll pick up two new axles from pelican ($ 68 each! ) to get the best durability possible.

is this why I can't find any threads on this? it's just too easy? will update when I have everything bolted up.

[MBEngineering]

HI haycait911
when you have every thing in the car and the drive shafts on, jack up the suspension on one side to check you have end float in the drive shaft between the CV joints at all angles, more so in the horizontal, the only prob with the small CV joints is over heating if run at angles, good quality CV grease and a regular check should keep you going.

regards mike

[356RS]

haycait911, Glad to see you found an answer to your problem. Mike is right about the angle and temps. I had to go with 930's on all 4 ends because I was going to have 12 degree's or more of forward axle angle because the engine and trans were moved 4 inch. forward of rear wheel centerline.

[haycait911]

the saga continues here........

915 trans into a SWB - step by step conversion

[Wrrnj]

Originally Posted by haycait911

can it be this easy? went over to Kevins911's place tonight. ( man, he's got a lot of transmissions laying around. ) we were going around and around on this. finally got around to pulling the drive flanges off a 914 trans. they fit my CV's ( 94mm ) and fit perfectly into my 915, replacing the 110mm flanges.

all measurements seem to indicate this should work. the flange face to flange face measurement on the 901 versus the 915 is about 3/4 inch wider. easily taken up by 4 CV's.
also borrowed an engine case to do a mock-up. only drawback I see is that I'll be using the weaker 94mm CV's. but I'm only expecting about 230 crank hp from my 3.0 so they should last. FWIW I think I'll pick up two new axles from pelican ($ 68 each! ) to get the best durability possible.

is this why I can't find any threads on this? it's just too easy? will update when I have everything bolted up.

sorry to bring up an old thread, but does anyone know if the output axle shaft diameter on the 914 flange is larger than the SWB 911. Reason I ask, I installed a Mag 911/01 case in a SWB, I had my SWB flanges machined to fit, but then realized the shaft diameter which slides into the bearings is approx 1/16" smaller in diameter than the 110mm flange that was in it. As far as I know the 915 trans and 911/01 are very similiar in the differential, so I was guessing the 915 and 911/01 trans share the same output bearing and if this is the case, is the 914 axle larger in diameter so I can just swap and be on my way? Any help would be great, thanks