Motor & pinion angle

[Akko]

Hi all, first post to this forum so be kind
I'm building an ICV street machine in south oz.
Its a LS1 & auto trans into a 1971 VW Beetle. (Just because,ok?)
I'm at the stage where the diff, motor & trans has just been test fitted into the custom chassis along with the triangulated 4-bar.
The issue I've just come across is the pinion angles.
With the chosen wheel tyre combo & 3°angle on motor & diff I have around 8° on the tailshaft due to my short (1000mm) tailshaft.
My question is-: how much can I angle the LS1 down & diff up, before I have to go to a 2 piece tailshaft?
My sump already hangs 30mm below the front crossmember, but is still 180mmoff the ground.
Cheers in advance

[Twin Spinner]

I was in a conversation here on this subject some time ago, when I fitted the engine and auto to my spinner ute I had 7deg. at the diff and around 15deg. on the engine, we did a trip to Darwin and back with no vibrations and the uni's were still good as new. I have since lessened this to 10deg. Good luck with your bug project

[wheelman]

Don't worry too much on angles, that is what a universal joint is for.. Actualy, more angle is better for the uni-joint than less angle. The rollers have more movement in the uni when on more of an angle. Too straight & the rollers don't move much & just hammer gooves into the joint.

[Akko]

Thanks people for the heads up, I was over thinking it
I spent a couple of hours last night messing around with it & found that if I lift the body up 30mm it gave me the clearance to lift the motor enough to get-:
Motor tilt back 4.5°
Tail shaft tilt back 5.0°
Diff tilt up 4.0°
So I think I'll run with that. Cheers for the advice

[Sudsy]

The normal recommended setup is pinion and crankshaft parallel to each other and a few degrees on the unis usually about 3. So you have your motor sitting higher than the diff with the centreline of the crank running parallel with the centreline of the pinion. The difference in the height is what determines your uni angle

[Akko]

That's how they are, parallel to each other, but I was after the max angle that the motor can lean back & the diff up to maintain the parallel. The triangulated 4-bar docs say to allow about 1° difference to account for torque twist under acceleration. Currently they are about 4° to 4.5°

[Sudsy]

That's how they are, parallel to each other, but I was after the max angle that the motor can lean back & the diff up to maintain the parallel. The triangulated 4-bar docs say to allow about 1° difference to account for torque twist under acceleration. Currently they are about 4° to 4.5°

Doesn't really matter as long as the centre lines are parallel to each other. The four bar should keep it minimal as there is no spring flex as in a leaf spring setup through torque twist