CV's are go.

The CV conversion is nearing completion after I picked-up the adaptor plates from Davesideways last Sunday. This drive shaft set-up should solve the weak points of the original set-up. As I brought the car, it had the rotoflex drive shaft fitted, as were all MkII and MkIII GT6's until 1973.

The idea behind these rotoflex couplings was to eliminate the tuck-under problem that occurred on the rear wheel on hard cornering, by giving more flexibility of the drive shaft, so the wheel would stay on the road. The problem with these rotoflex couplings is the amount of backlash that occurs when taking power on or off the rear wheels; this can be an issue when cornering.
Another problem with these couplings is the quality of the modern alternatives, I fitted a set on my car soon after getting it, a month after fitting they had already started to crack :(
The inner CV joints are from a Volvo 340 and took quite a bit of finding. You can buy them new for about £45 each or, as I did, get a pair from a car breakers, I found mine by searching on eBay for people breaking or selling parts from Volvos and then asking them whether they had the CV joints. In the end I brought a drive shaft complete with a pair of CV joints from North West Volvo Parts (01942 322880) The new drive shafts are from a Rover Metro/100, where you use two near-side shafts (the shorter ones) to go from the inner Volvo CV joints, these came from Atlas Salvage (01744 612712)


The whole assembly was a lot easier to fit together than the old rotoflex system, as you do not have those rubber donuts to deform to make it fit. If it was not for the fact that I had not fitted the drive shaft fully home into the outer CV joint, I should have been able to fit both sides on the car in one evening. Just got to remember to check the clearance between the inner CV boot and the chassis, can not be sure of it until the car has settled on its springs, I may need to fit a smaller CV boot.