131 Gubio

[USA131]

All,
Has anyone seen a method to replace the Gubio with a conventional  sort of U-joint arrangement?
USA131

[djape1977]

what is Gubio?

[USA131]

Rubber drive shaft coupling, AKA RotoFlex,Gubio etc..
USA131

[djape1977]

hardy's joint...
well, not that i know of. and there must be a reason for that. i suspect that lack of rubber in power transfer system would result in increased wear on some other part. u joints and clutch plate springs in the first place.
why would you want to eliminate gubio? if it's made of decent quality of rubber it usually lasts 50.000kms. low quality gubio can last 2 days and be constant source of trouble. on my twincam lada with short diff ratio and wide tyres i destroyed 4or 5 untill i found one that is ok. no cracks even after  40.000km of very hard driving with plenty tyre sqeeling.
by the way gubio from fiat 131 is interchangable with one from ladas, even niva(4x4), fiat124, 125, 132, argenta. if hard to obtain in US, try lada fans from canada. Niva seems to be quite popular there and parts are available.

[USA131]

I have no problem with the joint or its quality. The issue is that for the car that I am installing the engine and transmission in has a rather narrow transmission tunnel and there is insufficient clearance for the joint. If you are familiar with the Anglia it has this hour glass shaped transmission tunnel .
I'd rather avoid cuttting the tunnel up.
USA131

[djape1977]

i've had the same problem when i installed fiat 131/132 twincam and gearbox into lada. engine position was same as original but 131 gearbox is 10cm longer than original, placing the gubio 10cm(aprox 4in) further back, into the narrow part of the transmission tunnel normaly occupied by driveshaft.
i have shaved off about 10mm from diameter of guibo using angle grinder and used big hammer from underneath to increase clearance further 10mm. now it al fits as it should but clearance is couple milimeters on both sides meaning that engine and gearbox mounts must be perfect because any sideways motion of the engine/gearbox combo causes guibo to rattle against transmission tunnel.
hope this helps you.
one more thing! if necessary, be sure to leave holes for top two bolts connecting gearbox to the engine and bolts for starter motor. i had bolted gearbox to the engine before instalation into car itself and later, when starter croaked, i had no way to remove it unless i removed engine together with gearbox from the car. only alternative was to drill hole big enough for socket wrench from the inside. later i plugged them with plastic plugs and now i can remove them and acces the bolts.

[alan.acs]

Get a one piece prop shaft made i have done this on rally cars with no problems.