Hi everybody Brian from Steeda, spotlighting the QA1
REV Series, Carbon Fiber Drive Shaft for the S550 Mustang model years 2018 and later.
Let's start with the construction QA1 really leaned on their engineers to come up with a
lightweight drive shaft that was also strong and create a process that was repeatable so there's
consistency within the product and of course we mentioned strength that's also important
when you're talking about a race part that's going to be tested time and time and time again
like a one-piece drive shaft. So they started out with developing their own Matrix Resin.
The resin is what actually holds all the Carbon Fibers together. In fact they also spec out the
specific Carbon Fiber that they're going to use by width and thickness, depending on the application it's going on to.
Trucks take something different than a Mustang versus something else that they
may offer these drive shafts for. So the actual carbon tubing is specific to the application.
It's also really important to note that these strands, these Carbon Fibers if you will, are wound
together and QA1 really put a nice video together of their manufacturing process. Something that's
important to a piece like this that is literally stranded together is making sure that there's
consistency. We talked about that just a moment ago and that consistency is checked with each length
of tubing that's done at QA1. Now what's neat is they actually will cut a section of the tubing off
and inspect it for thickness and make sure there's no voids within it, it's a spot check on each one.
Now that you have this beautiful, lightweight Carbon Fiber mid section, it's time to bond it to the ends.
This is classified information, I'm not telling you that because I know the answer. I don't
because QA1 won't tell us. We tried, we've watched their videos. The reality is it's a trade secret
in how they made sure that the U-Joints at each end stay bonded to the Carbon Fiber and they do
in fact this drive shaft is rated to 1,000 pound feet of torque or 1,500 horsepower. So it's amazing
for something that's less than half the weight of the factory drive shaft to be able to handle
a thousand pound feet of torque or 1,500 horsepower. Once the ends are bonded the drive shaft is moved
over to their Torsion Tester where they test each drive shaft, once again ensuring that the bonding
process was appropriate ensuring that the Carbon Fiber is going to hold up and really again going
through the quality control process before this gets sent to you. At one end you have a 1350 Spicer
U-Joint and this is designed for high strength and serviceability and beautiful billet ends. At
the other end, QA1 utilizes a high speed CV Joint that also utilizes high speed boot and of course
high temperature grease. In addition to the CV Joint being able to absorb some of the natural
drivetrain vibration Carbon Fiber as a material also has some dampening characteristics to it.
So the whole point of all the balance and strength well there really is no downside
to it but we are going to touch on this a little bit more here in a second. Now that we've talked
about how it's all made what does it ultimately mean to you as an enthusiast, as a driver, as a racer.
Well Carbon Fiber Driveshaft is a phenomenal way to reduce rotating mass and this is important
whether we're talking about wheels and brakes. Anytime you can reduce rotating mass the usable
horsepower and torque that the car has as it sits right now is going to pick up you're going to gain
responsiveness because there's less energy being absorbed by the two-piece drive shaft when you put
a lightweight Carbon Fiber piece like this in its place. This also means because it's stiffer than
a two-piece design, you're going to have better power transfer. You have much better feedback
as far as the engine to the transmission to the differential, everything feels much more connected and less vague.
Let's talk about some of the realities of installing something like this though.
While researching a one-piece drive shaft we're certain that you've stumbled across the term
Noise, Vibrationists, Harshness which is N.V.H. and that every one-piece drive shaft causes that
and let's debunk a major myth with that statement. The reality is that the carbon nature
of the Carbon Fiber Driveshaft inherently will absorb some vibration and of course the CV also
helps with that as we mentioned a moment ago. So where does this vibration come from?
Well like any manufacturer, there are tolerances within the design of a vehicle, in particular in your ring and
pinion and gear set in the rear differential. As well as in the transmission. So you have an engine
turning transmission, a transmission turning a drive shaft and a drive shaft turning your differential.
So inherently if there's tolerances within the transmission and there's tolerances
within the differential and if things are within tolerance but maybe not to the same tolerance
as the drive shaft, those things may vibrate. Ford utilizes a two-piece drive shaft from the factory
to help absorb some of the natural vibrations from the differential as well as the transmission and
isolate them to that bearing up top. So when you go to a one piece drive shaft it's not the drive
shaft itself that's creating a vibration, it's actually vibration that might be coming naturally
from the differential or the transmission or both and the harmonics as those are meeting each other.
Some of the other additional benefits are the sheer strength of this thing.
As noted a thousand pound feet of torque or 1,500 horsepower to the tires, this means that this
thing will absorb almost anything that you can throw at it and put it back through the wheels.
That said we definitely recommend if you haven't already done your half shafts, look into a set of
either G-Force or Ford Performance Half Shafts at the back of the car because the thing about racing is,
you replace one thing with a high-end component you will find the very next weakness and it always
goes in conjunction. If it's not your half shafts it's the drive shaft, it's not the drive shaft it's
the clutch. you guys get the idea of where we're going here. It's always a system and work with
key components that work well together. This QA1 piece is not only stunning, not only lightweight,
it is also strong. If you're at the race track and something happens as far as the drive shaft
is concerned, one of the other benefits to Carbon Fiber is that it splits. This means that unlike an
Aluminum Driveshaft should something catastrophic happen during a race and we know you're going to
be out there competing and enjoying the car and putting it through its paces as you should,
this will split. That means that you won't have any shrapnel if you will moving around or rotating
around under the car, it simply breaks. If it breaks QA1 wants it back. They want to know exactly what
happened to it and if you run into this either comment below or just as importantly reach out
to us especially purchased it through us or QA1 directly, their engineers really do want to utilize
your feedback to learn and continue making this a better and better part and you see this
and this is why so many people including ourselves are competing with a QA1 Drive Shaft. In fact you'll
see the 10R80 version of this driveshaft on our Edelbrock Supercharged Silver Bullet, which you
will see at the drag strip almost every weekend, also for those competing or considering competing
QA1 offer an SFI Certified version. The QA1 REV Series Carbon Fiber Drive Shaft is well
known in the Mustang community, particularly for how lightweight it is as well as its strength.
We do recommend that this only be utilized for cars that are seeing a lot of track use
and are more or less weekend warriors. So whether you're going to the drag strip, an autocross event
or track days road racing the car, this is a great piece for you and a great way to save some
rotating mass and add that additional strength. To learn more about this drive shaft or to order yours visit Steeda.com.
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Steeda, Speed Matters!