Metco saftey loop

[Buzzsaw]

Installed my drive line safety loop today. I only have an 1/8” clearance with the drive shaft. Obviously I need a couple of spacers just wondering how much space is needed. I don’t think the short drive line moves much but would like to know what spacing other member have. Any help would be appreciated.
Ross.

[CDXXVII]

I think I only added about 1/4" to mine. No issues with clearance. You can see the spacers in the photo below.

[JohnK]

I used grade 8 washers as spacers. I also had to go with longer bolts.

[boat737]

If I remember correctly, I think I went 3/8 inch. Could be 1/2 inch. I would have gone a tad more, but the forward edge of the hoop was rubbing on the brake cables. I beveled that outside edge of the hoop to get rid of the sharp edge. They still touch but not enough to wear on the cables.

There is a small, slight scratch on the drive shaft, so it looks like it may have just barely touched the the inside of the hoop. I'm pretty sure that happened before I added the spacer. It doesn't look to be a problem, since it looks only to be a one time occurrence, and the hoop has a bit of flex, so I don't see it being a problem.

[rvanstory]

I had the same issue. I just used my floor jack, put it under the loop and jacked it up to "bend it" into having proper clearance. Worked like a charm.

[Buzzsaw]

CDXXVII, JohnK, boat737

Guy thank you so much, you guys crawled under your cars for pictures! Forum people and their support is amazing!

I am also going to have to cut 1/2” off the foreword side of the mounting bracket. The back side of the loop is rubbing my differential side knuckle. I am going to add 1” spacers giving me 1-1/8 inch clearance from to of drive line to bottom of the driveline loop.

[Blitzboy54]

Looks like I didn't need any. I suppose there must be a significant height difference between the 302, 351 and Coyote.

[dbo_texas]

Originally I had washers for spacers, but didn't feel comfortable with that solution as I was worried they could move around over time due to vibration. I recently added (2x) 1/4" spacer plates to my Metco safety loop for a total of 0.5". This gives me plenty of clearance around the driveshaft. I have Gen2 Coyote + T56 so I had to make some other modifications to the safety loop for it to center over the driveshaft - basically had to shorten it and extend a few of the slots so I could slide it more towards the transmission. Details in my build thread HERE

[JohnK]

Looks like I didn't need any. I suppose there must be a significant height difference between the 302, 351 and Coyote.

In part, it depends on how many shims you have to add to the trans support to get the correct driveline angle. I had to shim it quite a bit to get the driveline angles I wanted, which raised the output shaft of the TKO600 quite a bit.

[Buzzsaw]

Originally I had washers for spacers, but didn't feel comfortable with that solution as I was worried they could move around over time due to vibration. I recently added (2x) 1/4" spacer plates to my Metco safety loop for a total of 0.5". This gives me plenty of clearance around the driveshaft. I have Gen2 Coyote + T56 so I had to make some other modifications to the safety loop for it to center over the driveshaft - basically had to shorten it and extend a few of the slots so I could slide it more towards the transmission. Details in my build thread HERE

Thanks dbo_texas, I am going to have to modify the mounting bracket too. Looks like one size does not fit all!

[dbo_texas]

Yeah with the super short driveshaft on the Coyote+T56 it put the loop to far towards the rear so part of it was almost overlapping the U-joint vs. the actual cylindrical shaft portion. Modifying it was pretty easy as described in my build thread (Post #172).

For your spacers, you could use washers, or just get some 1" x 1/4" aluminum bar from big box store and cut to length, then drill some holes. I cut mine with a laser cutter because I have access to one, but it is super simple to make one with basic tools.

[BrewCityCobra]

Originally I had washers for spacers, but didn't feel comfortable with that solution as I was worried they could move around over time due to vibration. I recently added (2x) 1/4" spacer plates to my Metco safety loop for a total of 0.5". This gives me plenty of clearance around the driveshaft. I have Gen2 Coyote + T56 so I had to make some other modifications to the safety loop for it to center over the driveshaft - basically had to shorten it and extend a few of the slots so I could slide it more towards the transmission. Details in my build thread HERE

I had this same issue with the TKX sub-frame since the "plate" at the rear is smaller in dimension that FFR's traditional sub-frame for the TKO. Glad to see I'm not the only one that had to trim/modify the drive shaft loop to fit.

[Buzzsaw]

Just to give the final report to the thread I started,
I made 4 sets of 2” long spacers out of 1” wide 1/4” thick steel.(8 spacers total) and cut off 1/2” from the front side or engine side of the bracket. That put my safety loop right in the middle of the drive shaft with 1-1/4” clearence from top of shaft to bottom of the loop. Thanks to everyone who took the time to take pictures and answer my post. Forum members are the best!

[rich grsc]

So why did you do that? The drive shaft doesn't move up or down, you have IRS.