Value of Orig '67-69 F-body Driveshaft w/Orig U-Joints
 

Hi folks,

I bought a really mint '67 Firebird 400 4-speed driveshaft last year that came out of a 42k-mile California car. It was part of a package deal so I didn't pay much attention to it, but I looked at it tonight and it appears to have the original faint stripes and original universal joints with plastic injection. I think it would be basically perfect if you dunked it in Evaporust. As far as I can tell this is the same driveshaft for '67-69 Z/28s (same length, same yoke). I had planned to use it on my L78 Camaro, but earlier today I was offered what seemed to me to be a totally insane price when I mentioned it to a friend. So, I'm contemplating trading it to him for a couple other parts I need. Any idea what it's worth so we can strike a fair deal?

Thanks,
Tony

Pretty sure 67-8 Camaro are the same, Tony. 69 different.
http://www.camaros.org/driveshaft.shtml

1969 Camaro, if I remember correctly a Muncie driveshaft is 50 15/16" long with a tape measure hooked at the end of trunnion and measured to opposite end. A P/G or Turbo-350 is 51 1/4" measured end to end I believe.



- Warren

The U joints with the plastic injection are the 3R or 1330. Most Camaros didn't use that U joint. My original 396 4 speed drive shaft uses 1310 U joints.

Thanks, guys - I will confirm the joint size tonight.

http://www.camaros.org/driveshaft.shtml#usage

Driveshafts for 1967 and 1968
In 1967 and 1968, Camaros with the 6-cylinder engine or the small block engine used a driveshaft with a length of 49.96" and the smaller 27-spline yoke output shaft with a seal diameter of 1.502 inches. 67-68 Camaros with the 396 engine received different engine mounting brackets. Due to these frame mounts, big block engines are offset approximately 1 inch toward the passenger side of the engine and 0.5 inches forward. Because of this, big block cars with manual transmissions have a driveshaft that is 0.5 inch longer (50.46 inches).
Most transmissions have an overall length of approximately 27.75 inches. (For manual transmissions, this includes 6.375 inches for the bellhousing and 21.25 for the transmission itself.) The TH400 is about 0.5 inch longer, or 28.25 inches. Because of this, the driveshaft length for the big block and TH400 combination is the same length as the L6 and SBC engines. But the TH400 uses a larger 32 spline output shaft and requires the larger yoke with a 1.875 inch outside diameter.



Driveshafts for 1969
All 1969 Camaro driveshafts are 49.56 inches in length. In 1969, big block engines were still offset toward the passenger side, but the "front to back" engine mounting location was now only 1/4 inch forward compared to the the L6 and SBC engines.
The yoke design for all applications was strengthened in 1969 by adding metal to the internally splined neck. The yoke was also lengthened, which allowed it to be used with not only all the L6 and small block applications, but also the big block manual transmission application.

The TH400 yoke design was also strengthened, but it still had the larger trunions and u-joints. Hence a unique driveshaft was still required for the TH400 applications. The document below indicates that the TH400 yoke was also going to be used on 396 and 427 with manual transmission applications, but this was not implemented until 1970 on the M22 and 1971 on other Muncie models.

There was also a third driveshaft used in 69 for all TH350 applications. The length and the yoke are the same as the 3950194 driveshaft. It is unknown why this driveshaft was required.

The 67-69 Firebird driveshaft used with 4 speed, PG and TH350 is supposed to be 49.96 inches measured center of u joint to center of u joint. Should have one blue stripe for those applications.

Sounds like what you have might be a Firebird TH400 shaft. Should be 49.30 if that’s what it is. That would have 1 red and one pink stripe.

Oh and if it has 1330 u joints, that’s for TH400 cars, at least if you are talking 67-69 Camaros. Can’t say for sure if that also applies to Firebirds.

Did the original poster just fade away?

----Nope! He will return...…Bill S