Just broke an left side inner CV joint. I heard they are difficult to find, anybody have one? What are the best shops / places to look? Thanks in advance, Neil
I saw some posted on Ebay..... left one http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LAMBORGHINI-COUNTACH-L-S-AXLE-HALF-SHAFT-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem4aa15e239eQQitemZ320534881182QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories right one http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LAMBORGHINI-COUNTACH-R-S-AXLE-HALF-SHAFT-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem4aa15ec956QQitemZ320534923606QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories Brian
We won't know for sure until we get it up on the lift but right now it looks like it may be just the cv joint.
You can get your cv joint rebuilt, probably locally. Check with some local auto shops, they can tell you who does it, or get out the Yellow pages. Our local one did a Ferrari axle for under $100.
The CV joint must have come from a parts bin for some other car. I know the ones on my 308 are a stock Porsche part. Check for a part number
108mm by 40mm is what 308/328 uses... You can find these also from Porsche 930, if I remember correct Countach has same ones. I bougth two from Superformance http://www.superformance.co.uk/a-308/driveshaft.htm
If that's the case you need to figure out which style. They have them with or without the endcap on them. The ones without the endcap use the flange on the transaxle or rear hub to seal the CV joint so you need one that can accept a gasket. My Espada has no end caps. I ended up just sealing them with silicone. A real PITA though. The other style just bolts directly to the flange and is already sealed. The example from that Ebay listing shows that it has a pair of roll pins in it which take the place of a bolt. You can probably use you old pins if you're careful. I utilized 930 CV joints on my Bora but they came WO the end caps and used the old ones. These guys have all of these cv joints at good prices. http://www.autohausaz.com/search/product.aspx?sid=3pbf0r45zkognl55s1o2qkj0&makeid=800019@Porsche&modelid=1262562@911%20CARRERA%20TURBO&year=1977&cid=17@Drivetrain%20Parts&gid=2292@CV%20Joint I found that early BMW 5,6 and 7 series boots from Lobro usually match up just fine. Try a BMW dealer on that. I just took a look on Eurospares and it seems like you have the ones like on my Espada WO the end caps and with the gaskets. I don't know that Autohausz has them in that exact configuration but some Porsches came that way too. You could do like I did and just use the ones WO the gasket, sealing them with silicone RTV. Looking at the complete halfshaft prices on that car HOLY CR*P they're expensive! Bob S.
Thanks to all for the replies, very, very helpful. It turns out that the half shaft was also damaged a bit so I bought the one Brian (NSXR) found on Ebay. As an aside, the seller on Ebay is FC Kerbeck, a lambo dealer near Philadelphia and they are clearing out their parts warehouse of old stuff. Lots of misc parts, many for Countach. Neil
I'm curious how the axle shaft was damaged. It's a pretty stout steel bar. Not something I'd expect to break or wear out.
Yeah, it seems that the cv joint "went" and then the shaft bounced around and the end of the shaft was damaged just a bit. Sort of peened over just a bit at the end. Not like the shaft snapped. Luckily the cv held together enough that the dif casting was not damaged, the cv is very beefy. The shaft could be fixed with some file work, but that still left the cv damage. The cv is close but not the same as some others we are aware of so when NSXER spotted the NOS part on ebay I grabbed it. NOS, generally unobtainable for the last 18 months and discounted, it seemed the best fix and a lucky opportunity. The CT was back on the road in just a couple of days. I'm keeping the old part in case my son needs a failure analysis project for school, or maybe we'll just want to take a real close look. my mechanic says it's always the left side that fails.
Call Steve at Forza Motorsports here in Toronto at 416-239-9913. Over the past 15 years he had one in his shop waiting for the owner to cough up the money to restore it, the car was eventually restored and sold a few years ago but I think he's got a ton of parts from it but if not he'll know where to get what you need. Good Luck! James Simpson
