you could always try the 99 cent pens.

most pens are sold with two different sized ink barrels. the thin ones usually contain the regular ink. the thicker ones usually carry a gel ink.

Try other like Papermate or store brand....

I tried it, the white-and-black BIC pen ink-holders are slightly too big, and don't work. I tried it.
P.S. the ink color is BLACK!

RRRAAARGH! :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:
I tried the ink-tube mod. IT DOESN'T WORK!!! The ****ing thing is too wide! This mod does NOT work.

:lol: :lol: BLUE, that is funny dude !!!!!!!!!

I think I might try a red or black pen.
What ever I have laying around I guess.

Blue.

No really any inkpen that is not full of ink should work well.

any ballpoint pen, really.

8O What kind of pen works best.

Worked great for me. I cleaned it out using rubbing alcohol. now I have a (semi) clear tube to work with.

with the stock steel shaft, the gears in the AWD unit kept slipping. not a problem with the ink pen shaft now.

I put the ink pen drive shaft in my '04 cobra a couple of months ago and haven't had a problem. I haven't really tested the acceleration difference yet because i mostly use that one for doughnuts and holeshots. but i'll put it up against a stock short chassis xmod soon to compare.

just did this to my supra and actually works nicely, used the free pens you get with girly mags. my g/fs top of the pops pen worked great and its quiet as a gnats fart.
thanks for the tip :D

I tried this mod out today, i was very pleased with the results. I've noticed a difference in acceleration, and one thing i was very pleased with is that my car is waaaay quieter with the ink pen driveshaft oppose to the stock one.

Oh yeah, i put it in my AWD nissan 350z with stage 2 drift motor and metal bearings and it works great. Im going to try making a drive shaft out of bamboo ka-bob skewers, it seems like its just as light if not lighter and is probably stronger.

EDIT: I just made a drive shaft out of the bamboo skewers and it works great, nice and light and it's definitely stronger than the ink pen. I would recommend making them out of skewers not only because they are just as light and stronger but because there is so much less mess.

I tried that mod before, it worked fine, takes off alot of weight. Only problem was, I had a hard time making the perfect "D" Cut. But other then that, the Ink Pen driveshaft is a good cheap Mod. :)

If ur using RWD then the pen driveshaft is better than the cf driveshaft. As for AWD im not sure how much the cf driveshaft weighs, and im not sure the pen driveshaft will do good cause it might twist or bend with all the power, unless u coat it or fill it with somthin like superglue.

~AsaSpades~

yea, i just was visiting my local hobby shop and htey had carbon fibre rods in stock. how surprised was i, so i brought the stock axel in and sized it up, i got about 4 feet of carbon fibre for $10(canadian, im from canada lol) and now im making cf shafts for my buds for about $8 each, lol im making money on this, hopefully enough to pay for more materials to make more parts. lol...yea the shafts i just saw then file down to size. They fit perfectly, but yea, i would like to know how well a pen shaft works(lol) and is it lighter than cf?

if you got it to work then good job dude

i did this to my civic AWD, seems no problem, it accellerates a little bit better and reacts quicker I guess... I don't do it for the camaro, this car is nearly undrivable indoors with the heavy driveshaft, I don't want to know how aggressive this is with this mod :D

OK guys well i tested it out, and it works perfectly, and much lighter. Shows no signs of sliding out, or anything else.

~SupraKid~

OOO Ok. Well im gonna test mine in about a half an hour, i got my parts 2day :D.

~SupraKid~

My inkpen driveshaft was used so that I can still have 4WD. I made it so that I could use amini-Z body with a smaller wheelbase and keep AWD. So all the flexing etc that I was talking about was refering to that mod.

Here are the 2 pics.

~SupraKid~

Well thats not good, then im jus gonna have to wait til about Wednesday to try it and tell evry1 how it is.

~SupraKid~

Maxx, i understand what your saying but theres no way it can flex because its only about an inch long. And it fits pretty tight into the bevel gear, theres no way its gonna come out without some force, the motor doesnt put enough force on it to make it come out. Kai hasnt set up my gallery yet, and until he does i cant get the pix up.

~SupraKid~

Don't do this mod.
I've done it already (2004) and it's not all that it's cracked up to be. What happens is that the drivshaft flexes under load. It sounds great when held in the air. Tops out SO FAST, but when you put it down there is a noticable change in the notes from the driveline. You can actually hear it in there looping like a skipping rope. Also the D-cuts that you make, cuz they're hollow, slip alot another no no.

I'd go with a wodden or CF driveshaft, these are more rigid and also very light. The wood would be your cheaper option I guess. You can also try filling the ink pen tube with putty, that would also make it more rigid, dab some superglue onboth ends to make the putty inside the shaft really hard, THEN cut the notches for the driveshaft. DON"T GLUE THE SHAFT TO THE GEAR :) .

That's most from me
Maxx

i made a pretty light drive shaft out of one of those little rack things that modelarts come off of...........you know when you buy a plastic scale model and all the parts are on this little holder thing.......yah well anyways it works pretty good

yah fi it is snug in the bevel how can it slip and the bearings help it spin without binding and with less friction

remember with bearings the drive shaft should fit snuggly in the bearing, the drive shaft does not slip in the bearing mount (the round hole) It slips on the bearins in the races. Thats how bearings are suppose to work.

No it wont slip cuz it fits snug in the bevel gear. There isnt much friction, the bearing helps with that, its just about the same as if it were the stock driveshaft. Besides u can always shave it down a bit for less friction on the part th@ the bearing touches, but not too much.

~SupraKid~

if u made it short won't it slip to the front and if it is snug win't there be friction?

The only downside to the ink shaft is that it wouldnt work for AWD, otherwise it would deff break. But the way i made it its only about an inch long, just long enough to keep the bevel gear in place, and it fits snug so it wont slip out, and will spin.

~SupraKid~

sounds like it would work, but wouldn't the ink shaft just flex when you accelerate?I dont think ink shafts can take the torque from an xmod...after all, it was made to hold ink, which doesn't really produce strain lol.

yea, i really think itll work, i jus gotta wait 2 get my gallery setup so i can post the pics.

~SupraKid~

yeah this will be interesting and a lot of wait loss!

yea, i tried doing that a long time ago. it looked like it fit perfectly but my only problem was that i cud never find an empty ink pen, i looked all over the house but they all had ink in them. i got tired of having to clean ink all over my car so i gave up. :(

That would be very interesting, and lot lighter, let us know!