My esteemed colleagues,
Perhaps in parallel (I sincerely hope) to what Ford is doing to resolve the problem, I wanted to let everyone know that I am consulting with what is one of the top EXPERTS in the world when it comes to half-shaft and hub designs. This individual is founder and owner of a company that has been number one in their industry of supplying space-age, bleeding edge, half-shafts and hubs to Formula 1, CART, Champ and various other racing organizations. Both their engineering and manufacturing capability is truly state-of-the-art and perhaps literally without peers. The owner has been in the hub & half-shaft business for more than 40 years. He has seen it all.... and he is relied upon by many current Formula 1 teams to continue to push the envelope. I honestly believe that if Ford and/or Ricardo developed a list of 3 people in the world to consult with on the problem and fix, he'd be on the list. No doubt. Ironically, he is also an owner of a Blue/White '05 GT and until I met with him, he had never heard of the problem. (Unfortunately he’s not a member of this great forum.)
Anyway, we met for over 3 hours last week with many pictures, descriptions, and experiences that I had captured from these forums. He has been a friend of mine for several years but only recently did the increasingly dimmer light bulb in my head click on to make the connection.
He is not an arrogant man, nor is he a man to condemn other designs or presume to be "all knowing". However, he believes he "sees" and understands the problem and why it is occurring. He asked me to look and gather some additional measurements from my car after I returned home - and all seemed to be fully supportive of what his failure assumptions were.
Frankly, this is the easy part and I have no doubt that Ford/Ricardo is already "there" too in understanding why the problem is occurring. A more difficult problem is determining a resolution that can be retrofitted to cars in service without requiring removal of the transaxle. Even more complicated than this is having a fix that will work with all cars when there is likely car to car tolerance variations. So, for example, he is relatively confident to be able to develop a solution based on the tolerances for my car... but we may likely need to have some other cars to guinea pig to know if a solution has broad applicability.
With the constraints of not requiring transaxle removal/dis-assembly and with finding a broadly applicable solution (in contrast to a single car fix), the resolution is not going to be easy. The good news is that he is on-board to help. Other good news is that he often consults with a semi-retired individual who is a household name in Formula 1 engineering circles. A legend. He is roping him in too to have a look.
Both individuals are “contributing” out of the kindness of their hearts and because they are enthusiasts like ourselves.
Any progress we may make on the topic is on hold for one week as my contact is out of the Country on a hunting expedition. I hope to have more to report within a couple of weeks and I will keep everyone abreast of our progress. Once again, I sincerely hope that this effort – with literally the top experts in the world is in parallel with what Ford/Ricardo may already be doing.
I have hesitated to post or say anything because I am reluctant to set expectations. Anything is possible including the fall-out of these participants…. for any number of reasons – their schedule, legal issues, etc.
I wanted to provide this update, however, to say that the pursuit of ARP bolts as a singular resolution is on hold. I have no doubt that superior fasteners will be needed in an eventual overall solution, but I no longer want to distribute bolts as a viable singular fix.
I will keep the group updated on our progress and in the interim perhaps Ford, Jay, or John (Accufab) may have a resolution or alternative available. The good thing is that there are a lot of people working on this – and I have the utmost confidence and respect for the experts I have contacted.
More – as soon as I have it.
(I made this duplicate post in the "merged thread". May I ask that any continuation of this on-going discussion be held over there? Thanks.)