FAO - Jon, gonna be putting the slide engine end as yours is - have you mounted the centre bearing rock solid or with nylon washers (or something else) for a bit of movement. If its solid then presumably yours is fine so far with the axle movement at the back and no rear slide....

Solid........ the center bearing as loads a movement.........

I'm intriuged by the reasoning behind putting the slider at the engine end and not the diff end? There's no need for the prop to need to move between the engine and centre bearing, but it does need to move between the centre bearing and diff, so why have it solid at the diff end and sliding at the engine end? Also, if the centre bolt on the gearbox output shaft comes undone/breaks (as has happened to a few on the BEC list), with the slider at the front, the flange can freely slide off the output shaft, giving you a serious prop flailing scenario, and and engine end failure is worse as it doesnt stop flailing until the car stops, and has also evidently been known to dig the prop in the road with a nasty outcome!
If its solid at the front, then the worse it will do is rattle a bit, but will stay on the output shaft, as there's no slider to allow the flange to move away from the engine.

cheers
Chris

It just happens that the slider I have only fits the front connection, not the rear, and I didn't want to have to get another as this one was a freeby.

I hear what you're saying about the failure problems tho, gonna chat to the man cutting my prop and see how much more it will be to put one at the back.

I've also strenghened all the tunnels with extra tubing for more protection.

Hi Jasper, good idea with the tunnel strengthening, glad you took heed of my experiences!!
I still feel that a sliding rear half is desirable for the movement issue alone. I know Jon's doesn't seem to have a problem without it, but I would think that the centre bearing on his may wear out quicker than it otherwise would because its going to be constantly under stress as the rear axle moves around.

Chris

hi guys
would i be right in thinking that if you had IRS movement would cease as the axle is rigid?
Although i hear what you are saying about prop failure

Sting

Yup, the rear slider as we are talking about here is only relevent to the live axle, unless you're engineering in some serious body flex
I suppose with IRS, the only reason for a slider is because its impossible to exactly measure the engine to diff length, so you need the adjustability there for fitting purposes.
If you can make your centre mounts adjustable slightly (slotted mounting bracket etc) then I suppose you can choose which end you want the slider

Chris