What is proper left to right alignment of a driveline? If you can reference articles on this please post. There's lots on pinion angle setup, but minimal left to right alignment info. I'm putting a 460 in my 61' F100, and if I put the output shaft directly inline with the rear yolk (left to right, not up and down), my engine is 2.5" off center.
The driveshaft is fine if you center the drive line.The u joint will allow up to about 2-1/2 inch offset to one side.Guys like to put Ford 8.8 rearends in 55 Chevys without centering the pinion.The offset at 2.5 is near max for the u joint,but it is still in the working range.If you offset your engine/trans one inch you would be well inside the working range of the driveshaft/ujoint to take up the difference.
When the transmission is not inline with the axle pinion viewed from both the top and side, a compound U-joint angle results. Best to open the link below and learn more about this and how to calculate the angle, from the people that design and build U-joints. https://www.waterousco.com/media/pdfs/J3311-1-DSSP.pdf
Just as with the up and down angles as long as the tailshaft and pinion are on the same plane you shouldn't have an issue as long as you didn't go crazy with the offset. The biggest issue with the offset of the pinion from the tail shaft is that some guys are so anal about having the driveshaft centered perfectly straight front to back that they can't deal with the slight offset. Every Ford built with a nine inch no matter what the model had that offset when it left the factory outside of maybe the few that had the engine offset to the right for clearance on tight fits.
Keep the engine/transmission centerline perpendicular to the rear axle centerline, you'll be fine. Offset is ok.
Most all Ford trucks in the 60's and 70's had the engines offset to the right 2" from the factory. Done both for steering box/differential(4x4) clearance and to align the driveshaft.
If you saw a C3 Corvette , the Engine and trans were offset from the factory, but not at an angle. With driveshafts , the 2 universal joint angles need to cancel out each other, this is important on any of the 3 dimensional planes [if the engine and trans are 2.5 deg down, then the pinion needs to be 2.5 deg up] From a top view, the pinion is always perpendicular to the axles, so the engine and trans must also be perpendicular. On formula cars with independent suspension 1/2 shafts [with universals] the A-Arm shape of the suspension can be altered to adjust the wheelbase. As long as the wheels point forward the universal angles will cancel each other out.
Irrelevant, provided pinion centreline is parallel to engine / transmission centreline, provided that engine / transmission centreline is parallel to centreline of frame. Many manufacturers have off set pinions and not every car / light truck has a centred pinion. Your rear axle needs to be square in frame, measure with a trammel bar if unsure and frame is square, check diagonals. Also ensure pinion angle is correct and corresponds with engine / trans angle. I won't go into detail as it's been flogged to death like a dead horse here on the forum. Definitely NOT 'A' but 'B'. Many vehicles were produced with offset engines; earlier Corvettes, Mustangs, 4WD, even GM & Ford vans to allow a larger footwell area.
You Tube the “ View of a IMCA modified rear end” and you will never worry again. They work fine over an 11 degree swing with ease.
There are times having the motor & trans not centered in the chassis is helpful. It allows extra clearance between things like a steering column to exhaust, exhaust (and header) to the frame clearance, and sometimes clearance around a starter. As long as the offset is done properly, all is good. I'm not sure if I've ever built a car or a truck with the motor centered in the body and frame. Gene
As long as the working angles cancel each other on both ends, the driveshaft doesn't care if it's sideways or up and down.
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