MGB Driveshaft seems too close...

[DiDueColpi]

Hey Kieth,

the attitude of the car doesn't make any difference to the driveshaft alignment.
What is critical is the relationship of the trans output to the diffy pinion.
Ideally both angles should match. Meaning that if you draw a line straight through the trans and another straight through the pinion.
Those lines would be perfectly parallel in both planes. Reality often precludes that ideal alignment though so a degree or so difference won't cause any big issues.
Another important angle is the drive shaft angle. Measured from the trans to the pinion you don't want a perfectly straight line. The U joints need some angle to them. Otherwise they will wear quickly and cause all sorts of harmonics.
A vertical slope when the diffy is at ride height is most common, but a horizontal offset is acceptable as well.

Hope thats helpful.
Cheers
Fred

[Brownwood]

Yes that helps.  I was going for a perfectly straight driveshaft but I see the idea is to have the angles match, trans down diff up at the same angle but have them on a slightly different plane so the driveshaft isn't perfectly straight between the two.

[pspeaks]

Keith, a perfectly straight drive shaft means the needle bearings won't rotate in the cups and you're probably looking at early u-joint failure.

Paul