I just now finished scaling and adjusting a stock front clip, backhalved, 9 second stickshift car. 4 link. Dana 60. 3500# full of fuel.

The trans is tail down 1.25 degress with a spacer under the mount to lift it up some. The drivesahft runs up towards the pinion 1.5 degrees. The pinion is 2.7 degrees down for a pinion angle of 1.2 negative. Kind of looks like the bottom drawing. That's how I sent it to the race track, again.

To make the centerlines parallel on this car would require a 3 degree positive pinion angle. And the front u-joint operating angle would likely exceed 4 degrees because rotating the rear around that far would raise the rear of the driveshaft up increasing the difference between the trans and the d-shaft. Everyone has an opinion of what is correct, and that's OK. This is how I did it.