Mustang Cobra IRS on an F-body?

[T-Punk]

I posted a long time ago about trying to use a corvette irs on my car but i decided against it. I'm starting to think about putting an IRS on my car again since i need something else to start after the turbos are on. I was looking at the Cobra IRS and it looks like it would be easier to use on our cars than the corvett and i dont think there is much of a performance difference. What do you guys think? Would it be worth it and are there any sites you know of where people retrofit IRS onto F-Body's. thanks.

[Tru2Chevy]

Ugh....why bother? So you can sit at the line and snap halfshafts all day like the Cobra guys?

- Justin

[Snuffalofogus]

Originally posted by T-Punk:
I posted a long time ago about trying to use a corvette irs on my car but i decided against it. I'm starting to think about putting an IRS on my car again since i need something else to start after the turbos are on. I was looking at the Cobra IRS and it looks like it would be easier to use on our cars than the corvett and i dont think there is much of a performance difference. What do you guys think? Would it be worth it and are there any sites you know of where people retrofit IRS onto F-Body's. thanks.

why?

[T-Punk]

really only for the handling aspect of it. this is my daily driver, its not a drag car. Also i wont make the power the cobra guys are so i dont think snapping hs will be a problem. if there isnt much of a gain in handling over a beefed up version of our rear suspension then i wont bother.

[HAZ-Matt]

It will rob more power from you if you do get it hooked up. However, I would imagine it would make a noticable handling (and ride) improvement on rough roads.

[nikon]

getting it set up perfectly would be near impossible, your better leaving it alone.

[T-Punk]

Why do you say it would be near impossible? just explain because i want to know what problems i would likely run into so i can make an informed decision. thanks for the info so far guys, i know this idea is a little out there.

[V6Bob]

Well, one thing would be the chassis isn't designed for it. Our chassis is specifically designed to handle front to back loads at the forward mounting of the lcas and side to side loads at the chassis mount for the Panhard.

Sure, you could weld in mounting brackets for the new suspension. Maybe even try to make an educated guess about added bracing. But would the chassis handle the resulting loads properly? It was designed by engineers, computer models, etc. specifically for a live axle with Panhard and torque arm.

So the hoped for improved handling might just not happen.

[Pewter2K1]

Yea, theres a reason why alot of the IRS car owners swap to a Solid axle.

[T-Punk]

yeah because they snap under extra power at the drag strip but since they come stock putting down like 400hp and torque i dont think it would be a problem with a v6 f-body even with the twin turbo setup. I guess its not worth it though. oh well.

[shenanigans]

Honestly I'd jsut keep a solid rear axle... if you are really interested check out Cz28.com I believe there were people that converted to a vette IRS. Not sure, I know people were at least working on it.


But honestly, I have seen a nicely set convertable SS run circles around vettes at an autocross before and I am being dead serious.

You can setup your f-body to handle near as well as a fully modded IRS car.

In the end I honestly don't think it woudl be worth the time or money.

[jayxer]

If I had the money, Id love to swap mine over to IRS as well. Live axle's are preffered by people who take their car to the strip, but im more interested in ride quality and handling. And the live axle seriously hampers that. And I dont think setting up the balance would be all that difficult, as long as you get some coil overs and leave yourself some room for adjustment, and put it on pads and workout the corner weights.

[shenanigans]

Originally posted by jayxer:
If I had the money, Id love to swap mine over to IRS as well. Live axle's are preffered by people who take their car to the strip, but im more interested in ride quality and handling. And the live axle seriously hampers that. And I dont think setting up the balance would be all that difficult, as long as you get some coil overs and leave yourself some room for adjustment, and put it on pads and workout the corner weights.

I agree with IRS is better in those aspects but we are going by the difference of... Buying a car built with it already in.

vs..

Taking a setup off an existing car and frankensteining it onto our cars.

[andrew N.]

I don't know you, so I dont know your abilities. But If you have the time/money to try it, more power to ya'.

IMO spending 1/2 the money on off the shelf suspension mods may give as-good results. I know SOME don't consider sport/lowering springs as a "handling" mod, but all I did on my 95 were eibachs and SLP takeoff shocks and I couldnt have been happier, especially with all the twists and turns where I'm from.

[AlienInv8r]

Think about what V6 Bob said. There are a lot of static and dynamic equations used to determine where to place suspension points, pivots, and stress areas. The car was designed for a live axle based on those evaluations. If you put another type of axle on there, you're going to start placing stress in areas that weren't designed for it with a large possibility of overtorquing(*sp??) areas. Especially if your turbo kit is making a lot of torque, it sounds like it'd be more worth just totally beefing up the suspension the car was designed for.