Solid vs. IRS.. who's running what?

[silvercoffin]

....

If you already went to a solid rear why go back?

The cobra IRS is nothing special. I dont auto x my car at all, but on the street I noticed very little difference between my 01gt and the 03 cobra as far as handling.. the cobra is a bit faster around the corners, but the wheel hop sucked when it was stock...



I am still not 100% sure about my set up. I have a snubber level 2 axles and irs brace. I had an eaton rear, but it was discovered that that was the cause of my leaking rear. Now I am back to the ford rear and back to occasional one tire burnouts and uhhhh....

Does Eaton or anyone make a locking rear for this car?

 

[Tide612]

I know but i just want the handling back in the car alittle bit. There is a difference between the handling of a solid and a irs. I dont go to the track as much as i did b4 and i want the nice ride back. just pondering the thought again.

 

[Tide612]

Anyone want to buy a solid axle? MAKE THAT A SOLID AXLE!!!

 

[brownbootsracin]

Trying to judge how many people have made the swap.. I'm about an inch away as of this posting epper:

I choose to stick w/ the IRS. I installed the steeda IRS diff cover brace, which i would not recommend, because the top bolt is a royal pain in the pooper. i had to remove the cross member, and remove the abs sensors to drop the diff low enough to get the top bolt in. the billet flow or moto blue are better choices. as they don't have the top bolt of which i speak. I installed steeda irs polly bushings, and the steeda polly subframe bushings which were another royal pain in the squisher.

Wheel hop is almost gone. it's still there a tiny bit, and it is most noticeable when the wheels are just starting to loose traction. If i grip it's fine, and if i bake em it's fine, but just when they are about to break loose is when the hop comes, and it is very mild compared to what it was.

ride quality was not affected by the harder polly bushings. At least not that i noticed.

I have a 2003 10th anniversary terminator w/ about 3200 miles on it, so i just couldn't bring myself to swap out the rear end. I don't want to modify the car in a way that it can't be easily returned to stock form. i didn't even drill the hole in the inside of the fender to install my K&N fipk kit. So in sticking with my path, that also means no sub frame connectors also since they require welding and no irs subframe plates. I plan on using bolt on strut braces in the front and back to do what little they can do to prevent twisting.

I am running stock pully, but have the accufab throttle body and k&n. Also have bassani cat back, & x pipe commin soon.

honestly i guess it depends on how much power you want to make. I don't plan on going much above where i am already at so the irs suits me fine. Plus the streets around here are kind of rough, so i can appreciate the better ride quality.

thats just my 2 cents.

 

[bouncer18]

i went solid today...

i drag race alot so for me, its cheaper.. i broke so many level 2/3 shafts that in the ned, i am better off being solid.



(hey tide.. ill trade ya rear ends for IRS lol *save me the effort of building it*)

 

[Tide612]

i would if it was an 03 or 04 IRS. Sorry no 01

 

[hurtindude]

i would if it was an 03 or 04 IRS. Sorry no 01

i have an 03 IRS for sale if you are interested... i am in the process of swaping over to a solid myself...

the car has 4,700 miles, so the IRS is in like new condition. it also comes w/ steeda polly irs subframe bushings, and maximum motorsports polly diff bushings front and back already installed....

also comes w/ steeda irs cover brace which has been powder coated red (to match my car)

I also have a torsen T2-R diff for same ne w in the box and never installed..

i grabbed a solid out of a 2003 Mach 1. Got a deal 350.00 for complete rear end including caliper brackets... rear end had only 4K on it before prior owner smacked his car into a tree up in NH...

I am also in search of a few items maybe you can help me with.. I am considering going with a Steeda 5 link-2 setup as my suspension solution.. But i am in search of factory GT or Mach 1 springs for 99-04 model years or 03/04 mach 1s... I am also looking for lower control arms and upper control arms as well.. Although i am likly going to use steeda for my control arms as well... Maybe we could work out some sort of trade + cash for my IRS... I live in New England also so you can pick it up if you want, or i can ship it freight, but if shipped plan on paying something extra for the shipping.

 

[03punisher]

keep the irs just upgraded(level 5's) after the stockers snapped....

 

[Iamchris]

I still have my old Mach... I think the insurance company forgot about it... heh. I'm gonna tell them they owe me money for storage so they tell me to keep it... then I will have a solid axle on hand ... not sure I'll use it though, I like my IRS.

 

[CPViolation]

i would if it was an 03 or 04 IRS. Sorry no 01

+1
After having my IRS properly set-up by Apex motorsports, I wouldn't consider live axle.
No wheel hop...
I drive 90% on the street.

 

[ViciousJay]

since im DD and i prefer to take corners better ill stick to my IRS... solid is good for track use mainly

 

[coffinator6]

Trying to judge how many people have made the swap.. I'm about an inch away as of this posting epper:

ill trade you for my 8.8. solid

 

[moridin2004]

+1
After having my IRS properly set-up by Apex motorsports, I wouldn't consider live axle.
No wheel hop...
I drive 90% on the street.

Ditto, minus Apex setting it up. I had the gumption and lack of smarts to do it myself ;-)

 

[1bad03snake]

I'm about to ditch my IRS, I have the level 5 halfshafts and after that 1500 dollar hit I dont want to spend another dime on it. I have a completely built 04 gt rear w/ all new 31 spline parts and I might have 1300.00 in all of it. I plan on selling the axles and putting the IRS back to stock and pushing into a corner so when I sell the car one day I can put it back to bone stock.

 

[93cobra#3326]

subscribing

 

[EvanStang]

Have the IRS in the vert.... it sucks... hate it.... wheel hoppin b*tch...

 

[04cobra408]

Out of all the solid axel guys, how many of you use the car as a dd???I was almost set on doing the swap but, how is the ride quality? i love the irs and would/will hate losing it because i love the ride i get out of it, but if the ride quality of the solid sucks i def. dont want to a swap.

irs guys more specificlly vert irs guys: Does the red pill work on verts aswell?? id preffer to keep the irs as long as i can get rid of most of the hop( shit ill take a lil hop to keep my irs) or will i still have my vert hop'n aslong as i have an irs??? lil info, im at 500+ whp and tq and it hop's like crazy, its bad. im going to do a 2.8 in two ot three months with 600+ hp. Is anything proven to get rid of hop on verts??

 

[Kevin the Clean 1]

04cobra408,

I suprised you havent broken anything on your car yet. With that RWHP level & having a vert you must do some suspension work before you strap on a bigger blower & add mo power. No offense.. ! :uh oh:

 

[realaxed83]

I swapped over to a solid last weekend and I LOVE IT. I got a real good deal, straight up trade with a solid out of a mach 1(same brake components as a cobra) with moser 31 splines and a 03 cobra diff(ford trac-loc). You can really feel the weight loss, drivetrain "clunk" is gone, the ride is only very slightly rougher.....most people wouldn't even notice honestly. Now I don't have wheel hop or have to worry about snapping a halfshaft. Whats not to love?

 

[1bad03snake]

IRS is going bye-bye today the straight axle is going in. I'll be taking pics as we do it and following POSTBAN's directions so I'm hoping there are no hick up's. If anyone wants pics when i'm done PM me with an email address

Matt