Solving the tucked rear wheels permanently

illwood

Member
Apr 3, 2004
636
1
19
Worcester, MA
Nope, not wheel spacers.

Not way-offset wheels either.

Anyone want to guess? ? ?



































03CobraIRS.webp


How about an independent rear suspension from a 2003 Cobra?

My friend Jeff (twoturbofox) is finishing putting a 2001 Cobra IRS in his '89 and after seeing it in there, I was completely sold on the independent rear and its benefits.

Yeah it's heavier than a solid axle, but I think the handling benefits far outweigh (no pun intended) the weight increase. Guess I'll just have to plan on making more power. :D

I'll start a tech thread for the install in the upcoming weeks if there is any interest.
 
Definitely do a write-up! Ford should have offered this on non-Terminator Mustangs. I used to run Merkurs and those cars were more stable in the twisties than any live axle car I've ever driven. If I could get one of these that didn't kill the budget, I'd be on it like you've never seen. I got jealous, just seeing the picture.
 
Holy crap, you're the man! I've never heard about what all needs to be modified for it to bolt-in, but only that it can be done. But I'm glad to see someone actually got the balls to do it :nice:
If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pick that up for?
And those tails look like they need alot of TLC lol
 
Holy crap, you're the man! I've never heard about what all needs to be modified for it to bolt-in, but only that it can be done. But I'm glad to see someone actually got the balls to do it :nice:
If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pick that up for?
And those tails look like they need alot of TLC lol

That was an eBay purchase from a guy in PA. My buddy Mike and I drove down yesterday to pick it up. The '03 Cobra that it came out of only had 17,000 miles on it. I also got the struts from him and his buddy had that stock exhaust that I'm going to clean up and use for a while.

- '03 Cobra IRS: $800
- '03 Cobra Billstein Struts: $50
- '04 Cobra Exhaust: $50

- Having a '94 Mustang GT that can handle like a MF'er: Priceless
 
Couple of local guys have done sim. projects. Kinda cool.

guess

your going to be at some point and time running level 1,000,000,000 half shafts or something :D ? I hear the 03-04 is actualy abit stronger than the older IRS's, and good bushings/braces are a must.
 
you gonna build it up before you put it in?

i came real close to buying one a month ago, but the price to make it handle any better than my current setup was just too much $$$$ to only really gain a better ride.
I'm going to do some work to it before I put it in, but not all that's necessary to make it handle tons of power. . . for now.

I do plan on doing the Level 5 buildup at some point, but for right now these are the mods I'm going to do before I put it in the car:

-BilletFlow Diff Cover Brace
-MM Diff Bushings
-MM IRS Cradle Bushings

I'm not building tons of power right now and don't want the car to be off the road for long, so I'll wait until winter to do most of what's left of the Level 5 buildup. (I'm holding off on FLSFC's until I get the T-56 in that I want because they will need some surgery for that to work.)
 
I'm not building tons of power right now and don't want the car to be off the road for long, so I'll wait until winter to do most of what's left of the Level 5 buildup. (I'm holding off on FLSFC's until I get the T-56 in that I want because they will need some surgery for that to work.)

when you do your T56 do the sfc's at the same time---not sooner or later.

trust me it makes things a lot easier and makes for a cleaner install.
 
That's the plan.

BTW, expect a few PM's from me with regard to the midpipe with the T56 when it comes time for me to put it in.

no problem.

i solved my problem the easy way. i just run a single 3" exhaust off my turbo :D

it took me a couple pipes, but i had a bbk x-pipe that i modded to fit pretty decently. summit h-pipe was marginal, and the mac 3pc x was a no go.