03 cobra IRS in a 95 GT

[demon40]

Getting ready to purchase a complete IRS out of a 03 cobra , and I mean complete, even the tail pipes. How hard is it to do this swap, will it just simply swap over or am i going to have to do some mods . I know they are not good for cars making a lot of power but im just wanting it for the handling and ride comfort.

Thanks in advance
Brandon

 

[Bosko5.0]

I could of sworn that all you need to do was drill so new holes to mount the upper control arm bracket. PM illwood he's about to do the same thing Iam not sure if he has done it yet but he does have the IRS already and I bet hes read up on it. try searching in the fox theards since fox and sn95 have similar suspension and there has been a couple of people who have done it Akso check corral.net. useful info!

 

[Black95GTS]

This is a great mod, and I don't think its very difficult. Measure twice, cut once, etc.

People bag on the Cobra IRS and say you need to modify it to put power to the ground... but how many threads are there on here about people having to do THE SAME THING to the stock style rear end? Neither of them are particularly good with high horse power applications. I wouldn't worry about that, just get to it!

Adam

 

[illwood]

I could of sworn that all you need to do was drill so new holes to mount the upper control arm bracket. PM illwood he's about to do the same thing Iam not sure if he has done it yet but he does have the IRS already and I bet hes read up on it. try searching in the fox theards since fox and sn95 have similar suspension and there has been a couple of people who have done it Akso check corral.net. useful info!

For the record, the IRS is not in the Mustang yet amnit: . Worst case scenario is that it becomes a winter project while it is off the road.

The front mounts of the IRS cradle use the existing lower control arm mounts in the subframe (you may want to buy bushings that use the 12mm bolts like our cars use standard because the '03-'04 IRS uses 14mm bolts).

The rear cradle bracket has 4 bolt hole locations per bracket. Two of them use existing threaded holes in the plates that your quad shocks bolt to. The other two are vertical and require holes to be drilled. Personally, I'm going to remove the carpet from my trunk, mark and drill the holes larger than I need, then I'm going to weld in steel bushings at the top and the bottom of the hole in the subframe. The bushings will prevent the subframe from crushing when the bolts are torqued.

The other concern is brake lines. It is my understanding from talking to a tech at Maximum Motorsports that they will be selling a flex hose kit for the IRS when swapped into Fox and SN95 platforms.

I still plan on doing a writeup of the install complete with pictures when I do the swap. That may even happen in upcoming weeks as I have more incentive to do work now that my 13" 4-piston Brembo's have been delivered.

 

[SublimeRT]

It is my understanding from talking to a tech at Maximum Motorsports that they will be selling a flex hose kit for the IRS when swapped into Fox and SN95 platforms.

That's great news. I will be doing an IRS swap also.

 

[The Green GT]

Someone on SN95 forums did it. I dont remember who, but he said it wasnt that bad.

 

[illwood]

I don't anticipate it being that bad either. My friend Jeff (twoturbofox) put an IRS out of an '01 Cobra into his '89 hatch. He had to do a few more mods because the plates for the quad shocks are different between the Fox and the SN95.

 

[final5-0]

I wanna ask a Q about this mod

I had two friends with 99 Cobras

Wheel hop and bent axles went along with that irs setup

Did Ford ever work those bugs out with the newer setups

Grady

 

[demon40]

Brake caliper brackets

illwood i just found out that the IRS doesnt have the brakes but i have a set off of a 95 cobra, would you happen to know if the brackets off of the 95 would work

 

[Gearbanger 101]

I wanna ask a Q about this mod

I had two friends with 99 Cobras

Wheel hop and bent axles went along with that irs setup

Did Ford ever work those bugs out with the newer setups

Grady

For the most part, yes. The '03-'04 Cobra's use harder durometer bushings, stiffer spring rates and heavier duty axles than the earlier IRS systems. If that's not enough for you, Maxim Motorsports sells a kit to bulletproof the IRS even beyond that. It's still not as drag race friendly as a live axle, but you can't beat the ride quality or the handling.

 

[SuperStang83]

I heard that it is cake. Good luck with it man, I'm sure the results will be awesome!

 

[illwood]

I wanna ask a Q about this mod

I had two friends with 99 Cobras

Wheel hop and bent axles went along with that irs setup

Did Ford ever work those bugs out with the newer setups

Grady

There is a very good writeup on the SVTPerformance forum about the IRS in a high power car (most of those guys are Terminator owners). It's called something about Red pill vs. Blue Pill (Matrix reference). Basically, it is a listing of upgrades (as well as the order to perform them) that remove a lot of the problem areas. Not to mention the '99 IRS is the least desirable because it was the weakest. 2001+ Cobras got stronger axle half shafts and the Terminators got the additional pinion cross member support from the 2000 Cobra R.

 

[demon40]

illwood youl'll have to post up some pics when you get it underway im interested to see them

 

[SublimeRT]

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=391333

That thread has a lot of good information in it and detailed pics.