Just completed the IRS to solid axle swap

[Tony W]

Yesterday I spent a good part of the day with a couple of friends from my SVT club doing the IRS to solid axle swap. The new solid axle feels great under my 01 Cobra. The main reason behind this was that I needed the axle for drag racing, and the person I swapped with needed the IRS for open track racing, so all in all it was a good tradeoff. The donor came from a 98 Cobra and there were no issues on fitting whatsoever. The only glitch we came across is when we tried re-installing the parking brake cables. They came up a bit short. We are both consulting the manuals for a solution on how to reset them.

Here are a few pics of the install....

IRS setup from 01 Cobra

Live axle from 98 Cobra

Going in......

Adjustable shocks

The cars.....

The finished product.......

 

[1990saleensc18]

good job

looking good man, keep up the good work.....derrick

 

[vennom]

sweet. I have a 99' and I have been looking to do the same swap. How hard was it overall? Know anyone else that has a solid axle and wants irs?
Thanks

 

[trents99]

Ahh pine logs as wheel chocks.....a man of my own taste

Enjoy the new ride!

 

[Tony W]

sweet. I have a 99' and I have been looking to do the same swap. How hard was it overall? Know anyone else that has a solid axle and wants irs?
Thanks

Thanks for all the compliments guys. Pine logs do a really good job as wheel chocks as Trents99 pointed out. Even better than the metal ones we were using.

Vennom, the swap was not hard at all because I was working with 2 guys who knew what they were doing. That made things go a ton smoother. Taking out the IRS was the most tedious task as that thing was extremely heavy. Finding a way to get it out from underneath the car once it was detached was a task in it's own. The total time took close to 12 hours including a lunch break and trips to the auto parts store for various things. I would post in the modular forums and see if anyone is willing to swap. I don't know of anyone else personally. I waited for 6 months until someone responded to me on another forum. Good luck in your search because it is deffinitely worth it.

 

[ScottJ]

It's so ironic that I drove the GT for two years wishing I had an IRS but could find no one to swap.

Now this forum seems overrun with them.

Well, I did find a few over the two years but usually too far away and/or too much money.