Dreaming of IRS
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Dreaming of IRS I know that the C4 corvette IRS transplant to F-body has been kicked around this board once or twice, but there are other, stronger, simpler suspensions out there. This one is a 9" ford center and the whole mess attaches to a simple crossmember. (there are 2 other supports, but they could easily go where the LCA's go)
http://kitcarmag.com/howto/p44959_image_large.jpg
This one costs about $4,000 and is more money than I would spend, but is it feasible?
http://kitcarmag.com/howto/p44959_image_large.jpg
This one costs about $4,000 and is more money than I would spend, but is it feasible?
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I would love to have IRS!!!!!!
The one thing is that it would have to be designed for our car and the suspension points matched to optimise it for our car. Roll centers, camber gain, Motion ratios, etc...
the Solid axle is somthing i dislike very much... Unsprung weight, no camber change, and not to mention the stock 10 bolt is very weak.
The one thing is that it would have to be designed for our car and the suspension points matched to optimise it for our car. Roll centers, camber gain, Motion ratios, etc...
the Solid axle is somthing i dislike very much... Unsprung weight, no camber change, and not to mention the stock 10 bolt is very weak.
Have fun working on thoes brakes. Looks like you would have to damn near tear the thing down to replace the pads.
If it were me I would try it with a cobra IRS and basicly back half the car.
If it were me I would try it with a cobra IRS and basicly back half the car.
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Here is Factory Five's IRS, its price is a little more reasonable at $2000 but is not complete (requires 8.8 center section, cv joints, brakes from 90's fords like the thunderbird)
http://parts.factoryfive.com/newcata...ctures/irs.jpg
I'm with you DanO... I traded a C4 for the SS (wanted a NEW car with an ls1 and 6-speed) and would be completely satisfied if it only had an IRS... shoulda just waited for the GTO
http://parts.factoryfive.com/newcata...ctures/irs.jpg
I'm with you DanO... I traded a C4 for the SS (wanted a NEW car with an ls1 and 6-speed) and would be completely satisfied if it only had an IRS... shoulda just waited for the GTO
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Looks like you can fabricate a way for the arms that would normaly mount in the mustang lower conrtol arm area to fit an F-body with little to no work. It just all dpends on how wide the set up is. If you have atleast a 4pt roll bar in the car, it should be too hard to get it all squared away.
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I'm no fan of solid axles either, I wish GM had made it atleast an option on the fbody. No matter how much you do there's no getting around the fact that like a see saw one side of a sra goes up, and the other side goes down -- make rearend jumpy.
I understand the whole, sra transfer power better than an IRS, you'll make better time, less involved in maintence. But my car is a street machine, not a drag car. Plus at shows you can't beat the cool of all that stuff under the rear. You'll have other fbody guys ooohing and ahhhhing.
I've been saving for this project. I'm probably going to have Rick Roush, in Dayton Ohio, do the work. I've already contacted him, and like Wayne Due he's done first gen Camaros. I'd rather have a shop that's done this work before for the reasons metioned above -- tuning it to get it to work right for your car. If you are going to use a C4 IRS with a Dana 44, you'd better ****** one up fast. Damn hot rod guys are snatching them up, everyone I see at salvage yards is $1,500 and up!
I understand the whole, sra transfer power better than an IRS, you'll make better time, less involved in maintence. But my car is a street machine, not a drag car. Plus at shows you can't beat the cool of all that stuff under the rear. You'll have other fbody guys ooohing and ahhhhing.
I've been saving for this project. I'm probably going to have Rick Roush, in Dayton Ohio, do the work. I've already contacted him, and like Wayne Due he's done first gen Camaros. I'd rather have a shop that's done this work before for the reasons metioned above -- tuning it to get it to work right for your car. If you are going to use a C4 IRS with a Dana 44, you'd better ****** one up fast. Damn hot rod guys are snatching them up, everyone I see at salvage yards is $1,500 and up!
Last edited by lees02WS6; Jul 26, 2005 at 08:04 AM.
It would be a great idea if it could be done right. That is, supporting the IRS properly, and without adding excessive weight to the car. I've heard the Mustang setup is pretty heavy.
My vote is for a design like this:
I say if one is to develop a kit, it should be designed with coil-overs in mind, since it is to be a performance oriented part. A plus would be that it could reuse some of the SRA Camaro components (i.e. rear brakes, aftermarket shocks) or better yet, use some components off of C4, C5, GTO, or CTS-V. Questions that comes to my mind would be:
1. is there enough room underneath for all necessary modifications in order for it to be a reliable part (if not bulletproof)?
2. If there is no loss in unsprung weight, then would the IRS capabilities be definitely worth the tradeoff?
Originally Posted by OldeSkool
Here is Factory Five's IRS, its price is a little more reasonable at $2000 but is not complete (requires 8.8 center section, cv joints, brakes from 90's fords like the thunderbird)
http://parts.factoryfive.com/newcata...ctures/irs.jpg
http://parts.factoryfive.com/newcata...ctures/irs.jpg
1. is there enough room underneath for all necessary modifications in order for it to be a reliable part (if not bulletproof)?
2. If there is no loss in unsprung weight, then would the IRS capabilities be definitely worth the tradeoff?
Coilovers with the setup I'm using are given, just have the cups welded on and ditch the transverse leaf. I'm sure something will obstruct the carrier, since that sticks out towards the back more than the 10 bolt diff cover. Mounting points for the control arms will have to be reinforced I'm sure too, boxed or something. Don't know all the details, but R.R. thought this this setup could work well. I'm sure that the IRS will have to be mounted to spots that weren't designed with absorbing suspension stress in mind.
Also would like to keep TCS and ABS active. I know C4's came with traction control and abs (obviously).
Not sure about a rear sway bar. I know many vettes didn't come from the factory with one. But if there is clearence maybe. Since shocks and control arms aren't the only thing holding the rear drive assembly to the body; What kind of gain or loss would there be having, or not having one with this setup?
Also would like to keep TCS and ABS active. I know C4's came with traction control and abs (obviously).
Not sure about a rear sway bar. I know many vettes didn't come from the factory with one. But if there is clearence maybe. Since shocks and control arms aren't the only thing holding the rear drive assembly to the body; What kind of gain or loss would there be having, or not having one with this setup?
Last edited by lees02WS6; Jul 26, 2005 at 11:06 AM.
This is probably being made out to be more complicated than it seems. Plenty of hot rodders and first gen guys have done this swap. Granted it won't handle like a vette, but it'll probably be an improvement over the solid. How much so depends on how and where you are driving it. Any pro rod builder could probably makes this work very well. For the $$$ of course.
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Well there's a reason that PRO rod builders charge quite a bit of money for a swap like this. It does take a lot of thought and perfectionism to get something of this magnitude right, especially for a race oriented car. If they're setting up a street cruiser and the owner wants IRS for a smooth ride and bragging rights, that's a bit easier than a beefed up reliable race oriented design.
Originally Posted by pimpmaro
Well there's a reason that PRO rod builders charge quite a bit of money for a swap like this. It does take a lot of thought and perfectionism to get something of this magnitude right, especially for a race oriented car. If they're setting up a street cruiser and the owner wants IRS for a smooth ride and bragging rights, that's a bit easier than a beefed up reliable race oriented design.
My goal is a fairly unique setup, that can handle a very moderately modded ls1, and that is more refined than the sra -- and has bragging rights of course.
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From: Columbus, OH
Originally Posted by lees02WS6
I don't mean to hog this thread either. Just want to get people talking about this swap to see who else is curious, and get people to float their ideas.
