So I'm looking into purchasing a 1999 Cobra but I'm trying to plan out a few of my mods first. I was thinking about trading my brother my irs for his sra w/ 3:73s out of his mach but I'm not sure if it's a good idea. It won't be my dd, but I will be driving it a few times a week and taking it to the strip/track occasionally, but mostly just street driving. I also only plan on doing springs/struts and minor suspension mods.
What's better for me?..
- Thread starter JoeS197
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Stick with the IRS and mod it. Read up on the Full Tilt Boogie Racing kit and what it can do for your car.
Other mandatory mods for the Cobra are 4.10 or steeper gears, a shifter and full length subframe connectors.
Other mandatory mods for the Cobra are 4.10 or steeper gears, a shifter and full length subframe connectors.
FTBR, you will spend some money but worth every penny, if your just gonna ditch the IRS then y not get a GT. Not like the 99 is much more than a gt anyway, same interior and all. Def need gears, but the more u stiffen the worse it rides. My convertible is so stiff and noisy you can barely use your phone in it.
Keep IRS and get full FTBR upgrade kit(as suggested)....FLSF connectors...better shocks and struts. Car will drive/handle much better than stock
If you take it to the strip do the trade. Unless you want to deal with broken halfshafts and wheel hop.
I would agree sra is better for the strip but then y not just get a gt and build it?
for me, unless you are at the dragstrip every weekend, IRS is better...
I swapped my irs for a sra and love it. The only thing I miss, and I say this all the time, is the look of the irs. I cant tell a difference in ride quality either. I dont make a ton of power but with my sra with u/l control arms, drag radials and 4.10's I hook from a dig and low roll. I see people with less hp/tq than me and they still spin.
If I wanna gonna pick a SRA direct swap it would be an 03/04 Mach1 so your Good there!
I don't want a gt because I want a 4v and prefer the looks of the cobra. I'm not planing on going to the strip a lot so I'm leaning towards keeping the irs. Do any of you guys know if the 03/04 cobra irs is better than the 99/01 cobra irs? Is it a whole different design or just upgraded bushings and stuff like that?
JoeS197 - the 03/04 Cobra have stronger half shafts and a different front differential brace that help it but the bushing I believe are all the same, crappy rubber which is the biggest problem. The 03/04 also came with 3.55 gears and not the 3.27's. So, there were some advantages to them over the 99/01. Also the 01's are slightly improved then the 99's with the big thing being a slight change in half shafts making the 01's a little beefier than the 99's but not as strong as the 03/04's.
Thanks for the info MickeyD :beer: would it be better to swap in a 03/04 irs unit or upgrade the stock one? A low mileage 03/04 cobra irs is around $1000-$1500 and would be a direct bolt in with little work, but how does that compare to the price of 3:55's, stronger half shafts, and the diff brace?
I thought you might not understand what I was trying to say:??: The rear end in the mach1 is a direct bolt in down to the rotors calipers,springs etc..
You got a good foundation there instead of finding one from a junkyard explorer etc..
You DON'T NEED to put an 03/04 IRS in your car Just drive it sensibly at the dragstrip, DON'T dump the clutch at 5K on Drag Radials, ride the clutch out a bit and launch at 3K. The 99 is the only year that had 28 spline half shafts, the 01's and up were upgraded to 31 spline so the differential is different too.
FYI I still have my stock clutch and the IRS is untouched except for a Billetflow brace pushing over 500rwhp:beer:
The 2001/2003/2004 all use the 31 spline half shafts..
Unless you had the FTBR kit with upgraded shocks/struts and FLSFC, I don't really balme you for going SRA.
I strongly doubt you would have gone SRA after the FTBR kit...yes it is that good..
I agree the looks of an IRS from behind is pretty cool. I can see most of the mufflers on an 11-14 and it looks terrible...
Yeah my irs was bone stock and I was running dr's. Somehow with 3.27's and dr's I would find a way to spin. Either that or bog and have a long ass 1st gear.
The main reason I swapped was because I didnt want to pay to fix a half shaft or anything. I came across a great deal with an already built up sra too so I jumped on it.
The main reason I swapped was because I didnt want to pay to fix a half shaft or anything. I came across a great deal with an already built up sra too so I jumped on it.
that's cool man....I just love my IRS since switching...kind of like telling people how much better DVD were than VHS or HDTV over regular TV.
Hard to explain unless you see(feel)...
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