67MustangCoupe

[align=left]hey guys, new to the forum, but I have an ambitious question: Has anyone here successfully modified an existing IRS setup to fit our mustangs? My stang is a daily driver, and anything that makes her hug corners better and up the safety of the car is a plus to me. I know Daze has gotten close with the Jag IRS, but are there any other setups that may work? I know I could buy one for about $5,000 out of the box, but where's the fun in that? Plus im a college student and the appeal of a cheap alternative is very enticing. Let me know if anyone has any ideas on the topic.
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mat11089

I dont know that it can be done very cheap.But i guess if you have the tools and the will anything is possible

Daze

I will not mention all the aftermarket units because it sounds like that is not what you are after. there are lots of options out there especially sense (judging by your screen name) you have a 67 which is a little wider.

1. The corvette IRS will probably be the most expensive, hardest to find and hardest to narrow up.

2. The late model Cobra Mustang IRS will probably be the easiest especially if you get a DVS kit but by the time you get the kit and the IRS unit you will probably have about $4000 in to it.

3. The T-bird/ Lincoln Marc IRS will also fit but will take a bit of effort to get properly narrowed up with the correct geometry.

4. And of coure my person favorit the Jag rear end. That is the easiest to narrow and work with and is closest to what Ford designed. However I am sure you already new that being that you mentoned me in your post and have obviously seen my pages

Options 3 and 4 are probably the most cost effective. When it is all said and done I will have about $1700 - $2000 in to mine but there were lots of extras like powder coating, new KYB shocks, running horse gussets and a limited slip differential (including farming out the rebuild) that you could skip and do the swap including a (rebuild of the main Jaguar parts) for around $800-$1000 depending on how much you can get the original unit for. I am also putting a Jaguar IRS in my 62 Galaxie and will have less than $500.00 in to it but I didn't have to narrow it up and am painting those parts rather than powder coating

The thing I like about the a home built unit (regardless of the OEM donor) is once you cover the initial cost of a unit you can work on it and pay for things a little at a time as money allows.

Aussie66Fastback

$500 for a Jag IRS in a Galaxie...unbelievable!
you're a freak Daze

I wish i had the skills and the time to do what you do.

Daze

The only skills required for the Galaxie swap was the drilling of the Ford bolt pattern and the ability to do a basic rebuild, clean and paint. The only fabrication I will need to do is to mount the Jag cage to the Galaxie frames and that will be a piece of cake.

67MustangCoupe

hey Daze, how much would it cost to farm out the narrowing of the unit? I'm not a welder, and Id rather trust a professional
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67mustang302

One thing to consider is that an IRS is going to basically ruin the car's ability to launch from a standing start. They're great for going around corners and generating a smoother ride and better handling, but if you plan on drag racing the car then you don't want an IRS. Otherwise, I'd go for the most cost effective route that will provide the level of performance you want. No sense in spending more money than you have to. And if you go with a setup that requires less fabrication, then you can do most of the work yourself and save some money.

67MustangCoupe

67- I'm not going to drag this car at all. The smoother ride/tighter turns are a plus for me as well as i'll get in-board disks, plus it wouldnt be hard to slap back on my 8' if I decide to drag it late on down the road.
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Daze

That is a really good point. IRS is NOT a good idea for a drag car. Wheel hop can be a major issue on hard launches. As far as it running the ability to launch, give me a break!! I am not trying to be arguementive but that statement has the tone that IRS sucks, I dont think that is what you were going for but I couldn't let that go You can launch with out dumping the clutch and if you don't dump the clutch you are not going to have the wheel hop problems.


I recommend farming out the half shafts to a drive line shop. I didn't do my own half shafts, I took them to a drive line shop and it cost me about $200.00 as far as the LCAs a drive line shop should be able to do that too.

racin66coupe

hey daze, are you going to start selling some of the stuff you do? it seems like you have really good quality stuff and i bet you could make a lot of money from it.