[cobrashoch]

This one has been hashed out on this board a few times. It really comes down to personal preferance with a eye on what you want to do with your car. I guess my question is what do you mean by can it handle a 514? If you are talking about keeping a IRS glued together the answer is yes. There are many guys that have used them very successfully in many Cobras. I would spend some time here inspecting them from time to time dependent on your abuse level though. If you are talking about traction control though that's another animal. Again the choice is dictated by your use. The 9 inch live axle will by in large take more abuse but on a cobra the IRS will give you more compliance and a bit of a better ride. If you drag race I personally lean to the live axle. If your into road racing on rough surfaces the nod goes to IRS. Not talked about much here is that a live axle can indeed work well on road course racing if the going is not too rough.
I personally have had bad things happen on half shafts of IRS setups. No one has shown me yet half shaft universals/cv's that can live long on 650/700 lbs of torque. Lots of guys will argue that with me though. When one of those things breaks under throttle or hard breaking the nasty result is a very rapid and hard forced turn. So if you go that way be sure to insect this weak spot regular. The NHRA now requires half shaft loops as well as drive shaft loops on IRS cars to.
A few years ago the NHRA required cars that had over 600hp to use a live axle. This has changed of recent due to Vipers and high horsepower stock Corvettes and other cars, as they had to do something with those cars. It doesn't change the wisdom of that thought process of old, at least in my mine.
So my answer is to weigh what you are doing very carefully and for crying out loud research it better than on this forum. It's your life we are talking about here.
cobrashoch