HighPainsDrifter,
I was just trying to point out that you can easily put a late model IRS in one of these cars for less than $800 including the original purchase price, gear swap and posi rebuild. This is comparable to the amount of $$ many people have in their solid rear axles after a gear swap and disc brake upgrade. There is nothing wrong with the stock posi for the above intended use (street, autocross and maybe open track events). I was mentioning what to watch out for if he does decide to upgrade to an aftermarket posi unit, not that he needs one.
I don't really understand your comment about how
paying $190 for gears, $330 for possi, new bearings ,seals,fluid,install kit $100, then $ 200 for installation...plus the cost of the original 'used' rear end is alot of money. How is it any more than putting a solid axle in the car? You still have the same prices--regardless of the labor price
Finally, I know about a dozen guys running IRS with over 450 ft-lbs of torque with no problems. So the strength in cars that weigh this little just isn't an issue as you stated and I wanted to make that clear to Andy. And even if you go with a solid axle, there's no reason to run a 9" in these cars unless you need to be able to swap out gears quickly at the track (or your frame is just setup to take one). An 8.8" solid axle is a stout rear end when setup properly. And 3.73's with the tremec do make a a nice setup. Yes, first gear is a little short, but you get used to it. I certainly would not call it "useless".
Bob, you are correct about drag racing and solid axle cars
. The reason I made the above statement was because I had read Andy's previous post:
Considering Everett-Morrison
and so I knew he wasn't into hard-core drag racing like some of us. And I agree with you that the solid axle cars can be made to handle and ride very well indeed. On the other hand, I've seen many claims that a properly setup IRS car can be made to handle and ride better
.
Since Andy was asking about the MkVIII rear in particular I was giving him some info on that, not trying to recommend one vs the other. I think a general rule of thumb is that for serious track events/racing, the IRS is a better choice. For serious drag events, the solid axle is better. But there will always be exceptions based on how particular cars are setup. You put it well whe you said
they can both be good or bad depending on the parts used.
Mike
BTW, there was a guy at my local drag strip who replaced the IRS in his late model cobra with an 8.8" solid axle and picked up 1.2 seconds...you would think someone at Ford could design a decent IRS for that car
...