Gonna pull the trigger on rear suspension

Daryl

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I’ve been doing a lot of research and have had numerous conversations with MM and I am going with their Panhard Bar, Standard duty Torque Arm and Tear Sway Bar Kit with a moderate/strong 1 1/4” x .095 wall diameter. I have a shop nearby that can do the install and I’m excited to get this in and run it!
 
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95opal

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Good decision. Youll wonder why you didt do it sooner once you drive it. Makes the stock set up feel like a wagon.
 

Tillerman77

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I’ve been doing a lot of research and have had numerous conversations with MM and I am going with their Panhard Bar, Standard duty Torque Arm and Tear Sway Bar Kit with a moderate/strong 1 1/4” x .095 wall diameter. I have a shop nearby that can do the install and I’m excited to get this in and run it!
Cool - do you have plans to track it?
 

Makoto

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No. Not going to put it on a track.

For what its worth before spending a bunch of money on the stick axle you might wanna look into an IRS swap. in the end it was the same cost for what i wanted to do and the IRS is better at everything. just my 2 cents.
 

95opal

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For what its worth before spending a bunch of money on the stick axle you might wanna look into an IRS swap. in the end it was the same cost for what i wanted to do and the IRS is better at everything. just my 2 cents.

An upgraded SRA will out perform any stock cobra IRS. You need to address all the downfalls of the stock IRS before you get near a properly set up SRA. So figure in the price of a stock IRS plus upgrades.
 

Snorky

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My torque arm/panhard setup eliminated all of the front end lift you get when accelerating as well as the nose dive under hard breaking. If the tires break loose it stays dead straight. Was definitely a big difference.
 

Makoto

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An upgraded SRA will out perform any stock cobra IRS. You need to address all the downfalls of the stock IRS before you get near a properly set up SRA. So figure in the price of a stock IRS plus upgrades.

who's talkin about stock IRS? i'm talking total cost. no way the solid axle comes close and you'll spend the same or more trying to get it there.

Including wheel hop and breaking axles

the only thing wrong with the stock IRS are the bushings and the toe links. everything else is crazy overbuilt.
 

Snorky

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who's talkin about stock IRS? i'm talking total cost. no way the solid axle comes close and you'll spend the same or more trying to get it there.



the only thing wrong with the stock IRS are the bushings and the toe links. everything else is crazy overbuilt.
I mean..for the full full tilt boogie racing bushing kit and the cheaper one. With their toe links is on the ball park of 9xx.. then you need to add the IRS cost into it since it seems that everyone wants a grande for them. IRS rear springs as well.

A torque arm, TA springs, panhard bar and the XD lowers come in at 14xx. And whatever shocks to match. And its finished.

The built IRS isnt any better than a built SRA.
 

Makoto

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I mean..for the full full tilt boogie racing bushing kit and the cheaper one. With their toe links is on the ball park of 9xx.. then you need to add the IRS cost into it since it seems that everyone wants a grande for them. IRS rear springs as well.

A torque arm, TA springs, panhard bar and the XD lowers come in at 14xx. And whatever shocks to match. And its finished.

The built IRS isnt any better than a built SRA.

MaximumMotosports is $1,247.73. throw in a ford racing diff cover for good measure if you want and whatever coilovers you get those will cost you about a grand anyhow.

There's no way a stick axle comes close to an IRS in the real world with imperfect surfaces. I did the math, the cost is about the same.
The cherry on top is you don't have a crapton of unsprung weight to lug around and the subframe braces the rear of the car together.

You can say you dig the SRA, it has its benefits, but handling performance isn't among them.
 

Makoto

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total cost of my suspension BTW and its 110% badass.
if you're wanting to drag it a lot none of this will probably matter but if you dig handling corners this is a heck of a recipe.

1645065631747.png
 
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cobrajeff96

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This topic has been covered in many places, many times. Just my opinion here (distilled down from years of research but also first-hand experience with some nice hardware on both sides of the argument, mind you), but I'm fairly certain the apex IRS build will outperform the apex SRA build... when it comes to street/highway/circuit/autocross/road racing. The SRA will ALWAYS be king at the drags.

It's not to say the SRA can't hang in the twisties... far from it! As pictured, I had a Fays2 watts link and an upper third link from Evolution Motorsport (extinct) that was loads of fun in the mountains. Dare I say almost as good as the current IRS I have. With the right gear, the right alignment specs, the know-how, etc.., the SRA can come very close to the IRS's level of handling performance. But like I said the fully built IRS will always have that slight edge over the fully built SRA.

And that's where the real value proposition comes in for the SRA. With minimal money (compared to getting the IRS to where it's ideally at), the SRA will match it in performance except in the realm of comfort.

You will spend more money beefing up an IRS--generally-- than you will beefing up an SRA. Unless of course you're talking about a Cortex Racing cambered drive stick axle, then I really can't say anything but bravo well done.

The IRS is definitely not overbuilt from Ford. Those rear cantilever mounts, while strong, DO flex under extreme application. That's why people like Kenny Brown and even individual enthusiasts are chopping them off and welding up brackets that bolt directly to the frame rails. The forward diff torque brace, while beefy, is not that great. To get wheel hop down to a minimum, mounts other than the factory are required AT MINIMUM. The factory IRS aluminum control arms absolutely flex in extreme conditions, and so do the uprights for that matter, putting stress on the weak ass bearing. These things are all documented by people like Kenny Brown over the years of actual racing.

Street? No biggy.

See my pics over the years...
 

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cobrajeff96

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Forgot to mention that, good point. The factory diff covers on the Cobra IRS units tend to..... explode. Violently, lol.

Just more money to upgrade on a better diff cover and bushings, etc.

Right now the weight of my IRS is actually pretty close to that of an SRA. I kick myself because I forgot to weigh it all before the install just out of curiosity. I ditched a ton of weight by going tubular arms, DSS axles, and lightened diff gears.
 

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Snorky

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All i am saying is if you havent driven a torque arm car you should definitely try it.
 

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