Just wondering if anyone has swapped on into an F-Body or thought about it. Just trying to get some of you guy's opinions. I'll have something to add later on but just looking for your thoughts right now.

 

I've thought about it. Monetary constraints keep me from trying it, but maybe later. I expect that you will hear plenty about the solid axle being so much stronger, but I hope that wont dissuade you. Goodluck, I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

Jeremy

 

Well as far as strengths of the solid axle, that is usually a given. And this swap of an IRS would be for a mild car, nothing extreme. Just wondering on what people thought about the IRS and the possibilities of putting one in an F-Body

 

I think the new camaro is supposed to have IRS. But why not try to put alot of power through it? There are plenty of high horsepower supercars with independant rears, alot of them use transaxles, but someone must make an independent rear that can handle the strain. Now fitting it to an F-body...

 

Anything is possible with enough time, money and fab skills sitting around. The question is, why? What are you looking to accomplish by doing it?

 

Well there are some benefits of the IRS, mainly handling. And really its a matter of just saying it's been done. Any more opinions would be great guys. Thanks

 

What you are going to hear the most when asking from a performance standpoint is that a properly set up live axle is going to be just as good as an IRS on a track. The track is generally smooth and where the IRS shows it's benefits is on a bumpy surface. From a comfort standpoint it would be nicer on a public road. There is the obvious cool factor.

Of further consideration is that properly setting it up is an area of concearn. One could very easily end up with a setup that works worse than the live axle. The biggest concearn with anything with enough power is keeping halfshafts in it.

To answer your actual question, it has been done in several 3rd gens by adapting the C4 IRS, it's been mentioned before that there are better options for a donor if someone was going to go through all the work to do it. Given the similarities between the 3rd and 4th gens it should be just as easy on a 4th gen. To date I've seen no pics of it in a 4th gen.


I suppose my only question is why is this in advanced tech?

 

Well the reason i have it in Advanced Tech is I believed that the audience that was to view this kind of proposal would be more educated in this field if I put it hear, and that no ordinary techy could do this by himself. And another reason was I was in no mood to see many Why? comments and IRS sucks and things like that. I see all your points, just wanted to see if someone has tried it before here, and like I said, I'll have some updates later on that I'm sure many of you would appreciate. Thanks

 

I asked F-bod father about this. this was the convo.

me:I've heard there were a few C5 Vettes with 4th gen camaro bodies? maybe there was one at Bowling green museum? do you have any pics? and how did you guys put a 4th gen unibody over a vette frame?


Him:actually, there were about a half dozen....all have since been scrapped except one.....and it's at the Corvette Museum. They were built so that we could conduct durability tests on the C5 chassis and powertrain.

How did we do it?

VERY CAREFULLY!!!

me:hrmn. ok. how hard would it be to just shove in a C5 Transaxle in? IRS and all?

Him:well, you'd essentially have to tear out the floorpan of the car.......big time! I would not recommend it as you would compromise the structure of the car...essentially ruining it. It's much more difficult than you can imagine.

So I just decided to go with airbags in the rear.

edit: there is a guy who shoved a c4 IRs into a 3rd gen, which means it could be done on a fourth gen. I can't remember his webpage, but I imagine the cost/benefit ratio would suck ***.

 

The topic has been discussed much more frequently on the "Suspension, Chassis and Brakes" forum..... did you try a "search" there?

 

Did it occur to you that the Why? comments might be comming because we are "educated in this field?" I'm quite well versed in the world of roll center heights and migrations, swing arm lengths (both side and front views), jacking forces, side scrub, etc, etc, etc the list goes on forever. The question is, are you?

So if you're doing it for "better handling" (as in getting around a racetrack faster) the best advice is to save your money and buy a C5. If you're doing it "for the hell of it," a better ride on the street, scoring points at carshows, etc, then that's a lot more possible.

If you're looking to change the "handling feel" of the rear and the entire car to more closely resemble that of cars with modern IRS's, that too can be done for a couple hundred bucks--with your solid axle.

The "Why" really is quite important if you want any useful help.

 

its been done.

 

The thing that stuck out of my mind the most from the very few and rare examples I've saw on the inet, was the cutting, welding, fabbing, and extra bracing required out back, to properly mount the IRS assembly.

 

here's a few threads you need to read

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showth...&highlight=IRS

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/su...t=irs+corvette
you'll have to register to view the pics at thirdgen.org

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/su...t=irs+corvette


I've considered this and researched it and have failed to see a reason to do it from a performance standpoint.

 

My friend somehow managed to purchase the rear clip of a GM development mule... a black T/A with independent rear. But apparently... it wasn't supposed to be sold so he's got it hidden. It's not a C4 conversion either, it has specially made parts with GM part numbers on them, so they were definitely looking at making it before they killed it off. I've only seen it once and it was dark, so I never got a good look at it. He plans on building it someday when it's not a big deal if he has it.

(And yes, this may sound a tad far fetched, but it's true.)