2001 cobra rearend swap?? Clunking noise?

[Jeremyu04]

Has anyone thought about or ever done a total rearend swap for a regular 8.8 straight axle? I hate this irs....My question is what all will i need and will it bolt right up or??? Any input would be appreciated. Also i have a clunk noise when i let all the way off the gas in 4th gear and then all the sudden gas it to the floor? I think it might be a transmission mount bc my ujoints are still good. Its coming from the front of the car.

[duncan mcdougal]

The irs in the 99-03 car is notoriously sloppy. Now about the swap question. Most guys will trade you your irs for there solid axle plus cash. You will need everything including shocks. If you want a detailed write up, I would suggest you go over to svtperformance.com and search for irs to solid conversion. Also everything will fit just fine with the solid because all of the mounting points are the same on both cars.

If you want to get rid of the slop, MM makes a great kit for the irs. You should give them a look.

[lowflyn]

It's a straight forward swap...bolts right in place. I swapped a guy my 8.8 I had laying around for an IRS a little while back, you might can find someone willing.

[SpectorV]

brake lines, the rear end (same year set to ensure its width is correctl), remember abs stuff ... if you have it (may cause an issue), lower control arms with upper control arms (you may need perches on the frame but I think you have them for the uppers) and some other little things, overall its not that bad... but you can take the IRS out, install a set of derlin bushings with an aluminum irs bushing and what not and the IRS will be 100000x better. In the end the IRS IS better... its just getting it to that point.

[Jeremyu04]

Yeah i believe im going to go with the Steeda IRS differential brace and see how it does...but i still have the clunking noise....could it possibly be the transmission? When i shift into 2nd at over 6200rpm or closer to 7 it tries to stick in 1st....and the clutch wont disengage all the way when i shift. If i jerk it out of gear i have to wait on rpms to drop like for 2 seconds then i can put it in 2nd and romp on it....But back to the trans issue the car jerks and makes a clunking noise say going about 50 mph in 4th or 5th gear or any gear and i let all the way off the gas and then gas on it hard it jerks and clunks...any ideas? thanks

[PureVenom]

The clunk is the IRS...it has lots of play in it. It clunks from day one from the factory.

The other issues your talking about sound like clutch/tranny issues...but the clunk is factory stock.

[Scut95]

Try adjusting the clutch as well if you haven't done so already. If the clutch doesn't disengage all the way that could be the problem. These cars have a cable driven clutch that you need to manually adjust, they didn't do to a hydraulic setup until 2005.