Birddog0347 rescues a Fox

[bird_dog0347]

How hard was the IRS swap? Thinking of going that route in my coupe as well.

Truth be told it wasn't all that difficult but there was a lot of time that I just didn't stay motivated or wasted time needing help getting it done. The "hardest" part was getting the subframe front mounts into the lower torque boxes with the new poly bushings. That took me and my dad helping almost 2.5 hours to get it in there while it was stripped of all the other IRS components (to save weight). I had to get the front mounts in before I could locate and drill the holes for the rear mounts. Then there's the brake lines, you have to fab up those parts to make it work. If anyone on here ever tries to install an IRS in their Fox just let me know and I'll get you the Napa part numbers you'll need in order to make the brake lines work.

Then there was the dumbass mistake I made very early on... I removed the pinion flange off the IRS pumpkin to swap with the one off my stick axle (to make sure the driveshaft would mount up) and then left it off for a few weeks which caused all the fluid to leak out and ruined the seal so I had to replace all that.

If you have an able bodied helper that can be available for a full weekend and all the parts lined up ahead of time it can be done in a weekend, but it's a lot of work.

[BlueCoupeRedVert]

Looks good sitting on the ground with the 98 Cobras man!

[BlueCoupeRedVert]

Really liking these fr500s lol..

[bird_dog0347]

Yeah, love those wheels on your car, but I also agree the hood isn't great.

As for my car, I found the noise that it was making that I thought was a dragging brake. Turns out it was the e-brake equalizer sitting on top of the drive shaft as my e-brake cables weren't tight enough to keep it up off of there. The PITA part of it was that I had to remove the exhaust and the drive shaft to adjust the cables and I also put in a hanger to keep it off the DS forever. It's all good now... I just need at least 1 new front tire, alignment and some stickers to start driving it.

[bird_dog0347]

So I finally got it all ready to go, stickers and all. I drove it to work last week and was pleased with it overall, but the rear tires rub on large bumps as they are 275 tires and are too wide for the 8" rim and the offset. Tonight I plan to try to swap the front and rear wheels as the fronts are 245/40/17 and while I know it will look goofy for a short while I want to see if they still rub in the back. If not I'll just swap the rear tires and drive the shit out of it for a while.

I also want to jack it up and check out all the bolts underneath on the IRS after putting close to 100 miles on it since getting it all done. It has a valve cover gasket leak which I hope to have time to address this weekend, and I need to check the header bolts as well since it almost sounded like a header leak while I was driving it but I'm also used to my nice quiet 2014 GT so it could just be I need to get used to the additional NVH.

[KBScobravert]

Sexy. What suspension is in the front?

[bird_dog0347]

Sexy. What suspension is in the front?

pretty basic for now, I plan to add all 4 MM Coilovers in the spring when I get my bonus.

Currently it's Tokico Blue struts, Eibach sportline springs, 94/95 spindles, 13" Cobra brakes, poly bushings in the front control arms, all front sway bushings, and MM solid rack bushings.

Rear springs are stock 04 cobra's with 1 coil cut and stock Bilstiens.

[Chas_svo]

Looks good.

[diablo rojo]

I want another coupe. Nice work!

[razrbak]

Looks great!

[BlueCoupeRedVert]

Dang.. Still have tire rubbing issues?? Maybe some 255s will work.

[bird_dog0347]

Dang.. Still have tire rubbing issues?? Maybe some 255s will work.

Yeah, today I swapped the fronts/rears (245/40 - 275/40) and I'll see tomorrow hopefully if it's decent weather if they still rub with 245's. Just looking at it in the garage I think I'll be ok with 245 in the rear, I'll just have to swap out the tires.

[bird_dog0347]

So the tires don't really rub in the rear with the 245's back there except when I hit a really big bump on the passenger side but I haven't rolled that fender so that should fix that issue.

I noticed a long time ago that it would leak a few drips of oil every now and then and finally got around to figuring that out. Turns out the passenger side valve cover was the source so I was thinking no biggie just new gaskets and be done with it. Well, looking closer I discovered the valve cover it's self is cracked (in two places I noticed after it came off) so I bought another one and cleaned it up and painted them. I had always wished I had taken the time to paint them when I did the intake swap but I was lazy and didn't and it looked like ass in there. Now it looks MUCH better.

Pic of the crack.



Old covers showing how crappy they looked.



So fresh and so clean clean....



Stock heads, stock rockers, very likely the stock cam...



That looks much better and no more leaks.

[bird_dog0347]

So I finally got a set of wheels that fit correctly front and rear with the IRS. Fronts are 18x8 +35 offset with a 245/40/18 and the rears are a 18x9 +45 offset with a 275/35/18 tire. I put a small 3mm spacer up front even though I didn't try it without it just to be sure they wouldn't rub, but otherwise they fit perfect.

It was really hard to find a set that had the right offset and size and actually looks decent on a Fox especially since the IRS is something like 3 inches wider on each side than a stock fox axle. The rears fit perfectly and tuck in just right. I'm not a huge fan of chrome but maybe someday I'll get them redone in a black chrome which I do like.

I need to get some better pics of it, but here they are from last night.

[bird_dog0347]

Here's better pics from a nice Sunday drive, love this weather!