has anyone swapped one of these in a third gen? cause theres c5/c6 rolling chassis on ebay going for around 5-10k and if this was possible that would be one hell of a deal...

 

Nobody has. There have been IRS rears put in other cars (i know of a local LS1/T56/CTS-V IRS Mazda Miata!), but no Tansaxle IRS swaps yet.

You wanna be the first?

 

ya i think itd be sweet. kinda have the best of both worlds. the only thing that im worried about is the length of the drive shaft. my bro has a 99 vette and he said that the drive line is in either an aluminum or stainless tube(i cant remember which he said it was) .. ill do some reashearch and see what i can dig up..

 

Some issues:

1) Your wheelbase will be set by the length of your drivetrain. The driveshaft assembly is inside a cast aluminum tube, riding on 4 high speed bearings. Altering its length will be very costly. East Coast Supercharging makes high strength driveshafts, and they run right at $1000. Any driveshaft you have made will have to be precision machined within pretty tight tolerances for the front and rear bearings to align properly with each other and in their housings.
2) The aluminum tube will have to be altered if altering driveshaft length. This tube also contains the shifter linkages inside of it, so the only chance you will have is altering it between the front bearing/input shaft assembly and the shifter, and this tube will also set your shifter position. I would imagine trying to alter the tube behind the shifter will require you to alter the shift linkage, then good luck trying to get it to shift properly.
3)the only other option is setting the rear cradle in place, then putting your engine infront of it with an unaltered torque tube, then whereever it ends up is where you put your motor mounts. then hope the shifter position works for you. And the trans will be right where your gas tank is now, so plan on a fuel cell behind the axle in the well area.
4)unless your leaving the engine bolt on only, standard C5 diff cases have only a single cast aluminum rib, so they flex alot under power. Z06 cases have 3 ribs, and C6s have a multi rib case. If it's an auto car, factory gearing will be 2.73 and if its a manual it'll be 3.42.
5)many other differences, such as tranny gearing between the hatchback and fixed roof coupe/Z06, and the actual diameter/size of the torque tube itself will be limiting factors.

 

ok well i did a lil research and found out that the third gen has a wheel base of 101.0''. the c6 is 105.7'' wheel to wheel and 174.6'' entire length. and the c5 is 104.5'' wheel to wheel and 179.7 entire length.

so what do you guys think of this idea? i think it could be done with a little hard work and determination.

correction alot of hard work...

 

wheelbases are similar, but the vette has a lot of engine setback, so you might end up with a shifter between the seats or motor against the firewall. What you need are the measurements between the bellhousing face and the rear wheel centerline. and from there you'll need the shifter location from either of those points. i can get the measurements for you in a week or two, i'm pulling the body off of one flood damaged 99 C5 and putting the body from another with a clean title on it, so i'll have access.

 

ya thatd be awesome. i would greatly appreciate that if you could email em to me at danieljcossey@gmail.com. oh and would you mind takin some pics too?

 

No prob.

 

You will have to back half the car to get the IRS parts to fit. Much of the strength of the unibody will be lost, so I would suggest using a custom built rollcage to tie everything together. You will definately need a fuel cell. The stock tank area is going to go away, so you could flatten the floor in the hatch well to get a decent size fuel cell to fit. I'm certain that the torque tube can be shortened, as can the shift linkage. You will have to be able to cut and weld it back together. Don't get me wrong it has to be done with the utmost precision, but there are machine shops that can do it. It will be a lot of trial and error to get it all to work, but anything is possible if you're willing to cut the car up and make the required changes.

The biggest obstacle is cost. I can't see the cost being justified. As a showpiece and to be the only guy in the world who has one; then maybe it's worth it to you. In the quest for better handling you'd be better off to stick with the stock style setup and upgrade it. These cars can easily be made to outhandle a new Corvette. Plenty of autocross guys are pulling over a g with 3rd gens.