2005 GTO With IRS in the Nines

[GFORCE1320]

Originally Posted by Mark Keiser

Hey Chris,

How is the new rearend coming along?
Have you been selling many of the upgraded axels?

Hey Mark,
The 9" is on pause right now, I'm getting ready to do some testing on some new billet axle stubs that I'll be marketing soon. As soon as I am done testing them I'll get into the 9" IRS.
I've been super busy with the half shaft business too. The Australians have gotten word about my half shafts and a few fast guys down there bought some and started spreading the news and now they have been buying them about as fast as I can build them, LOL.. I've been selling a bunch here in the US also.

Chris

[powerjames]

Now that is a good problem to have!

[GFORCE1320]

I'm going to try and take the goat back out maybe this weekend and turn on both nitrous systems.
I spun a bearing this summer, that gave me an excuse to put in a big nasty nitrous cam.
I'm shooting for some 9.50's this time out

[powerjames]

Try to take some videos for us so you can upload them. Would love to see this beast launch

[Mark Keiser]

Glad to hear you got it all fixed.
Wish I was there to get you some better photos and video of the launch.

Be sure to update us after this weekend!

Not sure if you heard or not but I am in Austin now. If you head down this way for some winter testing let me know.

[GarageIncPerformance]

Very Nice Car, Like how the Direct Port Setup Looks

[powerjames]

Yeah, looks mean

[hsutton]

A friend of mine over at Team Chevelle has a Dana 61 based IRS that was designed by Strange Eng. for his '67 Corvette. It has been in his car for quite a few years now with no trouble. The car has a very heavy duty half shaft arrangement with 1480 "u" joints. He goes by the handle of 540 Hotrod and would be a person of interest in any problems encountered by this type of build. Strange built several of these for Super Stock class Corvettes in the sixties or seventies. Jim Moore's corvette runs nine nineties at trap speeds a little over 141 mph with a G Force five speed transmission and the Dana behind his 540 inch big block.

[powerjames]

Originally Posted by hsutton

A friend of mine over at Team Chevelle has a Dana 61 based IRS that was designed by Strange Eng. for his '67 Corvette. It has been in his car for quite a few years now with no trouble. The car has a very heavy duty half shaft arrangement with 1480 "u" joints. He goes by the handle of 540 Hotrod and would be a person of interest in any problems encountered by this type of build. Strange built several of these for Super Stock class Corvettes in the sixties or seventies. Jim Moore's corvette runs nine nineties at trap speeds a little over 141 mph with a G Force five speed transmission and the Dana behind his 540 inch big block.

Sounds like a really interesting rear end. He doesn't have any pics of it by any chance does he? Does Strange still sell these?

I think the IRS in these new Mustangs and GTO's (Corvettes also) is capable of some pretty intense horsepower with some of the upgrades that are out there, but it's nice to see there is another option.

How Heavy is a Dana 61? I've only heard of the Dana 60

[hsutton]

From what i was able to get from Jim, the Dana 61 is exactly the same externally as the Dana 60. There seemed to be some internal differences that required some modification to the ring gear thickness. Strange modified the Dana 60 back when Corvettes were popular in S/S racing, sometime in the very early seventies and as far as i know Jim's is the only one that has been made in the last few years. Most dedicated drag racers just put a solid rear end in them now. You might try to get more information from Jim over on Team Chevelle, under the name "540Hotrod". Most S/S racers switched over to solid axle rear ends because they were more efficient than the IRS setups.