Originally Posted By: Throckmorton
Ford Mustang Rear Axle:
This car is based on the old Lincoln LS/Jaguar S-Type platform. Both of those cars had an independent rear supension.
When Ford designed the Mustang they didn't need need to design a cheap solid axle rear suspension. They had the existing machine tools and existing IRS design from LS/S-Type available. They literally designed a new rear axle and created new tools to stamp out the axle to save on the marginal cost of the new cheaper rear supension.
How much were they honestly going to save?
That said, the Mustang's six cylinder engine is quite impressive.
Ford using a solid rear axle is because that's what the majority of the customers wanted. Ev erybody loved the 03-04 Cobra's but a TON of people swapped out the IRS for a solid axle because they drag raced them. This is also the reason the next gen Cobra came with the solid axle.
The axle is still the 8.8. Nothing new about it except mounting hardware in different spots.
Ford Mustang Rear Axle:
This car is based on the old Lincoln LS/Jaguar S-Type platform. Both of those cars had an independent rear supension.
When Ford designed the Mustang they didn't need need to design a cheap solid axle rear suspension. They had the existing machine tools and existing IRS design from LS/S-Type available. They literally designed a new rear axle and created new tools to stamp out the axle to save on the marginal cost of the new cheaper rear supension.
How much were they honestly going to save?
That said, the Mustang's six cylinder engine is quite impressive.
Ford using a solid rear axle is because that's what the majority of the customers wanted. Ev erybody loved the 03-04 Cobra's but a TON of people swapped out the IRS for a solid axle because they drag raced them. This is also the reason the next gen Cobra came with the solid axle.
The axle is still the 8.8. Nothing new about it except mounting hardware in different spots.