thunderbird irs

anyone running a thunder chicken irs post pics please, would that be ths same lug pattern as a yota conversion

Bolt pattern: No the bolt pattern is 5 on 108. I think only a few saabs had that pattern. I do remember DOUGIVKS bitching almost constantly about that bolt pattern when he had a SuperCoupe.

Also, being a fullsize car, it is really wide. Garrick and laynrockers have used a T bird IRS in their mazdas (look them up in the people finder, garrick is SSM-editor), and Kustomwerks narrowed the control arms and axles several inches to let it fit their trucks.

I had this planned out a while back. 87-88 Thunderdird Turbo Coupe had an 8.8" Ford rear end with IRS, Disc brakes(with e brake) and about the same width as the stock mazda rear end...58.5"
The Thunderbird axles can be changed out for 2 Pass side (maybe 2 driver's side?)axles from a Ford ranger, giving you a 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern. Check the Ford forums...there is a lot of info on this axle swap.

the 83-88 t birds were all solid rear axle, not IRS.

And from what I read, the 83-88 t-bird rear ends were 62 inches wide, not 58.5. Tooo wiiide. Even a small, lets say an inch, increase in width split over both sides would need an extra 12mm offset, so right now if you need +39 to tuck, you would need +51. So a 62" width rear in place of the 59" mazda rear would need an extra 1.5" backspace on each side. Essentially, that would mean 7 inches of backspace on a 7 inch wide wheel. Thats +85mm offset. I wonder if bonspeed would make those?

If swapping rears, and given a choice, I would go narrower than stock. My next truck is going to tuck full reverse wheels. Thats -25mm offset. (no, not +25)

the 89-97 tbirds along witht he mark VIII's have the IRS, 8.8". Not all had disc brakes though. All the super coupes do and then various other models. I believe all the Marks have disc as well as aluminum lower arms.

the bolt pattern is 5x4.25 which sucks. they can easily be redrilled to 5x4.5" though. Also you can use hubs out of a mustang cobra. It must be a cobra though to match the 28 spline axles.