C409

........ Finally got the Newman Car Creations Dana 44 housing today ... this will be the last chance for keeping the IRS under the Vette ... I will team it up with an Eaton True Trac Differential and some Tom's 4.33 gears ... this has been a long year with some expensive mods ... Built the 406 with 6" ProMod rods and Mahle slugs ... then the 4L60E with Rossler trans brake and TCI TCU Controller ... now the rear end ... I'm sure I'm going to face more obstacles ... But it costs money to go fast , and I wanna go fast ! .......... ..............






........ Here's the Line-up ... L to R ... Early D44 ... Late ... Newman ......





................. True Trac ......................

BrianCunningham

May need this in the future

best of luck

johnny rocket

I just had a friend take out the IRS and install a strange solid rear end and he says it handles and drives as nice as the IRS.

So I am curious why you would spend all that money on the IRS? Especially since your putting in some big power?

johnny rocket

Just to add to that I saw a video by Morrison Chassis.......I think you can you tube it.......they ran an IRS and a solid on the same chassis....no difference. One handled the same as the other...........I was surprised.

383vett

Nice C409. Looking forward to hearing about your results. That rear end looks really stout. Let me know how your Rossler transbrake works. I elected to go with dual calipers on each rear wheel instead. Sounds like your setup should haul.

rklessdriver

Good luck with it. Thats a nice case... Wish I had one.

My stock cased D44 with a spool made it all season without a problem... Best of 1.246 60ft and my car never did worse than a 1.36 this season.

Only IRS problems were a few stretched U Joint straps and finally 2 joints crushed the needles after 60 passes.

These things are plenty reliable for me.... maybe I'm the only one.

Will

STEVEN13

Good luck! Is the case thicker? Are the caps different?

johnny rocket

If you use the trans brake it will brake......I have had lots of cars with trans brakes......they are brutal.........not much difference in a foot brake to be honest......

JrRifleCoach

THAT'S the SPIRIT!

C409

..... Will , you inspired me to stick with the IRS ... my best 60' with 3.91s was 1.42 and that was in our muggy air and steam bath temps ... can't wait to get it in the car now that we've cooled off to the high 80s .......... .........

C409

..... Just for grins , ask your friend how much that strange axle set-up cost him ............. I'm curious , because if I break this I'll be going straight axle too ! .......................

C409

...... The case is heavy ... I haven't weighed it yet ... I'll post numbers soon , anyone have an OEM case to weigh for a comparo ? ... If you look closely you'll see that the case is bulgier (sp?) almost everywhere ... the caps look like billet and they're studded into the case ...........

C409

..... Newman weighs in at 15lbs 8oz ..... Anybody have an empty OEM case to weigh ? ...........

STEVEN13

Looking forward to the results. Looks like a nice case. What are you doing for the outta spindle/yoke?

I went with a Strange Alum 9". Hub to Hub with 4.11 and locker-$2600 shipped (wholesale cost). Of course that does not include the install The Fabricator is a good friend of mine who does high quality builds.

Regards,
Steve

WVZR-1

I thought there was some specialty "engineering" with your last build?

I'll get that for you. I don't have scales that are particularly accurate at lower weights but I'll carry one to town with me on the next trip.

**** I weighed it anyway and I believe you might want to maybe carry yours to some more accurate scales also to confirm. My NOS on my newer digital household scales did 18.8. I've no idea of the metallurgy comparisons of the two but you might want to confirm maybe your weight.

I weighed also a D36 and it was 16.4 on the household scale.

If yours weighs in at the 15.5 then it could very well be the casting procedure that allows the lighter weight. It's likely a "high pressure casting" vs a conventional casting and for comparisons you could relate it to the quality of OE wheels vs the after-market replicas.

**** I believe my weights are pretty close so I doubt I'll carry it to town. I weighed a 1 gal container of water and it came in at 8.5 so I believe these are pretty accurate. I had forgotten that I had bought these Taylor digital scales and it seems that it will do for maybe anything that's 5 lbs or greater. I checked a couple of lifting weights and they were very close also.

BrianCunningham

Sticking with the ZF, so looks like I'm good to go

C409

..... I put a new battery in the scale and got 20lbs 2oz ... still not 100% sure about the accuracy though ..........

PLRX

I don't race, but I swear that I got a stiffy by looking at that Dana 44.

mrc24x

I'm still drooling over the True Trac!

WVZR-1

Weigh a gallon of water - water is something 8.32 - 8.34 and my gallon in a plastic jug was 8.5 on my scale. You might be able to confirm from a brand/type of battery the weight of the battery that your scale displays as 20.2 A 75-60 Delco battery is displayed as 35 lb. A group 75 battery depending on brand is something 33 - 35 lb I believe.