[A Snake]

First, the Jag rear is Salisbury as previously noted.

I hate to contradict an expert like Tom, but I believe the Salisbury units were made by Spicer for Salisbury to specs similar to the Dana 44 (also made by Spicer)

Although the internals are very similar, there are differences, which prevent a true one for one interchange. The biggest differences are in the ring gear bolts which are larger in the Salisbury unit and in the pinion, which has a slightly different configuration for bearings and depth shimming. The carrier assembly is also different in some details other than ring gear bolts. A Salisbury ring gear will not work with a "44" carrier, without boring out the bolt holes in the carrier.

Now, that said, one can take an entire set of Dana 44 internals and put them in a Salisbury case. You just can't successfully mix the two without doing some jury rigging, such as spacer bushings for the ring gear bolts which is not recommended.

The Jag/Salisbury is the same case through the Series III 1987 models. From there on I don't know. For interchange, if someone wants 3.77 ratio like the S/C's and comp cars presumably had, I doubt one could find the Salisbury gear set new. A 3.73 Dana 44 set-up would have to be used. There are several "bastard" ratios in the Salisbury units that are not available in the Dana units.

I went through this "mixing"exercise with my Jag/Salisbury rear differential when the repair shop opened it up and found that my "builder" had mixed parts in it. Can you believe anyone dumb enough to mix a used ring gear from one rear end with the used pinion from another? Sheesh!

I've never been under a real Cobra to see how the diff is mounted to the chassis, but the Jag actually has a steel cage which holds the entire rear suspension and the cage in turn is fastened to the chassis.

I'd like very much to know how an original Cobra is hooked up if Tom would be so kind as to share that.

My Contemporary had a steel plate with four mounting holes in the center. The diff has female threads and it was simply bolted through from the top. Tough access with the body on. The plate bridged the frame rails across the rear and also acted as part of the mounting for the gas tank if I remember right.

Fill us in Tom....maybe with a picture?

Al