Are K-members good for every day drivers
- Thread starter smithjp1
- Start date
crazypete
All my crevices are greased.
I have a groundpounder and its one of the thinner "flimsier" k-members with a-arms. My street is awful. HUGE WIDE potholes, ridges, bumps and this is in a "nice" suburban neighborhood outside boston. They really let maintenence go. With "C" springs, you're bascially thrown around the road as you hear wham wham wham. But the GP with coilovers has held up just fine. No cracks or anything like that. Helps if you lighten the front as much as you can when putting in the k-mem. Reduces load on the lighter tubular unit.
Go for it.
Oh...the lesser tubey k-mems are loud. The poly bushings scrawk, the coilovers creak and clunk. The front will be solid but it will sound very loose.
Go for it.
Oh...the lesser tubey k-mems are loud. The poly bushings scrawk, the coilovers creak and clunk. The front will be solid but it will sound very loose.
Curse
Member
crazypete said:
Interesting, I was thinking of getting a tubular k-member, but not to sure if I want my car sounding like it going to fall apart. Anyone else have the same experience with tubular k-members on a daily driver?
crazypete
All my crevices are greased.
Well, if you grease the poly bushings, theoretically they dont scrawk.
The higher end coilovers have the threads built into the strut rather than having a clunking sleeve that slides over the strut.
You get what you pay for but if you are willing to accept a little noise then you can get a tubular k-memeber, tubular a-arms and coilovers with your choice of rates for like $600 or so from musclemotors and mm's ebay auctions. I'm running their front end right now.
Like I said, I would not run this on the street unless you have lightened the nose a bit before....at least a battery relocation to the trunk. The k-mem looks strong enough but I would feel uneasy bouncing a full wieght GT around on top of it. AC delete and maybe some aluminum heads then you are gold.
The higher end coilovers have the threads built into the strut rather than having a clunking sleeve that slides over the strut.
You get what you pay for but if you are willing to accept a little noise then you can get a tubular k-memeber, tubular a-arms and coilovers with your choice of rates for like $600 or so from musclemotors and mm's ebay auctions. I'm running their front end right now.
Like I said, I would not run this on the street unless you have lightened the nose a bit before....at least a battery relocation to the trunk. The k-mem looks strong enough but I would feel uneasy bouncing a full wieght GT around on top of it. AC delete and maybe some aluminum heads then you are gold.
Curse
Member
stang22
Active Member
crazypete said:
There are only a few companies that have the threaded strut option. QA1 and Carrera are the only companies that I can recall that use this. Partly because they make their own struts and can do that. Maximum Motorsports, Griggs, and Granatelli (to mention a few) all come with the sleave that goes over the strut/shock. Just making sure we don't confuse anyone....
Tim
crazypete
All my crevices are greased.
oh yeah, forgot to mention:
you will need CC plates for the coilovers they do not work with the factory plates. They will punch right through the double thickness sheetmetal on your struttowers in short order.
some k-mems change the front geometry! Make super sure to ask about this or your tires will rub the wells on turns.
If your k-mem moves the rack (groundpounder did) , you wont be able to bolt up your steering ragjoint anymore. It doesnt matter either way since the ragjoint's flange where the rubber part is collided with the DS engine support.
Also....any k-member will not be a perfect fit. A little grinding will be necessary. I had to eye out 2 boltholes for the upper body to k-mem master bolts and I needed to cut away a piece of the DS engine support so it didnt bash the pan in since the back of the support was touching the pan and the motor wouldnt sit down.
If you do this swap, you might as well fulfill any desires to put in longtubes or new motor mounts as long as you have the clearance. Plus you can do this swap with the car on the ground and the motor instaled. You need 2 2-ton jacks, 1 under each subframe to lift the body then 3 scissors jacks to hold up the motor: 1 under the bellhousing doing the lifting, 1 under the front sump with mild pressure and 1 under the balancer with very light pressure. Then you can tip the motor as you work. Dont get too adventurous with the tipping and you'll be ok.
Good luck!
Pete
you will need CC plates for the coilovers they do not work with the factory plates. They will punch right through the double thickness sheetmetal on your struttowers in short order.
some k-mems change the front geometry! Make super sure to ask about this or your tires will rub the wells on turns.
If your k-mem moves the rack (groundpounder did) , you wont be able to bolt up your steering ragjoint anymore. It doesnt matter either way since the ragjoint's flange where the rubber part is collided with the DS engine support.
Also....any k-member will not be a perfect fit. A little grinding will be necessary. I had to eye out 2 boltholes for the upper body to k-mem master bolts and I needed to cut away a piece of the DS engine support so it didnt bash the pan in since the back of the support was touching the pan and the motor wouldnt sit down.
If you do this swap, you might as well fulfill any desires to put in longtubes or new motor mounts as long as you have the clearance. Plus you can do this swap with the car on the ground and the motor instaled. You need 2 2-ton jacks, 1 under each subframe to lift the body then 3 scissors jacks to hold up the motor: 1 under the bellhousing doing the lifting, 1 under the front sump with mild pressure and 1 under the balancer with very light pressure. Then you can tip the motor as you work. Dont get too adventurous with the tipping and you'll be ok.
Good luck!
Pete
89MustangGX
I have nothing productive to add!
crazypete said:
When they first came out, this seemed to be pretty common. Nowadays, you hear about them bolting up without any problems all the time. It may still be an issue with some brands -- or maybe just a quality issue -- but I think chances are if your car is straight it will go right in.
My AJE went in smooth. no grinding or prying or anything. I can only remember bending the brake lines a little to clear the coil over springs. that would have been the only "modifying" i had to do. the only thing i think that sucks with this is that I didn't get the a-arms tight enough the first time, so I have to jack up the motor, move the rack away just to tighten the front bolts for the a-arms.
for driving, I don't notice a single difference with it compare to the stocker. major plus is how much MORE room there is to do stuff when working under the car.
for driving, I don't notice a single difference with it compare to the stocker. major plus is how much MORE room there is to do stuff when working under the car.
millhouse
Founding Member
jerryD said:
And the fact that when you accidentally drop something down beside the engine, the car doesn't "eat it".
Good thread. Some good advise. Thanks to CrazyPete's advice I just ordered the Groundpounder K-member and A-arms from Muscle Motorsports. I asked muscle motorsports if I had to do any modifications to make it work and they said that most of the time there arn't any issues but sometimes, like anything else there has to be a little massaging. I hope everything goes good.
I don't wish to hijack this thread but I am interested in finding out what those K-members are that DO NOT change the wheel geometry. Every k-member I've seen so far does something with the front wheels. Some are a 1/2in. setback while others are more. What are those tubular k-members that keep the wheels in the stock location?
millhouse
Founding Member
millhouse
Founding Member
Daggar said:
Yes, you are correct.
AJE RACING
You do not have to get the dropped steering mounts. If your interested, your best bet is to give him a call. There are options to be had for no cost...depending on what you want.
Daggar said:
Well, besides the fact that weve had some abnormal, 90* days...along with the fact that I didnt have a radiator overflow bottle...just great.
Really though, it runs excellent. This past weekend some people at the hangout were curious as to what my car runs. Some people say I was "setup", but it really didnt bother me. I ran a guy that supposidly runs 12.8's and tore him up. I'm hoping to run mid-low 12's with the moderate 8lbs of boost. Once my cooling problem is straightened out...and I get a blow off valve I'll be turning up the boost and hoping for 11's.
For right now though, it's all speculation. I know it pulls like no other car I've been in.
crazypete
All my crevices are greased.
As far as I can tell, the groundpounder did not change the front geometry either. I have a wheel rubbing on the fender trim DS but the DS only. The wheel is centered so I figure I set up my coilovers a bit low.
ImportEater98
New Member
Daggar said:
***UPDATE***
Dagger, I posted an update on my k-member fitment thread if you or anyone is interested.
Thanks
-John
