Trans Am#5

Those of you running an aftermarket K-memeber, could you please post which you have, what springs and shocks you are using, if it's street(daily) driven and how the ride is (worse or better than before)? Also, what would you do different if you did it all over again?

iroc-si

Running PA racing's K member and a-arms with Moog 5662, and koni yellows, and rest of iroc setup. Ride is rough, but it works. car is very well glued to the road. haven't got it on the circuit yet, but it does handle well and is smooth sideways.

Don't think that the choice of kmember/a-arms makes much difference to ride. unless you go for the rod ended versions, which I don't have. springs/shocks/swaybar make the main difference.

Wouldn't change a thing if I did the mods again.

Si.

1983Fbody

Running profab kmember and aarms, drove the car daily for about a month last fall with the profab pieces. No huge difference in handling, car sat about 1" lower, plastic bushings they supplied with aarms need trimming and had to buy mounting bolts. I would still buy them again if I had to do it over, minor complaints. I was running generic progressive rate springs (cut) and gabriel vst shocks/struts. Because the car sat so low, it did bottom out a few times. Better to scratch up the crossmember than headers though.

Haven't drove the car with new suspension yet: koni yellows, eibach prokit, jegster adj. tq. arm and adj. panhard bar, rollcage tied into suspension mounts. Should be a lot stiffer, can't wait to take it for a rip!

-Ben

Trans Am#5

Thanks guys...anyone else?

Lo-tec

PA Racing mild steel K-member with mild steel Spohn A-arms, Koni yellows, and global west springs (750 lbs/in). The ride didn't really change with k-member and arms, although the front end dropped about 3/4" after swap. Fixed that with a set of rear spring spacers to get 1/2" of it back. Car is street driven and everything seems to work fine.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

you need to add those with the spring perch option.

i had coilover setup with hal springs using several different weights. tried koni orange/red didn't work as it was real sloppy. used koni yellow and it worked great but extremely stiff on any setting. had custom bilstein hd's valved and it worked better so i changed to eibach ers springs and played with the weight. made a huge difference with the right spring rate and bilsteins. still was a great handler but stiffer then my bilstein hd and eibach pro-kit up front. hated having to remove a wheel to dial down the coilovers too so i replaced the setup with air struts using a qa1 12 way billet piece. worked like a charm.

just bought my second air ride setup i liked it so much... the coilover setup leaves alot of room underneath but then you loose space for wider tires up front. the airstruts are even larger making it impossible to run anything wider then a 8.5" rim.

since i did do it again i'd say for my setup the coilover was better as it gave me more room but if i wanted to run wider tires then i would have opted for the spring perches. either way the tubular k-members in themselves are so much nicer as working on the car isn't a chore anymore.

good luck with your choice.

Trans Am#5

Thanks for your input guys...Kandied, that was very informative as always.
As you can tell, I'm trying to get as much feedback as possible form those running this type of setup.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

there has been alot of discussion on particularly the pa design and how many feel it isn't road worthy. however one thing to point out is they have been around for awhile. if this is just a street/strip weekend toy type of deal then you'll be thrilled with the amount of space to work with IF that's what you are going for. if you just looking to cut some weight i'd look to other options first. if you do end up going with a tubular k-member i doubt you'll regret it. makes working on things so much nicer. alot of people ask particularly with daily driven vehicles and i suppose it depends on your definition. when my car was together i put roughly 100 a week and 100 a weekend just playing. while that's only 800 miles a month it's still quite a bit for the application.

if you putting this on your commuter car that might see 100 a day who knows what could happen, then again if your spending that much i doubt you'll be anything but careful anyhow. unless your jumping ditches or decide to play chicken with another car they seem to hold up nicely from the ones i've experienced first hand.

either way, you'll figure it out.

Trans Am#5

I am looking for the room and my miles are similar to yours with the majority being put on for the Hot Rod Power Tour and Woodward Ave. Dream Cruise.
I am very interested in the BMR unit that just came out and my main concern is to not stiffen up the ride I currently have any more with the Eibach/KYB/polyurethane combo.
Sounds so far like coil overs with custom spring rates or the bags are the way to go.

REALPOWER

Just yesterday I put on my Profab member and a arms. Havn't had time to drop the engine in yet, have a few other things to clean up first. (like plumb the fuel system.) I heard that it will sit lower so I took my already cut springs and turned them a half turn which should make up for the difference in drip. The welds on the profab member look a hair sloppy, but for the price, it is an awsome piece. It felt really good to throw that piece of stock garbage in the Adult World dumpster.

I found this interesting 91candied


http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/124316/10

REALPOWER

By the way, Anybody have any pics of how they ran/supported the brake lines now?

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

well on my pa there were supports for it. haven't looked at my new setup but it should be the same.

Trans Am#5, do the conversion to tubular but keep the spring perches and pick whatever company you feel more comfortable with that fits your budget. coilovers aren't worth it on a car like mine or what your describing with yours and the air struts you'd need for the front are extremely expensive. the ride is great but it's a pricey investment. stick to the standard perches and you can reuse your equipment or replace with bags if that's a decision for you.

Trans Am#5

Thank you again....the decision is getting easier

I went down to 17x8's in the front instead of the 9.5's and things improved. I don't plan on ever going wider than that again with this car.

Living in Chicago, the car sees poorly paved streets 90% of the time with the other 10% being smooth highway use.

Lo-tec, would you say your ride is rough/harsh?

REALPOWER, any chance you can snap a pic of one of those sloppy welds for us?

I know the air ride setup is definitely what I'd like as far as ride is concerned but I have to ration out upgrades among 3 project cars so that will be put on hold indefinitely due to the cost.

REALPOWER

Ill see what i can do!

Lo-tec

Trans Am#5

I would not say the ride is rough/harsh, but it is definitely stiff. I've had the same setup for a couple years and it may be that I'm just used to it. The k-member and spohn arms did nothing to alter the ride quality. My car is not a daily driver, but I do drive it around a lot and am very happy. I would also go with spring perches to keep your options open down the road if you're considering airbags.


REALPOWER

I will try and snap some pixs tonite of the brake lines and post them later.

Lo-tec

REALPOWER, here are the pics:

driver side

Lo-tec

and pass side.

I reused the factory clips and bolts off of the stock k-member for the brake lines. Drilled a hole in the bracket below each motor mount and used the old bolt to tap the hole. These are the stock brake lines. A little bending and reshaping and they fit quite well without any extra slack. Under the pan and on the rear of the new k-member I used small pieces of rubber hose and zip-ties at the stock locations (4 in all).

REALPOWER

Cool man! Thats just what I was gonna do.. Thanks for the visual!

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

not to steer the topics away but a complete air ride system to get your rolling is no more then $1-200 more then a good set of eibach springs and strut shock combinations. if your roads are that bad i'd stick with spring perches, would not worry about the tubular parts though as you should be fine.

92heritageRS

I am also thinking about the PA K member and A arms with air ride. This thread has cleared up most of my questions. What air ride tech kit should I go with and what does it cost. My question is mostly on what compressor to choose as they affect the price the most. Thanks for the help. I will be using KYB shocks and struts due to the fact I already have them.

MrDude_1

but since they now changed it to ONLY replace the spring.... you'll have to add the cost of the struts and shocks back into that


raising the price far above a conventional coil spring setup

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

if you want a compressor get in touch with me at all4shw@yahoo.com as i have a new viair 450 which i'm selling to upgrade to the new 3/4" series for $230 shipped. as far as the kits themselves if your using stock spring perches just pick up their own 3rdgen front end kit. i assume they are still using the 4thgen cool ride rear setup which works well. as far as you shocks and struts i'd either pick up their own or recommend something else. you'll wear out the kyb's in one weekend. the art setup is valved to allow travel and the proper height where as you will be compresing the kybs over their recommended area which will cause a terrible ride and quick failure.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

i suppose your right if you don't have anything nice on your car. most will get away with what they have. depending on how picky you are of course that price does include them though. it's those who want a awesome ride with great handling and adjustment who only want to pay a few hundred dollars that are kidding themselves.

if you go online and pick out all the little parts that will nickle and dime you beyond the actual airbags and their mounting brackets you can easily fit that budget. obviously if you want a fast setup with complete 4 way control, the best ride possible your going to pay more. that goes without saying on any suspension setup though.

92heritageRS

If I choose to use springs and perches will my front sit hight due the the extra 100 pounds or so I will have off the front with the new K member.

92heritageRS

This site has them with free shipping http://www.suicidedoors.com/products...compressor.htm

Lo-tec

The new k-member takes off about 25 lbs, not 100. It will drop about 1/2" from just changing the k-member (not from weight loss, just the design).

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

there are alot more sites then that and they aren't the most reliable to buy for. mine was $289+shipping this time last year.

Spdfrk1990

I cant decide if i should go tubular k-memeber also when i get my air ride. Will the brackets mount to the aftermarket a-arms Kandied im sure they will take some modding tho.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

everything takes some slight modifying yes, however if you get a well made k-member, which just about all of them out there are you will be fine. I had the coilover conversion on the last car and it was a pa unit. I just put one of pa racings standard spring perch units with the front art kit and it wasn't much of a problem to make it all work.

I redid the coilover setup on my toy though, just not quite as sporty as i'd like it with standard bags all around. I am also running very tall bilsteins up front on the standard setup which doesn't help much considering the height of the car when compared to the qa1 shorter setup with the air struts. the air struts ride better then the bags up front, however the bags up front in the stock spring location still ride well as long as you run a 4 way setup.

I used pa for all three of my last k-members and the full art kit on my show car. the daily driver i just used their coolride bag setups front and rear and picked up some cheaper smc valves using basic plastic 1/4" air line . I also made my own guage setup to lower the cost of things which saved me another $250 versus the digital controller. the air setup on my convertible ran me $1,100 as i went a little wild with tanks, compressors and the electrical otherwise it would have been a few hundred less. Add another $1,500 though for the chromoly k-member, a arms, all new bushing setup and bilstein sports front and rear (all of which isn't a necessity). great kits indeed though as both work very well and considering the $5,000+ the coilover setup will run most it's well worth the savings in my book.

Spdfrk1990

Sounds good.

drain89

iTrader: (10)

I'm confused....are you saying that bilstein air struts are now available? I thought that only one set of air struts have ever been made for a thirdgen and those were on your old 91. Are you telling us we now have an option for airstruts?

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

nope i never said that. i used bilsteins up front with their new thirdgen front bag kit and reused my air struts on the other car. that's what i said above only i said redid and not reused so i can see how you got confused. look into chassis tech and air lift as they make air struts for thirdgens. they just don't use qa1's like the set i have.