I seemed to have bent my k-member, and I've been qouted from 200-500 bucks to get it pulled. I could buy a new one; or I should say a slightly used one for less than that. But is it worth the hassle? Cause I'll have to do something with the motor, and all the other crap attached to it.

 

i have never done one before..

however looking at everything, if you can afford a new one, and afford new bushings, ect for the front end, i would just rebuild the whole front end at the same time and do the swap.... for the motor, i would just support it seperatly, and drop the crossmember from under it......*shrug*


but as i said, ive never done it before.... athough that is how i would tackle it if i had to.


can i ask what you did to bend the thing?

 

I slid int a curb at 40 or so like three weeks ago. Shattered both wheels. I noticed the driver wheel sat back an inch or so farther than it should, and the first time I had it looked at, they said replace the strut, it looked bent. Did that. Same. Next time, control arm. So I got the new arm, all the bushings and what not, pulled the old one out today, and they look exactly the same. ****.
It looks like its bent right where the rear mount for the front control arm is. The one bracket is cracked, right on the factory weld. I guess from the force of it moving.
As for the rest of the front end, everything is a year old. Last winter I did ball joints, tie rods, idler arm, steering arm, wheel bearings, and installed a tds wonderbar.

 

I would spend the money on a tubular k-member. A few members here have them and love them. Stronger and lighter than stock plus amazing clearance around the motor. No use spending 500 to fix your when you can spend 500 on a much better aftermarket one. Spohn is coming out with his street version shortly. You may want to give him a call and get the low down.

 

I decided to avoid putting my car back together and spent the afternoon reading about the tubular k-members. I think I'm gonna save some cash and get one. But I'm gonna wait till I swap out my v6 and do it at once. If Spohn has his out by then, I'll get that. If not I might get the PA racing tubular k-member, despite what some people say. i read through a bunch of Kandied's posts about it, and I trust his opinion about it.
But yeah Shifty, I'd rather pay 500 bucks for a shiny new frame than getting mine fixed or buying a another used one. It just sucks, cause I don't want to be hassled by repair work, I'd rather be upgrading.

 

Now you are thinking like you should. Way to many advantages not to go with one. BMR makes one to if you cannot wait fdor Spohn's.

 

I dont know whats been said about it but I have one in my car, along with their coilovers and tubular control arms for the last two years with absolutly no complaints - tons of street miles and many,many 10 second passes.

If I had to replace the stock K-Member in a car I'd do another PA chrome moly unit in a heartbeat.

HTH,
Steve

 

Nice, thats what I want, the chromoly one, with the control arms. I really don't want to do coilovers though. I'd rather keep my stock style setup, along with the stock steering system too.
Hey Shifty, do you by chance have a link to the BMR one? I did a quick search and only found 93-02 k-members.

 

I'm sure you know this but they make it with spring perches on the k-member and a-arms which will make it a complete bolt in that I'm sure you'll be happy with.Just to reassure you with regards to it's strength,like I said I've had mine for two years and drive it to work all the time during the summer months which means driving it all over NYC including lower Manhattan - if it didnt break on the streets here there's no street it cant go on

HTH,
Steve

 

Not to throw a wrench into the works here. But you may want to have the rest of the frame checked out too. If the K member shifted any, then the places where the bolts thread into may be a bit ugly. Just something to check out.

 

Yeah I wouldn't doubt it. Everything else I looked at seemed to be bent, so I pretty much expect the worst at this point.

 

Yup you are correct and they only make them for 4th gens. I was wrong. I checked as well because I swore they made one but I was wrong. Sorry bout that.

 

If I were in that situation I would hit up the local junkyards. Was the price you quoted just the labor charge, or did it include the cost of a used part too? I cant see that piece costing more than $100 at the yard, more like $50 if you're gettn a deal. And if you DIY you can save even more $$. The tubular pieces are pretty expensive when compared to the used stock pieces. If you can justify the cost, and thats what you want, then go for it.

Also remember when you remove the k-member from your car, you will also have to remove the brake lines for the front brakes. So if you were thinking about going with steel braided lines in the front, now would be a good time.

 

Actually I was, just not now. i was hoping to do the ls1 brake swap, but it looks like thats on hold for a loong time. The few hundred is for me to keep my stock piece and have it pulled. I was told 150 to mount it to the machine, then more per the hour to pull it. I'm sure I could get another stock piece, but I don't know, I don't like replacing parts with stock parts. I've been slowly upgrading everything I come across. I'm not ready to suck it up and get a new/used stock k-member. Besides, a tubular one would be so great.
This morning when I discovered that the frame was bent, I didn't know what i wanted to do, but I think now I really got my mind set on saving up for the tubular. Besides, the car is driveable, it just doesn't like making sharp left hand turns or pulling into parking spaces at the grocery store.

 

ouch man sorry to hear about your car. damn curbs!!

 

not to offend you or your car or anything

but between the V6->V8, the brakes, im sure you want new gears and various other things... the high chance of the chassis being tweeked, ect.....


i think you may be better off just selling it and buying a diff car.

 

Yeah MD, it happens.
Mr Dude, You are absolutely right, and no offesnse taken. I'm notorious for doing things that don't make sense though. I think the only reason I want to do this is because 1. it was my first car, 2. I like to do alot of work, just not the maintenance crap. Like when I got my exhaust or my wonderbar, I was so excited to get down in the garage and start working. With this, I bought a contro arm last thursday or something, and my car still isnt put together yet. But let me get my motor, I'll spend evry waking second down there getting it in there.

But realistically, after getting a good nights sleep and thinking about it, I think I'm gonna get a stock replacement k-member, tubular control arms w/perches. I'm gonna wait till the motor is ready to go in then do it all at once.

 

I've looked into the K-members myself but I've heard they are too weak for road course/autoX. Is this true? I would love to toss one in my car. I'm tearing it down to the shell and having it painted and then installing everything you can buy for one of these cars so the whole car is brand new. I don't want to put everything back together and find out it's good for raod courses.