PA Racing Chromoly Tubular Front K-member

 

Neato. How tough of a project was that? I love the look of that opposed to that huge metal mass.

 

took about 6 hours, 3 to disassemble everything, and 3 to assemble it all, very easy install..

Now for the roll bar ..........

 

Nice powder coating job

 

weight difference?

 

Neat job!

What bolts did you require to bolt it to the car, and connect the A-arms to the k member? I would really appreciate info on the exact size, and grade of bolts you used. I'm about to fit the exact setup on my car, but without taking out the motor!

Also what motor mounts are you planning to use? Just re-use the old ones or ???

Cheers,

Si. :lala:

 

Looks great. Im definitely doing that the next time the engine is out (which with my luck will be within a year lol).

 

Looks good, but I have to say that those spring perches on the A-arms look a little scary. Seems to me they should be a little more stout.

SnkSknrZ28, is your car a daily driver?

 

I was wondering the same. Unlike the top of the spring thats flat, the bottom is not and the stock A-Arms are angled to hold the spring in at the bottom. Those look like they are just flat??

 

SLP IROC-Z, Weight difference between the stock kmember and arms vs the chromoly stuff is pretty substantial, i didn't actually weigh it all but i can say that my ride height (at the passenger side, front corner ground effect of my iroc, directly in front of the tire) with the engine bay totally gutted was 11.25" with the stock kmember and a-arms, after the chromoly swap is sat 13" high.. Time for some lowering springs i think

iroc-si, As for the bolts i used, when i removed the stock front k-member i pulled out 3 different size bolts, one 1 1/2", one 5" and one 5 1/2", all were metric, grade 10.9 (equivalent to a grade 8), i replaced them with three 1 1/2", grade 10.9 bolts.. And for the A-arms i reused the stock bolts cuz they were in perfect form (my car is flawless and has no rust so my bolts under the car all look new )

BretD 88GTA, Yes my car is a daily driver, i drive it everyday, drive it to the track pull the front wheels off the ground, run 10's in the 1/4 (just on motor ) and drive it home. So i guess i'll find out first hand if its strong enough or not I will be keeping a close eye on it though..

 

looks good!

 

Neat install SnkSknrZ28 - thanks for posting the pics.

Is the lower surface of the new K-member wrapped up in those pics, so that when you lower the engine back in that you don't damage the powder coating?

 

you shouldnt be hitting the engine on the K member anyway... not only is it smaller and farther forward... but your oil pan will hate you if you hit it.

 

Well yes and no, i wrapped the lower part so when i slid the kmember under the car (on the garage floor) i wouldn't hurt the powder coating, now that its installed i have unwrapped it.. And as said b4, if ur engine touches the Kmember u have problems haha..

Thanks for the compliments, the project is continuing, more pix to come soon.. Next week = roll bar install

 

Just for the RECORD..that height difference is kind of meaningless.... To swap a k-member you basically remove springs etc etc.... so by default the car will sit higher when the suspension has never had a load on it... Plus you swapped 2 componets that have a direct impact on where the car will sit with a given spring...

It would be like me posting Im removing this plasitc retaining clip from under the front end of my car..... I measured the height of the car...then jacked it up, removed the clip and set the car back down...Now it sits 2" higher.... wow what a savings... LOL

Not trying to flame but that measurement is meaningless...

 

where is the sway bar ??? do u have a pic of the a arms struts and spindels (outter part of the suspention)

 

its there...a little rusty though.

 

???

Sway bar was removed, i'm not re-installing it.. I'm a street/strip kinda guy, not a corner carver..

 

i was looking at this not thinking....

 

Very nice!!!

Do you think that swapping the K member requires removing the engine? I would really like to do that as my next big job on my Z, but I am not looking to pull the engine again. Waddya think...

 

I'm planning on doing just that. What you have to do is get the car sitting on chassis stands, then disassemble the front suspension (you'll need a coil spring compressor - available for not much from advance, or for hire from autozone?), then use an engine hoist to take the weight of the engine, then unbolt the k member, and replace. Careful with the brake lines that run on the top surface of the k member!

Sounds simple..... but I'm sure I'll be cursing at the thing throughout

Si.

 

Too bad I don't have the money for the K member right now. My car is sitting on a lift at work with the front all taken apart!!

BTW, I didn't need a spring compressor to get the stockers out...

 

ya i didn't use a spring compressor either when i did mine, i had the chassis on jackstands and when i loosened the nut for the A-arms i had a jack under it, when i popped the nut off, i just lowered the A-arm down, when u get to the bottom u must be careful the spring doesn't shoot out, it still has a little load on it, i put on some gloves, put my foot on the A-arm, pushed it down with my foot and pulled the Spring out with two hands, hang on when she pops

bubbs377... Sorry man, i dont have a pic of what u asked for yet.. Right now i'm in the middle of installing my Subframes and 8pt. Roll Bar. When i get done with it i'll post some pix of that and i'll snap a few of what u asked for as well.

 

Why do you guys take the risk with these springs? Just spend the 30 bucks and do it properly!

Si. :lala:

 

heck, why spend $30? they're free to rent from autozone. and you need one to re-install the spring anyway.

 

Personally it would cost about $1000 to go to and from autozone! One of only a few disadvantages from living in sunny scotland....

So borrowing them was not really an option when you have to go 5000miles to get to the nearest autozone.....

Si. :lala:

 

i ended up just putting a chain around my spring, removed the sway and strut mounts, and caliper, lowered arm down without removing the rear bolts on it, then yanked it out by the chain.

Where did you get the new lightweight k-memeber from?

john

 

Any news yet on how the spring perches on the a-arms are holding up?

I'm rebuilding my front end right now and would like to know if this stuff will hold up to daily abuse mixed with the occasional road course.

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

I've been running the PA mild steel A arms w/spring perches on the street for over a year with no problems.

I can say so far that the durability on PA's K member/A arms is not an issue.

 

i was noticing the spring perch on the A arms, they arent indexed like the stock a arms are. do they give u a special spring isolator or somethin so the spring sits right?

 

lol, no one knows?

 

There are spring isolaters right on the Aarms, just hard to see, here's a couple pix, see if this helps..

 

Hmm, I never noticed that. I just indexed the spring like stock and it sits fine. But they don't give you any isolators or anything like that.

EDIT: After reading the above post I see what you mean now.

 

i realize there is a perch on those A arms. but i do know for a fact that the bottom of our front springs are not flat. the perch on those a arms looks flat in the pictures. im just curious as to how the spring sits in there the right way.

 

no relevance to the fact but i love the new color on the NOS bottles!

those with these setups, what are you doing for bumpstops. i need to put mine back on and not sure what to do.

 

lol, i was just going to comment on that too...

i was going to ask if that was the lighting or what that made the NOS bottle look that color.

 

So are those spring perches capable of handling normal street abuse? They look somewhat flimsy, but then again I have no metal skills.

 

They look down-right lethal to me. I don't like how the supports are just butt welded to the tubes. If one weld were to break, it wouldn't be long before the others gave in to stress.

I wonder why they don't have the supports overlap the tubes. Kind of like a "J" bend on the ends that sits on top of the tube, then welded. That would do a better job IMHO and be stronger.

 

i don't understand how these companies can get away with such rediculous products, i mean so many people buy them and use them.............they're insane!

 

Yea I mean....thier is never any room for improvement... First design is always best...

:lala: :lala: :lala:

 

so true, preach on brother man....

:lala:

 

Okay, let's not go over board.

If you're having good luck with them on a daily driver, that's great. But personally, I still feel that the design needs to be a tad better for street use.

Hotchkis won't go near making tubular A-arms for our cars. Due to the stress the A-arms see on the street they feel there is too much testing and R&D involved, not to mention D.O.T. approval, and as a result they couldn't offer them at an affordable price. They also probably don't forsee selling enough units to offset any R&D costs.

Keep in mind, PA Racing desiged all their stuff for drag racing only and there's a big disclaimer right on their site stating that.

PA Racing Disclaimer
Use of this Product is acceptance of seller's disclaimer of warranty

The purchaser is responsible for inspections before installing products. Neither the seller nor PA Racing Inc. will be responsible for any loss or damage or injury from any cause including defects of PA Racing Inc. products. PA Racing Inc. products are NOT D.O.T. approved or intended for street use. Buyer agrees to indemnify and hold Sellers harmless from any claim,action or demand arising out of incident to the buyers installation or use of products purchased from PA Racing Inc.

 

what's overboard....i was agreeing with you. i don't blame those of you worried, hell i was worried too. after using it i'm not but it took awhile.

 

Whoops! My bad. I thought you were bagging on us for questioning their durability.

 

nope, it's fine to question which is why different additions are about today. however so long as they are questions and not accusations based on looks that's fine with me. most ignorance is blind, not saying anything is being spoken here. i agree that they do look a little on the flimsy side for certain situations..........they work though so do what you have to do and question on.

 

Hmm, i understand why everyone freaks out about it not looking as strong as stock but thats just cuz its a light weight Tubular design, whats stronger a tube or stamped frame? What do they make Perfessional Drag cars out of? Exactly, Tig Welded Chromeoly.. This is the way i look at it : It is considered a racing piece, What is more abuse, me lifting the front tires 2 feet off the ground, slamming it back down and running 130mph in the 1/4, OR just cruising around the streets doing 40-45mph.. Personally i'm a bit more worried about driving it at the track but oh well, its a toy and i need to do some weight reduction, i havn't heard of ONE incident yet of somebody killing themselves because of it. I mean KandiedZ has said time and time again he Drags it, AutoX's it, and Street drives it and it shows no sign of failure, what more do u need?

Well if it breaks on me then i'll strenghten it up, or if i total my car i'll just go buy a Vette

 

well just as most said it does look rather lacking in the strength department....i have no complaints about that argument as it does look that way. don't know what to say other then it works and no one has yet to have shown a documented case where it broke under normal conditions but i for those who do alot of serious auto-x and the like i can definately see the desire for something that can take the abuse........most of those guys seem to stick with the stock setup that i've seen though.

 

I don't question the strength of the materials or the tubular design. It's the actual construction that has me speculating.

The weld points for the spring perch supports are the weak links in the chain as I see it, judging from the pictures. If a weld were to fail, then you'd have a problem.

IMHO, street use will inflict more stress on the A-arms. Anyway, with a small design/construction change I feel those A-arms would be better suited for all-around use.

Too bad these never panned out. Read the 7th post down from JERRYWHO.
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...ht=Global+West

 

Does anybody have pics of the AJE or Pro Fab a-arms? I've heard that the AJE units are beefier, but cannot find any pics to compare to the PE units. Help please? I'm looking for a tubular a-arm to fit my stock (for now) k-member and will withstand the abuse of daily driving. I've heard a lot of good things about all three brands, but I still feel the need for a visual comparason. Thanks.