well i really like my pa racing member. it was 455 shipped to my door, took 3 and a half wks to get. and went in fairly easy. my a-arms are also pa but i got them on ebay thru thunder racing. and they were 177 so not bad all and all. it does look so much better, is lighter, and gives so much more clearance for headers!!!

 

think one of these would hold up to daily driving? i don't autocross or even push my car that hard going around turns (has an iron headed sbc in a car equiped with v6 springs and worn out struts)

 

my pro fab setup is a "road race" setup, vern said it will hold up to daily driving, but if it does ever break, he will replace it or refund. i remember reading a post of his on a ls1 board that he said if he didnt trust his products, they wouldnt be on his car that he drives his kids to school in. i got mine for 455 shipped and that was k member and a arms.

heres my mess

 

jees...look at all that room...:drool:

 

for this



383, 10.77:1
Lunati crank and rods
SRP pistons
afr 210
large solid roller
single plane efi
hooker 2110s

i just got it back yesterday so i gotta brag a little bit

 

correct me if a i wrong, but i was under the understanding that pa racing used to be pro fab???? k-member looks exactly the same! could i be wrong??

 

So is that basically it for the advantages? It's lighter, looks better and gives more clearance?

Does it really do much for handling or stiffness in the front end? Did you guys notice much of a difference in the feel of your car afterwards?

 

I would assume that taking weight off the front end is the major advantage for doing this,Thats why i'm swapping it in.Oh and the clearance increase is really helpful too.

Kag-thats a supprising difference in price between what you and Bigdave payed..I was under the impression that the "RoadRace"option K-member was more expensive than the "standard" one.

 

I've talked to vern several times about the k-members for thirdgens and he doesn't charge to add the extra bracing for road racing/street use. I set up a group purchase awhile back and we got them for a hell of a deal. If anyone else wants one ask him about the GP and see if he'll still honor it? otherwise sometime this winter i may try to set up another GP.

 

Ya i'm working on it, i do need it bad especially for this next summer when a 250 shot of juice gets tossed in the mix

bigdavesiroc: i have Hooker LTs

 

Mines been in almost a year, and I do push it hard, even though it's not my daily driver. No problems yet. Just plan on a set of a-arms also, because the stock ones won't fit without some "modifications". It does increase the room under there immensely!!

 

well then, i may just have to try to pick up one of these badboys!

 

For those of us who are newer here..who is "Vern"...I'll deffinatly talk to him.I'd love to pick it up for the group purchase price..would save me some much needed money that can be used in other areas...I got a few mustang guys around here runin their mouths i need to put em back in their places

 

Vern is the owner of Pro-Fab racing here's the link from the GP https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...light=k+member

 

great thanks for the link..looks like i'll be making a phone call or sending an e-mail in hopes of picking up this part for Group Purchase price

Did you pick yours up yet or are you still waiting to purchase..cause it looks like there are quite a few people who would benifit from another shot at a GP of one of these.

 

im waiting on the next round i had an incident that took all my money at the time. So I'll be looking into another GP

 

here it is

 

here it is???

 

ok, so i don't know how to post pics here, but here is a link to my cardomain site. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2190059

hopefully this works. Hopefully my car drives in the next 6 months!

 

What scares me is the look of flimseyness from the Spring perches. The steeel looks thin with small welds. Has anyone ever had one pop the welds loose or something?

 

I would like to know how those K-members are for the street? I am running 3 1/2 front wheels so not alot of force on corners.

 

throughout the thread there are a few people that mention that they run theirs on the street and have no issues. i'm really interested in running one of these, but i'm loyal to friends of mine and they've been screwed by PA a few times....i may be going BMR or waiting till spohn gets his act together and puts his out...

on a side note, i was at PRI down in Orlando yesterday and today and went to talk to the guys at BMR and was really impressed with their work. they just put out a similarly designed torque arm to that of the one Spohn puts out with it's crossmember mount. but it uses an adjustable bracket where the ta mounts to the crossmember with a poly bushing instead of the slide-link heim joint that Spohn is using. very interesting.

 

I have mine in with hookers and my 383 matted to a T-56. I got pics on my site or i can post here if anyone is interested. Clearance is great!

 

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just to compare the two

 

[IMG][/IMG]
and installed.

 

Heres a link to a pic of mine...

BTW your going to want a strut tower brace. the Kmember makes the frontend feel like a wet knoodle..

http://www.team3rdgen.com/modules.ph...view_photo.php

 

I've heard that aftermarket K members are dangerous to use unless it's solely for track use. They crack and such. Can anyone confirm this or is this B.S.?

 

I haven't heard of one cracking, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. If something happens to mine I will post about it, but until then I'm going to continue to drive it like I stole it.

 

How hard is it to install one of these with the engine in the car, since you have to undo the motor mounts and such?

 

Depends on your mechanical ability. If you know your way around a car, it's not bad at all. Pull the control arms, unbolt mounts, jack the motor and support it, unbolt misc. crap, and remove the k-member (an extra set of hands helps). Re-install in reverse order.

 

I have just recently installed a TDS wonderbar, Hotchkis adjustable panhard bar & Lakewood boxed control arms. I already have an Eibach Pro kit and Koni (yellows) adjustable shocks, my entire front end suspension has been rebuilt except for the sway bar stuff. I am planning on getting the PA racing tubular K-member, but now after seeing the posts about cracking, I am paranoid. Did you guys go with the mild steel ot the chromoly? And is it safe for a car that is set up for handling and riding stiff like mine? I am buying my TDS sub-frame connectors on Monday, and would like to get the rest of my suspension stuff done before my motor is ready.

 

I don't think you would have anything to worry about when it comes to cracking. The tubes most likely will never crack, but if you were to say hit something pretty hard you would be able then to break a weld. Of everyone one here that i have noticed, no one has broken a weld. But don't quote me on that. I just haven't read anyone saying they have.

 

Lo-tec, you called me to talk about those things cracking before you ordered yours…

Cracking, not exactly, but a lot of the stress points on them don’t tend to be attached the strongest way possible. If you do a search around the ‘net you’ll find some pics of PA and a few other K members with the LCA pivots pulled right out of the tube.

I’ve said it before, I’m not a big fan of these things in anything besides dedicated drag race applications. Lo-tec has a slightly different definition of safety then the rest of us. At the track we take a similar approach (though I usually go faster ), but on the street I’ve always felt like I should be wearing a helmet and nomex shorts while riding in his car…

 

http://66.83.134.202/travis/Kmember/
the ones in there arnt mine.
the ones in the sub directories in there are mine.

 

how is the handling with one of these? i would think tubular arms would increase stickyness to the road

 

Thats going to depend on if they are any stronger to deflections than a stock setup or not. Nobody that I know of has any hard data on it so... your guess is as good as anybody else.

I doubt anyone has or will break a weld, its the arms/tubes that are failing next to the welds. Most of that is probably due to weakening of the tubing from the welding process, and some of it due to trying to transfer load from one member to another in a way that the part isnt designed to really handle. Couple that with the weakening of the tubing and you've got a problem on your hands.

Interesting post. Personally I'd take my chances with the mild steel over the chromoly.

 

naa.

unless someone told you, you couldnt tell the diff.

 

rack and pinion

 

Pics of my PaRacing Kmember installed along with spohn a-arms and front end rebuild kit.

 

i love resurrecting old threads, here it is installed.

 

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Pic of David Houser's Big Block third. gen

 

Here are some great pics of a PARACING K-member from the underside:

click for incredible wheelstand pictures---> http://paracing.com/article_info.php?articles_id=5

Here are some killer installed and before and after k-member pictures:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/powe...ml#post1574950

here are the complete collection of pictures I took of a k-member/coil over install:
http://www.outlawperformance.com/ima...mods_09-25-04/

 

im gonna jump on the resurection train here and ask, how do you jack up the front of the car with a tubular k-member?

 

I jack mine up like normal but use a rolled up rag on the K to protect the powdercoating.

 

I do the same thing minus the rag...and you can see it flex when you jack it up...

 

hmmm i dont know that i like this "flexing"

 

It would be easy enough to make a craddle to replace the pad in a floor jack for this reason. the entire front end weight is way heavier than that bar could hold, and flexing is going to happen since all the wieght is on one point-centerd no doubt. Make a craddle and get the weight bearing points closer to the bends near the outside of the k member. Or if your car is caged, just jack it up on one side since the other side will go up with it.

 

Does any one have the tubular k-member and a-arms with a lt1 swapped in. Just wondering as I had to notch the k-member for clearance of the ac compressor. Thanks

 

I'm gonna go out on a limb here & say that if someone has a tubular x-mem installed, then they have enough sense to already have SFCs on the car - & if someone's not comfortable with the flexing, wouldn't it also be possible to jack up one side of the car at a time & place the jack stands that way?

 

i have a convertible.
tubular crossmember.
no SFCs.





if you have a big jack, you can always lift it high enough to get both size..

but yea, it flexes.