I saw a brief message about a tubular K member by PA that was criticized harshly. Spohn seems to be a reputable company though. Has anyone heard of other "good" companies that might have a similar product? I'm looking to lighten the load up front. Thanks Daniel GN3 FBDY

 

i'm running an AJE racing setup.

 

BMR, But I am waiting for spohns. Should be out soon. (I hope)

 

I recently found out that you might not save as much weight as you think. I dont remember exactly where but I read on some website selling the stuff for our car that a tubular front end will drop between 50-75 pounds off the front. When we had a thread on these forums with factual information on stock k-member versus the aftermarket tubular stuff, there was not a significant weight difference. Not enough in my own personal opinion to justify the cost of the aftermarket stuff. Definately no 50-75 pounds. I would recommend you search for that thread and see the actual weights before dropping your $$.

 

i think it's worth it for the ability to drop the oil pan without pulling the motor and header clearance alone.

 

I agree and I'm not trying to take anything away from them except that some people might be under the impression there is a huge weight saving (like I was). It would suck to drop all that $$ to drop weight and then find out the weight savings are minimal when you get the product in your hand.

 

I think I rememebr seeing pictures of the AJE unit and it looked better than any of the other out on the market. Do you have pictures of yours you can post?

 

there are a bunch of pictures on the AJE racing website if you'd like to check them out. My car is in storage until spring and won't be able to get any shots of it until then.

 

I don't yet have the tubular k-member, but I am waiting on Spohn's. I am getting it and the tubular a-arms for two reasons.

One is it will help me run the AC on the LT1 (which I plan to have in soon...) with out modding anything.
Two is, with the full tubular front, I will cut a respectable amount of weight (in addition to the aluminum heads) for the front, which I hope helps with the car's cornering.

The Spohn should be our soon, from what I hear.

 

I've never found any. I'm probably blind though. I saw one of the fourthgen and that was it.

http://www.ajeracing.com/camaro.htm

 

Hey why does your f body look so fat.
Mean that in a good way..
Looks like an fbody on on steroids.
If you put some louvers on it would look even fatter

 

do it for space, not weight.

 

 

You will lose a lot of weight if you go the whole way and switch to a rack and pinion steering. If you look at the whole picture:
k-member
stock coils
stock arms
steering gearbox
all steering linkage(tie rods ,centerlink., pitman..)
all brackets and bracing
stock spindles.

I installed a PROFAB setup with QA1 coil overs with lakewood 90/10 struts and light weight spindles.

I lost 160 pounds. If you drag racing and thats the reason for weight and you have the money-DO IT , if not the only reason I would do it to my street car is for header cleareance and oil pan removal.
Later
Rotten

 

i was going to say the same thing.

the stock Kmember is not that heavy.

the tubular A arms together dont save one lb compared to the stock ones.

if the goal is weightloss, your money is better spent elsewhere.
if the goal is space underhood, then its something to consider.

 

Since I just rebuilt my A arms 2 years ago with poly bushings, poly stops and new Moog joints. I will be reusing those with the spohn K member. Plus If I need to I can place a jack under the a arm too.

 

not a bad idea since the two other Kmember and A arm companies (profab and PAracing) sometimes do stupid things... like make the A arms diffrent lengths by accident... or have the mounting tabs in the wrong area/position for the A arms... it'll all go together since thats teh way the jig is, but it wont work correctly.........



plus with either of them, you HAVE to use tubular a arms... you cant run the stockers.

 

Say u run tubed K and arms, how do you go about jacking i tup like we used to by placing the jack under the old k member? Will the new k member have a provision for this, will it be strong enough? If I have my car on jacks under the subframe. how the hell would I get the car off If i can place a jack anywhere up front anymore>?

 

not once in my life have i jacked my camaro off the front Kmember..... its always been too low, and the jack would be too far in..

i always use the "convertible bracing" on my car.... same location as good SFCs if you have them.... otherwise, the jack has to go on the "frame rails" near the transmission next to the front tires.

 

i run a pa crossmember and im not very impressed. very poor quality. my one tie rod is rubbing the crossmember. im waiting for spohn to release his and ill get his. i have his A-arms and they are top notch quality. very nice product.

 

i've been waiting since i joined this site, got tired of waiting and haven't looked back. i have considered changing to spring perches again for the sake of offset space for the wheels but i'll have to wait and see.

as far as jacking the car up it can be a headache because of this yes. i've jacked the car up once using the tubular k member in an emergency and haven't done it again for fear of issues. who knows though..

 

Use the K-member to jack the car up is ok if you FAB up a half round piece of plastic(thick and hard) or what I use is a half of a polyurethane bushing mounted to a piece that sits in the top of my cup (Craftsman Jack) Nothing special.
Later
Rotten

 

The jack I use is my Dad's Napa. It is NICE. Has a padded handle to avoid body damage. And the lift point is a very thick plastic pad attached to where the metal cup usually is.
I plan to get the Spohn K-member for one reason. The LT1 clearance. I don't want to have to change the AC or modify the stock K-member. The K-member would be nice.

 

I have the pro fab with rack and pinion, and I lift it off the k-member all the time, the hard part is getting it centered so it doesn't lean one way or the other, but I have never had any problems with it.

It is for sale to if you are interested!
mwrighttt@aol.com

 

I have the pro fab with rack and pinion, and I lift it off the k-member all the time, the hard part is getting it centered so it doesn't lean one way or the other, but I have never had any problems with it.

It is for sale to if you are interested!
mwrighttt@aol.com

 

another thing for the weight savings(k member or otherwise) Chris Alston's list the "Vari-shock" front struts for our cars. Aluminum bodied, even available threaded for coil-overs. - Not huge weight, but I'm going for broke. 4161 lbs....SUCKS!!!! byebye uni-body structure, hello 2x3 frame and coil-overs....

 

4161? What weighs that much?

 

Your GTA wiegs more than 4klbs???GN3 FBDY

 

I was thinking 3200-3400

 

me(162 lbs at the time) huge stereo, roll-bar, in floor frame, a/c, and all GTA options w/ the rag top + a little under 1/2 tank = 4161...