has anyone that ordered Spohn's K-member recived theres yet?, if so, did you order it through SPOHN or hawks third-gen ,and how long it take to recive, thanks in advance

 

nope, but BMR has a very nice piece and it's already avaliable.

BMR Fabrication Inc.

 

I think we need a sticky or somthing, there is a huge 2 page debate dealing the k-members. Spohn has not finished theirs yet, and dont know when it will be done. I canceled my order because i needed to get my car running for this season.

 

They can debate all they want but one is a phantom product and the other is on the road.

 

steve spohn as been whackin people off about that thing since i joined this board, which has to be like 4 years or more now.....its never going to happen, and when it does it will be too little too late as far as im concerned

 

so no one has recived a sphon K-member yet?, well it looks like I'm going W/ BMR, next queston, will spohns A-arms fit BMR's K-member?

 

they will, but i'm convinced BMR makes better quality stuff...

 

first off I respect your opinion...but these words are just unfounded...Ive owned pieces from both...spohn is top notch work...their failure to come through with this k-member is really hurting how people view them as a business though.

I assure spohns work is great...my bmr piece was fine as well.

This being said ive heard more than one complaint about BMRs work.

Personally if i was in the market for a K-Member Id wait for UMI's piece they are supposedly quite close to releasing a version for the fourth gens and once its on the market they are to start producing one for us third-genners.

Ryan from UMI said probably this fall for the third gen version

Heres a pre-production tack welded piece. I believe Beta testing on actual track cars (road course) is currently being done. In my opinion a k-member designed to hold up to road race conditions is more suited for street driving than one to survive 1/4 mile straight line bursts.

PS- Remember this picture is of the 4th gen, template...version is being tested and probably reinforced/ changed based on info collected on track.

 

i've heard just as many complaints about Spohn's stuff failing as i have about BMR's. i have yet to see pics backing the claims on the bmr stuff, but the the pics of spohn's crossmember mounted t/a ripping the bolts right outta the frame keep me away.

i also know the guys from BMR and they are some of the best guys in the world. i've never seen people bend over backwards and jump through hoops like the guys at BMR do to make sure that there is the best quality parts going on the car.

don't get me wrong, spohn makes great stuff as well...i have their non-adjustable panhard rod on my car...but a panhard rod is alot different than a k-member. and BMR already has their stuff available and has been proven time and time again at the track to hold up (yes, 1/4mile, not road racing..but they still beat on their stuff)

 

that sounds like somebody ****ed up with the hardware or nuts in the frame, i wouldnt call that spohns problem. ive personally seen 2 broken bmr torque arms, by a 12 second car that does 1.7 60". broke on the welds

 

Ive seen the BMR PHB's is pieces that were near catastophic for the drivers. Seems too simple to fail. Some one had an edelbrock TA snap while backing off the lift immediately following the install. PA racing has had A-ams break. Haven't heard of a Spohn part actually failing, the torque arm mount is a compromise to fit the car without mods. I think they can do better but the arms didn't fail and it is meant to be a bolt on. I like Spohn products.

 

As far as I have been told I have one of the fastest cars running Steve's products and I have never had a problem breaking parts. I used to run a BMR T/A and I broke the welds on it, I am not saying this is BMR's fault but it happened. I have been running Steve's products for a year now and haven't broken anything. Yes I do believe that he has dropped the ball when it comes to the K-member but I can assure you that when it comes available it will be a high quality piece.

 

I have a friend who broke 2, yes 2, Spohn torque arms. With a 13 second car. Failed at the weld from the arm to the slip joint. Also know of someone else who had one that hadnt failed, but was about to. He trashcanned the arm. Broken parts happen, inevitable.

 

i don't know of a single manufacturer that makes a product that someone in the world hasn't broken. pointing the blame to manufacturer is often easier than the end user on the internet, but if man has made it, then it can and will break. it's inevitable that some percentage of parts are bound to fail for whatever reason.

 

everyone has likes and dis-likes. No matter what brand, they've all probably had a failure or two at some point. It's gonna happen. We beat their products with no mercy and then something fails(sometimes manufacture error, sometimes installer error) and everyone comes out of the wood work with, "...my sisters', friends', cousins', boyfriend broke one of those to..."

- Bottom line, performance parts are gonna fail sometimes.

That said, I've yet to personally see a Spohn piece other than pics on this site. I've seen MANY BMR parts, installed some of their stuff too. I think they make great parts. - Almost every 3rd/4th gen running in the radial class down here is hooking up on BMR parts. These are low 5 sec(1/8 mile) cars.

Kandied's car broke the Edelbrock tq arm pulling off the lift after install.

 

You also forgot to mention that was the old style torque arm..

 

while your defending spohn kat where's the k-member, how many more years and promises do people have to wait?

 

hehe, think I said back in January that I'd be surprised if it came out within 6 months.

 

i've very happy with the newest design of the AJE crossmember with all the new gussets welded in place, it's much more stout than their older design which had some weld cracking issues. their customer service has been 100% amazing and i'd buy another product from them in a heartbeat.

 

I thought spohns k-member is out now, and you can order it through hawks.... is that just a marketing gimmic though?

 

I think I put my bets out for feb '07
I may have been a little optimistic

 

Ok, but that doesnt mean the new one is any better. Might be, but I wouldnt know. I dont know anyone who stuck around after the first problems so I cant speak for the 'new' one being better or worse.
You still working there? Thought you left.

 

Well, the people that ordered and haven't canceled their order yet still don't have one. The pictures posted on Hawks are of a 4th gen.

 

...makes me feel bad for Hawks. They're getting bad rep for believing what Spohn told them....

 

nah, everyone knows the standard spohn process of manufacturing and promoting a product already knows that hawk's isn't to blame.
Bruce: When's the K-member going to be out? I've got a ton of people that want to buy one!?
Steve: A couple of weeks man, we're almost done, I promise!
Bruce *thinks to himself, decides to allow pre-orders to be placed*

2 weeks later

Bruce=

 

is anybody running spohn a-arms with bmr k-member? if nobody is running this set up do you know for sure this will fit?

 

Wont fit. I already emailed BMR and asked

 

I'd just like to comment on these parts breaking at the weld. Under no circumstances should a part break on the weld. If it does it's because the welder didn't do his job. A weld, when done correctly, is stronger than the base metal. If you get full penetration, the weld is properly shielded, and cooled properly the part should always fail about 1/4" to 1" away from a weld joint. This area is called the "heat affected zone" this is the area that has had it's heat treat properties changed from the weld heat and is now softer than the rest of the base metal. This is why heat treating a part after welding is such a good idea, it restores the proper heat treat to the whole part. Also 4130 is even more prone to this since it gets most of it's strength form the it's heat treat process.

Bottom line: If parts cracks at the weld, the manufacturer screwed up. If the part tears next to the weld, it was welded properly but the part wasn't heat treated. If it just plain buckles then it was overloaded.

 

I have been wondering about these k-members and a-arms for a while now, years really.. looking at cost/benefit, how many of us REALLY need one, be honest with yourself folks especially when you get them and then worry that welds or quality will be suspect..

Unless of course your are a 1/4 mile track demon.

I think the 500-1000.00+ for k-member, a-arms, and coil overs is better spent on things like, nitrous, cylinder heads, custom cams, seats, paint, whatever.. all will get you down the road better and/or faster..

just an .02

 

well i will back this up and with a picture too once i get it up but in my 4th gen my UMI Tunnel Mounted Tq arm crossbrace snapped exactly on the weld! i mean so exact you can see how far the weld penetrated the metal. so DONT BUY UMI! ill post up a pic when i get home from work. oh and they had the nerve to charge me for the replacement...

 

 

a litte rusty as its been sitting outside ever since but it broke exactly on the weld and when i looked at it you could see the actual penetration of the weld and it wasnt good. but anyways i have full UMI suspension on my 4th gen as i bought it all at once and i regret doing that. i just looked at all the specs between both companies' products and they were exactly the same but UMI was a tad cheaper...i guess you really do get what you pay for. i agree with the other guy on the Spohn crossmember mounted tq arm being a bad idea but im sure the actual product is built well just poorly designed as it tends to flex the mounting hole/frame and rip it apart (seen the vid too). anyways hers proof of UMI. wish i had proof of Spohn or BMR as i too am looking into a k member for both my 3rd gen and 4th gen....

 

im just wondering what the front brace and front brace mounts are. since they pump up the price almost another $100 so if i want to get a lsx swap k member its gonna cost me $670 not including tax with the mounts. plus another $395 for the matching a-arms. I normally stand behind his products as i've used them on several cars i've helped build but thats outrageous. Figured he'd put in the bracing with the price of the member since he wants a good reputation. $1065 with the motor mounts I could save $100 getting the regular one and getting the lsx conversion mounts.

 

WHOA WHOA Do I ever smell a lie here and I do not appreciate it one bit! So let’s clarify this story some for those of you who want to know the truth. This customer (Chris Anastacio) called in back in July and talked with both Marlena and Jerry which I just reviewed this story with and confirmed we all remembered it correctly. Anyway, Chris called in and explained he hit a RAISED man hole in the center of the road at a high speed and snapped the front mount of the torque arm. He was very nice about it and blatantly admitted this was his mistake and wanted to know what the cost was to replace it. He ALSO wanted to know if he could purchase are straight version cross member instead of the drop down design he has to prevent this from happening again. We said no problem at all and sent him a new one out.

IF this would have happened during racing or normal driving we would gladly replace the item free of charge. However since the customer has hit an obstruction in the road and admitted to it, it is only fair to charge him for the item.

So my question is, why Chris do you leave this information out? Why do you make your post sound as if our item just randomly broke for no apparent reason? We build our items to handle race abuse and street abuse, not to hit large permanent items in the middle of road.

I would appreciate you to tell the truth next time and not to blame your mistake on our craftsmanship.

If anyone has any questions please ask, Regards

Ryan

 

Ryan,

Any timeline on your 3rdgen Kmember, and will you offer extra bracing such as you have done with the frrax folks for the 4thgens?

--John
(I am on frrax too, I don't know how TGO feels about you posting here, so feel free to PM me over there also, I have the same username.)

 

John, like you mentioned, we are not a sponsor here YET.. but will be very shortly. So I only post when if I feel I need to clear up a mis-understanding if there is one and I will not solicit business here.. thanks for understanding.

If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me. Thank you, Ryan

 

With the tubular BMR K-Member on the car, will a big block with the hooker long tube swap headers fit easily or will it work at all? A while ago i was looking into a small block but now i have been looking at a 454 and i want to try to do a big block swap.

Thanks

 

ok sorry to come off as a d*ck about it, but i did not say it just broke on its own from normal driving and i did leave out that it was struck by a manhole. just after talking about the problem with many people including my personal mechanic whom is a certified MIG welder they all looked at the weld and pointed out its flaws. the weld did not penetrate nearly enough it was a simple grazing over the 2 pieces of metal. yea maybe it wudnt have made a difference in this situation but its the fact that the part broke on exactly the weld and we could see the quality of the weld. therefore maybe if the car was pushing 500+ and hooked like a madman there could have been failure and much much more damage. again i am sorry to have come off so rough and sorry for any if any at all business you could loose or have lost because of what i have stated.

 

i was at spohn the other day to pick up my rear control arms. i had the chance to see a few k members there and also see the list of people waiting for them. i can tell you that the spohn k member will be on my car in the near future. it is a ROCK solid part just like all of spohns other parts.

 

I'm really surprised that there hasn't been more fuss about it since it has finally been released. Unless I'm just not seeing the threads about it.

 

i thought these were gonna be available with a power rack like the ls1's?? the only thing im waiting for is to see if there will be a power rack option so i can get rid of that heavy gear box....

 

I asked a month ago about a Rack setup on 3gen
then said may be next year.. Thats 2 years spohn tell the K-member will be out in couple mounth...

So tired i have now installed an AJE K member, rack kit & tub. A-arm.
That give a pretty nice look & Ultra light ! I saved a lot of weight !

 

..

 

I'm surprised that I haven't seen any posts entitled 'Look at my new Spohn Kmember installed'. Though, I think this is likely due to the lead time whilst Spohn fills the orders that have been made.

 

I'll post pics of mine when I get it installed....my new A-arms and K-member were delivered yesterday , it should be an easy install since my car currently has no engine or trans

 

Mine is on order, and when it arrives, I can take pics someday.

 

I had a Spohn k-member on order for several months, with them saying it would have been built last August. Then they said one more month. Then they kept saying "next week" and it never got built.

I had already paid for the part and I lost trust in Spohn since they couldn't keep their word (I had a timeline and wasn't willing to wait forever). So I cancelled the order and BMR built me one in 3 days.

 

that's odd...I ordered mine and the A arms around the middle of oct, I was told a 4 week wait to to build and ship, and on nov 17 they were shipped, and I recived them on the 29th I recived them...I'm waiting for time off and a warm day to install them, I can tak pics of them un-installed if U would like.

 

I wouldn't mined seeing some pic's, please do.

 

I just took some pics...but they are too big...anybody know how to shrink them????