I just received my K-Member (road race version), A-arms, dropped spindles, steering converion to rack, and a special modified rack made for 3rd gen camaro to help get full steering radius. Everything looks fantastic.
Thanks Matt for the great service and the great parts. Hope you guys come out with STB for carbed cars, also love to see what kind of design you can come out with for SFC

 

PIC`s WE NEED PIC`s!!!!!!!!!

 

 

I will post pictures tomorrow of all the products

 

Here are the pictures

 

Here are some more

 

Last one's

 

Thank you, been dying to see these for a while, looks like good stuff....please keep us updated on how the rack and spindles work out

 

I like the drop spindles. I am really glad to see someone making these. I'll probably pick up a set when I have some spare money I want to spend. Although I am not crazy about the a-arm design, I still have yet to see a tubular a-arm that makes me not worry about it. I would also like to see a little stouter k-member. I think racecraft is doing some pretty descent work, I think with a few more gussets, and a couple extra braces, that k-member could be a very nice peice.

Out of curiosity, are the a-arms and kmember mild steel, or chromoly? And are they powdercoated, or just painted?

 

They are alll 4130 chrome moly, Racecraft only uses Chrome moly, and they are all powercoated

 

id like to know more about this special rack.
i know the spindle steering arm helps, but what do they do to the rack?

 

Probably the best thing is to PM Matt from Racecraft or give him a call

 

ive spoken with both of them on several occasions. i bought a slew of front end parts to do a rack conversion.
the only thing they do to make it specific is shorten the tir rods for an f body so you have ample room to run a bump steer kit.
the rack doesnt do anything to change the travel. a pinto rack is a pinto rack. 5.25" travel. no way to modify it other than the shortened steering arm.
i was just curious if there was something special going on like you mentioned.
good luck with it all.
id like to see some progress pics.
thanks!

 

It will be awhile before I will have the front end done, the car is going in next month to get back halfed, I will not see it for the next 3 - 4 months. I must have been mistaken, but when we were talking I thought he had said that they had a modified unit from unisteer for the 3rd gen Camaro to help in steering radius

 

Any updates on this?

 

I have debated on writing this for quite sometime, but I have had some people asking me about my experiences with Racecraft.
To start out I believe they build nice pieces. I rent ed a garage for 20.00 a day to do the front end on the car. I figured it would take me 2 or 3 days. I pulled the front end off and removed the K-Member, when I installed the Racecraft K-Member everything installed really well ( I wish they supplied new bolts like Spohn does, a pain to find them ) I went to install the the passenger side a-arm and it would not fit. The bolts would not go through the K-member and the a-arm. I contacted them, they requested that I send them pictures, I did they figured that the a-arm was welded wrong.
5 days later they sent me a replacement a-arm.

When I tried to put the a-arm back on the same problem existed, contacted them again, sent them more pictures, they got back to me a couple of days later and firgured it was he K-Member that was wrong, stated they had a new guy and was probably a production problem. 6 days later they sent me up a replacement K-Member, only problem is they forgot to weld the spring pockets on, contacted them again and sent them more pictures, they stated they would make another K-member. Remember I am still paying 20.00 a day for this garage.

I had them ship it to the border, and I drove 1 1/2 hours and picked up the k-member and drove 1 1/2 hours back, only problem this new k-member the put the spring pockets on it but now forgot to put motor mounts on it.
Another trip back to the US 4 days later, you can imagine what the customs guys are thinking, I had to stop on the Canadian side to tell them what I was doing so I would not have to pay Customs each time, the last time when I went across the customs guy asked me where this fit on the car, I told him it holds up the motor and keeps the front wheels on. He laughted and said I would not drive that car if you are having a company so incompedent building parts so important.

I forgot to mention when I sent the last k-member back to the I put the steering shaft for the rack and pinion back in the box. I had asked if I returned it to them, if they would refund my money, their rack and pinion shaft you must cut the steering column off close to the firewall to be able to make it fit, their is no way to do this unless you pull the motor. I had found the PA Racing shaft. They said no problem.

Anyway I got the 4th k-member and this did work, this all took about 3 weeks by the time I got the parts and a totla of 2 days to rip down and install.

I still had 1 k-member and they had my stering shaft kit, I sent Mark and Matt 5 emails requesting the refund on my steering shaft and no response. I firgured after they refunded it they could pay to have their k-member shipped back. No response, so I firgured f**k them and I will sell the thing and at least try to recoupe some of my losses. Steering shaft 271.00, 21 days at 20.00 = 420.00 and gas drinving back and forth to the US.

I even PM them on here asked them just for a receipt showing that I returned the steering shaft so I could get back my duty and they refused.

They could have fixed this just by checking fit before they sent it out, it would have taken the 5 minutes. I like the finish product but they did not seem to care about the s*it they put me through. I was considering having them do the back halfing of my car, but after i went through this, I just could not, I would really have problems buying anything from them again. They offered me no compensation what so ever for all the problems.

Sorry for dragging this out so long, it took me a while to cool off before I could write this,

 

Double post

 

wow, thats quite a story

 

i can tell you ive been in those situations, and they suck 100%.
its a good thing we arent in the mustang world, this happens on a daily basis.
they always forget something, no matter who you buy it from, or who does the work.
i wanna know where you rent a shop for 20 a day. thats a deal!
i wouldnt rent mine out for that.
i know hobby shops on the bases are around that price, but no rentals like you mention in my area.
hope it all turned out.
are you satisfied with the way the car steers?
how are the spindles?
good luck with it.

 

It was a friends garage, it was a great deal but I was using up one of his bays and he makes his living in this garage, I felt that bad because the original agreement was for 3 days not 3 weeks.
The construction of the parts look great, only change I would have made with the spindles is, I bought the rack and pinion version, it would have been nice if they would have been drilled for bump steer kit, they were drilled for factory tire rod end, and those spindles where tough, no way you will drill them out without a drill press or in my case a milling machine.
Have not has a chance to drive it, I completed it and took it directly to get the car back halfed, I will know in 2 weeks

 

Man, I cant believe they still havent commited to do anything to fix this situation. That sucks big time as I was considering to buy one of their k. But I guess that only leaves me with BMR. You waited long enough before telling this in an open forum, they need to refund a part of the money you lost because of their errors.

 

With this kind of costumer service it makes me want to stay away from them in the future even if they do have quality parts. Sure would be interesting to hear their comment on this situation, good luck. Can't wait to see pics when u get it all together. Later.

 

Did you ever get a proper K-member?

Did you get the drop spindles with the shortened steering arms to go with your rack & pinion? How did that part of the conversion go?

Edit: I partially answered my own questions by reading previous posts more carefully. Sorry.

 

Pardon me for not reading more carefully.

You got the rack & pinion version of the drop spindles. Is the bump steer kit an absolute necessity? I've been led to understand that the drop spindles eliminate/minimize the bump steer that results from other methods of lowering. Were you just looking for more adjustability?

 

The bump steer kit is not really necessary, I bought it because I was not sure if it would be needed, depending on the rack position and spindles.
One thing that I have found with the shorten arms, it makes the car harder to steer, you no longer have the same levarage

 

are you comparing this to power steering, or a manual s10 box?
i have stock modified spindles, with a pinto rack, and my car is much easier to turn than my old manual box.

if you are just turning wheels back in forth sitting still, it is a lil more tough than the manual box, but under normal driving, turning, parking, i find this setup much easier to drive than a box system.

 

how did the spindles install?
i am looking at drop spindles for the front along with moog 750lb springs cut about 1/2 to 1/4 turn.

so you needed a k member to get the rack and pinion working and you needed spindles as well to install the rack and pinion.

do you have any pics of all this installed.



i may be a dumba$$ but racecraft is the only place i can find that makes a bolt in rack and pinion setup possible and would like to use their parts.
it's possible your experience was not common.
idk

 

In what way were your stock spindles modified? Who did the mod?

Is your Pinto R&P mounted on a stock K-member? My understanding is 3rd gen R&P kits utilize Pinto units with the ends modified (shortened?) to fit our cars. Can a Pinto power R&P unit be modified to fit?

TIA for your answers!

 

750# springs and a rack and pinion is a no go, IMO.
a manual rack wouldnt be my choice if you plan to haul *** around corners or do any type of autocross.
a rack is limited for a weekend cruiser and track puppy.

 

my stock spindles have been cut to length to match a fox mustang.
i measured center line to center line from ball joint to tie rod end and made the cut.
my rack and pinion is mounted to a PA k member using the flat 2 bolt syle mounts on each side. i fabbed it all up crom scratch being i was cutting my spindles and mounting the rack wherever it would fit on my k member.
if it was all bought in a kit, it would bolt up. racecraft, PA and aje offer it, though i wouldnt buy anything from aje personally.
my rack is a universal standard length pinto rack.
some cut the tube on the drivers side down to length and but weld it. some shops order it in the right length, or cut the tie rod and have it threaded so you can put an end on it.

i got some tubing that fit my tie rod and slid the rack side into it and the end i cut into it and welded around the tubing. better than a but weld anyday. i felt much more secure using this method.
the spindle was cut flat, then massaged with a flap wheel to make a half circle to fit the spacer i used so i could mount up my bump steer.
welding to cast iron isnt the safest thing to do, so i wouldnt recomend it for people who drive their car everyday. ive got about 1000 miles on mine and its doing great.
trick is to turn the heat up and the wire down and melt the steel to the iron.
the spindle surrounds the spacer, much more safe than just end welding the two together.
here is the only pic i have.
sorry for the lengthy post. if you have any questions, LMK.

 

okay I see you got the mustang struts to work, PM me or give details PLEASE!!

 

Thanks for the detailed answer!

One good method for welding tubing onto another cylindrical object inside it is to drill some holes along the length of the outer tube and weld them together through the holes. The holes should be in alternating directions, 90 degrees apart, i.e. looking at the tubing lying on its side, the first holes should be drilled straight through and the next ones straight down, etc. The welds at the ends of the tube can be made stronger by fishmouthing the tubing, i.e. cutting v-shaped notches into the ends, which would give you the opportunity to make a longer weld. That's how they splice airplane steel tube fuselages when they need repair.

Another question: Are tubular K-members sturdy enough to survive daily driving with occasional potholes and speed bumps and generally crappy pavement.

Cheers!

 

Sorry for slow response, to install the spindles was a breeze, no problem was so ever, you do not need to cut coils, I installed brand new Moog 5662 and ride height is great. Sorry best picture I have, I will be putting the car on jacks this newxt week, will take some better pictures when it is up