i really know nothing about that particular aspect of our cars.
any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

tubular K member is 60 lbs lighter i believe, stiffer sturdier front end feel, cons, might not be as strong as the stock one if u were to bottom it out.

 

pros:

can be made stiffer
can be made stronger
and still be lighter. alot lighter.
can let you bolt in any engine that it was designed for... makeing a LS1 swap bolt in.
can give you room where stock doesnt... for headers, or the AC on a LT1 swap, ect..
you can mount any steering you want on it.


cons.

can be made weaker then stock -- bad things can happen if it breaks.
price.
umm..... well if its designed wrong it could be not as stiff, strong or it may be over designed and become heavier.. athought i dont see that happening..






so basicly, if someone takes the time to develop a good one with the features you desire, there is almost no downside, except price... someone has to be paid for not just the cost of building it, but the time to design it.

 

how much do they typically run?

thanks for the answers so far

 

no one has a street one in production, so it would depend on how much a fabricator will charge yuo


spohn announced he will start production of them and tubular a arms in 04.. no price yet


theres a company that makes a drag race only one... it was somthing like 450-550 depending on options.... i dont have the link so i cant check the price... just going off of memory there.

 

the pa racing Tubular Ks arent for street use? damn, i hope the ones Spohn is producing are streetable, i was hopin to get the tubular K member with a rack and pinion conversion and tubular A arms. hopfully i can still put the roc on that diet of parts.

 

spohn already said that his will be for street use and road racing..


given what ive seenfrom other things hes made, you can probly expect it to be overbuilt slightly to the safe side, and it probly will handle hard street driving as well, if not better then the stock one.

 

thats good to hear then.

 

from what I hear all the time...most tubular k members when used on the street crack. And from looking at pictures and what not if you bottom out your car or hit something big like a huge rock or something. It looks as if that k member could get ****ed up. I was gonna change over to a tubualr...but I like the strength of the stock one and also I consider it to have more protection for my motor. Mostly my oil pan O_o

 

the only thing ive ever hit bottom on is a speed bump, and that was just my spohn tranny crossmember scraping. one motive for me wanting this is the advantage of rack and pinion.
and 60 lbs off the front is nothing to complain about either.

 

that generally happens from overstressing it.... most arnt made for the street.

with a stock one, you smack it hard enough, it knocks everything out of wack, but the car is still driveable...

with the tubular, you smack it hard enough, it will bend and you'll need a new one.


but im talking aboubt hitting somthing STUPID... like driving over a parking space bump in a parking lot at 40 or running over a traffic island or somthing....



in anycase, i eventually will have one, along with aarms

im just going to wait for spohns bolt in one... should be cheaper then having one fabbed for me..

 

no problems whatsoever although i pay attention when driving. anything can be broken if your not taking care of it. i wouldn't use a coilover tubular setup if i were to autox but for the street and drag racing they are great!

main reason i went with mine was for room. the decrease in weight was an added bonus. not to crazy about the coilovers mainly because of cost. the only thing i don't like about the setup is the cost. however, if you go with the mild steel it's cheaper and if you use kyb or koni struts the coilovers are not that expensive.

good luck.

 

who did you hear this from? alot of people say they hear this and that but no actual proof, jus rumors. just curious what brands you might know or heard about that have cracked or broke.

 

I have 10 months of daily driving and drag racing on my PA K member (mild steel) and tubular A arms with no problems whatsoever with bending, breaking, cracking, etc. It really is stronger than it looks and holds up to daily driving just fine.

Now is it tuff enough for auto-x or roadracing? I couldn't tell you, I don't do that kind of racing so I won't make assumptions about it. But I think PA builds their stuff more towards drag racing anyway.

 

i can agree that the pa racing version in particular looks like it wouldn't be as strong as some of the heavier and more bulkier counterparts but i have yet to see proof of one breaking and i know mine works just fine. plenty of people running them that i know personally as well as my self with no problems. so to each their own but it serves my purpose well.

 

do i have to use a coil over setup for the front suspension if i use the tubular kmember? or can i still use my bilsteins that i just bought and installed?

 

just get the spring perch option...doesn't save as much weight but you will still save some room and it will work just fine.

 

i was goin to get tha PA k member for my car since i need a new k memeber badly. but then i was told that it wouldent hold too good in daily driving. so now im sitting here waiting till spohn comes out wit there k members Ive had to weld my K memeber twice already where it connects to the control arm i belive it is. sucks *** havent found any good ones in tha yunk yards either.

 

who here has seen or knows of someone personally who has broken a pa tubular k member or something of similar design like all the k members made for the fox body?

alot of rumors, speculation from people who claim to be experts but not a single one of you who claim they break have one on your cars or have even seen one break...whenever this topic is brought up no one ever gives facts so those of you who believe that it will break or even crack under street use assume all you want.

 

well im just trying to figure out tha facts. people say people hear all tha time. i just mention that i heard they werent so good for daily driving and wanted to know since i need to get a new k Member. i dont want to end up in tha same position im in right now having to re weld my k memeber and PA aint tha only one that makes a k-member i found another maker but i think this one is alot heaver and maybe even better since it only saves u 22lbs comared to like 60 something wit tha PA its tha AJE Tubular K-Member

 

yes aje makes nice products as well....try it out if you think it would fit your needs. i wasn't trying to direct anything towards you in general. i just believe people should go on facts more then who says what and even then you have to tripple check. all i can tell you is from experience, plenty of thirdgens in my area first hand running around with the pa unit with no problems. i unfortunately only have 2,500 miles so it isn't the best for long trial testing but the others are way up there with street use as well as heavy low second use. if they can take all that weight slaming down on them at the track i would hope they can handle a bump in the road but you never know til it happens.

good luck finding something.