hey anybody on here know of who sells the k-member for third gen's . And has anybody on this board have it installed?

 

www.paracing.net

 

www.roadtechonline.com

 

A friend of mine just bolted up his new PA Racing Chrome-moly K-Member and A-Arms. Looks perfect and he didn't have any problems.

 

denny,
so how much does that save you in weight? what did he do about body mounts? any add. hardware needed besides the parts? just wondering what the total cost would be to do the swap.
chris

 

For a strictly race car, go with Chrome-Moly. But for a street/strip car go with a Mild Steel version. The CM will cost more then a MS version. I have a PA-Racing K-member and A-Arms (MS), but BMR as well as other have them. The whole setup cost me $700 and no additional hardware is required, it is a bolt on (literally). But it is difficult to install with the engine in, I had my car fully apart (under going project) so it was a cake walk for me. The OEM K-member weighs ~50lbs, my PA K-member weighed roughly close to a two litter bottle of soda.

 

I need one of these...heh.

George...why do you say get the MS one unless it's an all out race car? Only due to the extra money spent on the CM or what?

I will be getting one of these, just not right now...or for a while, for that matter.

Eric

 

If you contact PAracing, they are quick to reply. My last price quote was for a CM crossmember, a-arms and coil over kit. I haven't ordered yet because I'm putting in a front motor plate and will need the crossmember without motor mounts.

CM crossmember with motor mount pads and without spring pirches = $539
A-arms with heim joints = $479
Coil over kit = $289

The mild steel versions are cheaper. You don't need to use the coil over kit and you can reuse the factory a-arms if you want.

 

Any reason why you would do that?

 

Pulled from a chassis web site:

Some people believe that 4130 chromemoly cars are stronger than mild-steel cars. Not necessarily! While 4130 tubing is a stronger material, because it’s made out of an alloy steel, the rules let us use thinner material (.083- and .065-inch wall). Thus, a stronger material that has a thinner wall is about as strong as a thicker-wall mild steel.

The 4130 chassis is going to be 20- to 5-percent lighter because it’s made out of thinner material; there’s simply less steel in the car. Basically, what you’re paying for when you buy a 4130 car is weight reduction. In a basic Eliminator kit, you pay about $900 extra to save 70 to 80 pounds.

Now, some guys would pay a fortune for 70 to 80 pounds. You have to ask yourself: “Could I spend $900 somewhere else, and be better off?” If you have cast-iron cylinder heads on your engine, and you want a 4130 chassis, you’d be better off buying aluminum heads. If you’re going to go fast — mid-eights or quicker — you probably should get 4130, because mild steel definitely detracts from the resale value of a car like that.

The only real disadvantage is that a 4130 car must be TIG-welded. That means every single accessory, bracket and tab has to be TIG-welded. For the first-time, build-it-yourself type of guy, this is not the way to go; he shouldn’t even consider it. Chromemoly is for a higher-skilled, more capable fabricator. Mild steel, on the other hand, is extremely forgiving.

I also hear people say that 4130 is more likely to crack. Wrong again! This tubing was originally developed for the aircraft industry to make airframe parts, and nothing is stressed worse than airframe parts. If this stuff didn’t have excellent fatigue life, it wouldn’t be in airplanes. I have never seen a worn-out 4130 “door” car that was assembled correctly. Nor have I seen a worn-out mild-steel car that was assembled correctly. So, durability isn’t really a consideration.

 

so the only reason not to get the lighter CM version is cost? no other drawbacks besides needing a tig welder to weld anything to it? MRZ28HO, you didnt say if you had CM or mild steel. I wonder what is the weight savings exactly between the two? they said 20-5 percent lighter then mild steel, if the orig. one is about 50lbs, how much could the CM kmember poss. save over the Mild Steel member? 10lbs at most as far as Im figuring since I dont know how much lighter the M.S. member is then stock.

 

When I called PA and asked about their K-Member, I'm pretty sure the guy I talked to said they use the exact same wall thickness in the mild steel and the Chrome Moly versions.

 

When I spoke to PA, they highly recommened sticking with an MS K-Member. The reason being is that CM is more prone to crack under street driving conditions, more so than MS. MS is more "forgiving" than CM. As for what Stephen posted (I am not flaming you Stephen, just the source ) ... I used to work for USAF, we did not use CM on the F16s, B1s, etc aircrafts ... it was titanium or "other" classified alloys. Ask PA what they recommend for your application.

 

yeah, i plan to go with the steel as well; 10 lbs or so isn't enough for me to chance it on the street .