looking for info. K members mostly

[fivonut]

Seeing as how I am being allowed to spend my tax refund this year, I'm going to start from the ground and work my way up with my 88. First things first I need to have it tugged on a lil and straightened. From there I'm going with through-the-floors and have an 8 point bar waiting to be welded in. I should probably buy seats so I can fit the bar around them. Anyway, from there I want to pick up a complete tubular K member kit with coil overs, the works. 5 lug disk brake conversion. Since I am going to put 98 cobra rims on the car I'm leaning towards the cobra R conversion kit. But, would like to hear opinions on Baer brakes. The things I most want help with are which K member kit to buy. I know a few guys here deal in UPR but how well do their k members rank. Does Granatelli offer a nice set up ( No offense JR but your opinion doesn't count :D ) I hear QA1 is about the best way to go but they are also a lil pricey. I am at a complete loss for a rear setup. Deffinately adj uppers, not sure what benefits there are to adj lowers. Spherical bushing are a deffinate, but what else??? coil overs??? sway bar??? My plan is to build my 88 into a street car. If I drag race it it will simply be to see how fast it goes, I have no desire to do any mods just for the sake of drag racing, this is going to be a street car period. Any help appreciated. Also, anything I decide to buy will most likely be purchased through MMA members and/or their business's.

[Mark302]

I have a UPR front suspension, and I really like it. There coil overs don't require tools to adjust which I really like. It was easy to install and fit great!

[Joel_91GT]

i just put a d&d tubular k-member in my tbird, the fit was decent and it appears to be of good quality. also have the d&d coilovers on 90/10's. im very pleased with the fit of everything but i havent got to drive it yet, once i do i will post some results.

Joel

[fivonut]

The problem I'm finding out is that a lot of comnpanies are building their K members more for the drag racing croud. Such is the case with a majority of QA1s kits. I thought they were a lil pricey til I noticed that you get the struts and castor/camber plates with theirs. Can anyone recommend a package deal that's more street oriented??? I've checked out QA1, Griggs, UPR are there any others I should be looking into???

[BP Convt]

My D&D k-member bolted up ok. It was an impulse purchase at the WFC last year. Had I done more research, I would have probably increased my front suspension budget to pay for an AJE or PA k-member and a-arms. I also looked at the UPR chromoly k-member, but decided against it. Maximum Motorsports is the best for hardcore street use in my opinion.

The D&D k-member will decrease your front track by at least 1". This could be good or bad depending on which wheels your running.

[86merc]

If you plan on doing a lot of street driving I would look into a K-member with good A-arm mounts. I have seen first hand and heard of a lot of people bending the mounts. UPR, D&D and a few others have tabs welded to the frame to hold the a-arms with almost no support. I have a AJE set up and the arms are part of the lower k-member so no tabs to bend. PA Racing and Griggs also have a good mounting system for the a-arms. Not a must have but adjustable arms are nice to move the tires around in the wheel well to gain clearance or just for looks.

Bob Kurgan can get you pricing on a few kits like AJE and PA Racing kits. Send him a e-mail for pricing.

[flyin_hawaiin]

If you plan on doing a lot of street driving I would look into a K-member with good A-arm mounts. I have seen first hand and heard of a lot of people bending the mounts. UPR, D&D and a few others have tabs welded to the frame to hold the a-arms with almost no support. I have a AJE set up and the arms are part of the lower k-member so no tabs to bend. PA Racing and Griggs also have a good mounting system for the a-arms. Not a must have but adjustable arms are nice to move the tires around in the wheel well to gain clearance or just for looks.

Bob Kurgan can get you pricing on a few kits like AJE and PA Racing kits. Send him a e-mail for pricing.

thanks for looking out for me mike..

Fiveonut, just email me for pricing.

thanks

[trink408]

I put an AJE tubular K-member, AJE front coil over kit with Lakewood 90/10s, and UPR caster camber plates on my 1988 HB.

I would say that AJE offers some outstanding products, and they have excellent customer service. I called and spoke to Anthony on several occasions at night and on the weekends, not too many places offer that kind of support.

The K-member fit right into my 88 stang and the front coil-over kit was also an easy install. The K-member is plenty strong for street or race. I originally ordered a QA1 and sent it back when I found out it changed some of the geometry of the front of the car, and it required some fabrication to use factory control arms. The AJE piece worked perfectly with my factory arms.

Overall I was extremely impressed with AJE, they may be a little more expensive, but well worth it!!

[dave bandt]

The problem I'm finding out is that a lot of comnpanies are building their K members more for the drag racing croud. Such is the case with a majority of QA1s kits. I thought they were a lil pricey til I noticed that you get the struts and castor/camber plates with theirs. Can anyone recommend a package deal that's more street oriented??? I've checked out QA1, Griggs, UPR are there any others I should be looking into???

I've got a package deal for you. I have the complete front suspension system off of my car. HAL QA-1 struts, coil over kit, CC plates, Aerospace brakes, etc. If you do a search in the classifieds in here you'll find all of it. I'm sure you don't want the manual rack and brake conversion kit. But all of the other stuff would work nice for you.

Lemme know......

[Joel_91GT]

dave,
sent a pm on that manual rack you have, let me know. thanks

Joel

[93GT]

I have the QA1 k member and it was easy to install and have had no problems with it.

Dave Bandt-Where did you grind those spindles to take 4 lbs out, any pics? :D Free weight reduction is always within my budget. :thumbs_up I've heard the 4 cyl ones were lighter, but not strong enough.

[dave bandt]

Dave Bandt-Where did you grind those spindles to take 4 lbs out, any pics? :D Free weight reduction is always within my budget. :thumbs_up I've heard the 4 cyl ones were lighter, but not strong enough.

I don't have any pictures now. The suspension is already removed from my car so i'll try to get some the next time i'm at the garage. When I installed the QA1 struts and Aerospace front brakes there were tangs on the spindle that were no longer needed. The struts also didn't fit quite right so i had to do a little clearancing. A porta-band, grinder, and about 4 hours netted me quite a bit of weight off of each spindle.

Joel.....I'm not ready to start piecing the suspension out yet. I'd prefer to sell it as a complete package. If i change my mind i'll let you know.

[fivonut]

Hey guys, pretty sad I lost touch with my own thread.

Dave - I saw your setup in the classifieds and your geared more towards drag racing than street. I didn't think you wanted to seperate it out but if you change your mind let me know.

86merc - thanks for the info.

Bob - I had sent you an email already but haven't heard back. I was asking about UPR stuff but after what 86Merc had to say I'd like to hear more about the AJE stuff. Judging by UPR's prices I was hoping to get the front kit with A arms and coil over kit plus rear control arms for around $1000 total. I'm beginning to realize that may be unrealistic if I want good parts. I may settle for just the complete front end kit for around that price. I'll shoot you another email just incase you don't see this.

Everyone else - Thanks for all the great info, sorry I lost track of my own thread :thud: