Mm5TR-2 for the bumpsteer kit.
Rod end looks to be a three piece, I assume with a Teflon liner. I don't know if its from FK or a different supplier.
From here.
Maximum Motorsports S197 K-Member
- Thread starter Tob
- Start date
Mm5TR-2 for the bumpsteer kit.
Rod end looks to be a three piece, I assume with a Teflon liner. I don't know if its from FK or a different supplier.
From here.
I'll be honest Kelly. The struggle with the headers beat me up pretty good. Then taking on a K-member the likes of which I hadn't seen before had me in a zone that took up 100% of my focus. Wanting to get going on the alignment so I could finally drive the car and get a feel for the exhaust - distracted me such that I paid only as much attention to the C/C plates and bumpsteer kit as needed for the install. I didn't even take photos of the individual hardware which is something I almost always do.
Tob, you spoke of some of the k members allowing you to use the OEM a arms. Which ones require aftermarket a arms and which ones let you use your old ones?
Pretty sure all but Griggs allow you to use the stock a-arms? Tob will correct me if I'm mistaken. Their K is designed to use with their sla. The sla is a way better design than stock or a stock replacement, but pricey.
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Thanks Kelly and back at ya. The community is lucky to have a guy like you to be here to help. I hope BMR realizes how much interest in their products you create.
Regarding the rod end we spoke about, I'll have to look closer at mine this afternoon. It does look like a two piece as opposed to a three piece but its hard to tell from a photo.
Phantom, as Cluscher pointed out below Griggs is one of them. Their K also requires using an SN95 style rack (note the horizontal attachment plane versus the vertical of all the rest). I believe all but Griggs and Cortex allow use of the stock control arm.
EDIT: I was informed that the Kenny Brown K-member requires using their own control arms as well and that bushing life may not be the greatest.
I spoke to Filip about this in Toronto but I honestly forget his response. I think his K-member requires a custom control arm (a beautiful piece in itself) but I'm not 100% sure. He doesn't show a K-member on his site and photos are pretty hard to come by. I believe his K requires an aftermarket engine mount as well. Then again, he seems to be able to whip up just about any custom combination you could want. He's an extremely sharp guy. Bad Company, can you comment on this (aren't you running Filip's gear?)?
Regarding the rod end we spoke about, I'll have to look closer at mine this afternoon. It does look like a two piece as opposed to a three piece but its hard to tell from a photo.
Phantom, as Cluscher pointed out below Griggs is one of them. Their K also requires using an SN95 style rack (note the horizontal attachment plane versus the vertical of all the rest). I believe all but Griggs and Cortex allow use of the stock control arm.
EDIT: I was informed that the Kenny Brown K-member requires using their own control arms as well and that bushing life may not be the greatest.
I spoke to Filip about this in Toronto but I honestly forget his response. I think his K-member requires a custom control arm (a beautiful piece in itself) but I'm not 100% sure. He doesn't show a K-member on his site and photos are pretty hard to come by. I believe his K requires an aftermarket engine mount as well. Then again, he seems to be able to whip up just about any custom combination you could want. He's an extremely sharp guy. Bad Company, can you comment on this (aren't you running Filip's gear?)?
I'm not so sure about that Kelly.
Here's a Cortex S197 SLA lower arm.
And here's one of the few, vague, photos I can find of an Agent47 S197 setup (which is said to be undergoing a redesign according to their website). Their lower arm looks a bit stock"ish" - sorry for the weak size and clarity.
Here's a Cortex S197 SLA lower arm.
And here's one of the few, vague, photos I can find of an Agent47 S197 setup (which is said to be undergoing a redesign according to their website). Their lower arm looks a bit stock"ish" - sorry for the weak size and clarity.
Thanks Tob! Do they all utilize or can they use OEM engine mounts? Sorry, I should have asked in the last post...
The CorteX Racing K -Member is strictly used with CorteX's SLA front suspension only. Even though the LCA of the SLA uses the stock ball joint as the stock LCA, you can not use the stock spindle and strut assembly, as it will bind before full droop occurs.
Tob, you forgot to add AJE to the mix. I could have sworn they used to have an option for OEM motor mounts....but apparently I am mistake, or they changed the design. Not much info out there about these pieces. I have gotten some feedback on them from a few people, though. The feedback was not very impressive.
http://www.americanmuscle.com/aje-kmember-0514.html
http://www.americanmuscle.com/aje-kmember-0514.html
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Kelly, I have a major question concerning plating the floorpan area under the rear K-Member mounts. I bought the Shelby Performance Parts reinforcement plates to install on my car. When I talked to the mechanic I was going to have install them, he talked me out of it. His comment that made me think twice about doing this was. "What are you going to do for the front mounts of the K-Member"? He felt that by plating the floorpan at the rear mount that I would be asking the K-member to twist at the front mounting area and either the frame rail would deform to match the twisting action or the K-member would need to bend to match the front frame rail. The Shelby plates are 3/16" thick. Would you also add a 3/16" plate at the front mounting points of the K-Member to keep everything level and true to each other? If you added the extra plates to space the front down also, would you need to shim the steering rack back up for bump steer?
The more I look t this MM K-Member the more I like it when comparing it to the other aftermarket K-Members pictures on this page.
To be honest, I don't think it is a big deal. You can slightly manipulate these components, without any ill effects.
For example, you can have a K-Member "spring" off of a jig, after it is built. When installing said piece, you may have to manipulate (I guess you could say bend / flex) it to align perfectly, or square it up.
Going from the front mounts, all the way to the rear....should not cause much of any issue. The mounting plates on the K-Members will easily conform.
Now, if you were going to put a 1/2" or larger spacer there....I'd day, yes, space both ends.
At the end of the day, if someone does not feel comfortable with a 3/16" plate on the rear only, it would only take an hour or so to make some plates in the same thickness for the fronts.
For example, you can have a K-Member "spring" off of a jig, after it is built. When installing said piece, you may have to manipulate (I guess you could say bend / flex) it to align perfectly, or square it up.
Going from the front mounts, all the way to the rear....should not cause much of any issue. The mounting plates on the K-Members will easily conform.
Now, if you were going to put a 1/2" or larger spacer there....I'd day, yes, space both ends.
At the end of the day, if someone does not feel comfortable with a 3/16" plate on the rear only, it would only take an hour or so to make some plates in the same thickness for the fronts.
Au contraire:uh oh:. I purposely left that "creation" and others like it outside the scope of this discussion. Some might consider it for drag racing but I wouldn't consider it for anything other than scrap value. That is a pretzel waiting to happen and I know you can see why.
You're seeing it my man.
Exactly what I was thinking. And while I can follow the argument Bad Company's mechanic was making, the implication is that there has to be flex somewhere when a rigid K-member and factory chassis are mated. I don't see a more rigid rear mount transferring to overly excessive loads being shifted to the front K-member mounts. The energy it takes to deform the factory floorpan is distributed over a larger surface which handles the load. The same leverage is there, just a more rigid structure would be in place that previously allowed deflection or deformation.
Tob,
You just keep making my mod list longer. Another great profession/technical posts. Although I have the utmost respect for your assessment of the MM k-member I think that you would agree that more opinions would really beneficial. You could consider loaning the unit out to a few of the members on this site. I will volunteer to give it a good trial. You might get one or two other volunteers.
You just keep making my mod list longer. Another great profession/technical posts. Although I have the utmost respect for your assessment of the MM k-member I think that you would agree that more opinions would really beneficial. You could consider loaning the unit out to a few of the members on this site. I will volunteer to give it a good trial. You might get one or two other volunteers.
Roger, I have the utmost respect for your view as well and I gotta tell you - I waited for this one for a long time. I wasn't seriously considering any of the others as much as a couple of them had me questioning my choice to avoid them a few times. I didn't want any added noise, shuddering, etc, for the sake of sacrificing a few pounds. A rock solid foundation, meaning stronger than what the car came with, and optimized geometry...that garnered interest very quickly. I am quite sure you share the feeling. All I can say is life is short. When it becomes available, do it. The only thing better than opening up the box and pulling one of these out is the satisfaction gained when installing it and the shit eating grin you have when driving with it.
As much as it probably deserves its own thread, I wanted to touch on what we've discussed with respect to the factory floorpan deforming where the tails of any K-member attach. Again, I had never heard of this issue until it was brought up in this thread. So I went out to take a closer look at the tail(s) on the factory K-member.
If you were under the car and looking up you'd see a wider portion of the tail than what is actually in contact with the floorpan. From below you see a width of about 3-3/4" at that point.
Now if you look closely at the area from an end view, you see two separate stampings that have been stitch welded together. And you can clearly see that the surface area making contact with the floorpan sheet metal is much narrower.
You have to pay attention when measuring the contact area as the radius on each side means even less material is making contact than you'd think at first look.
I measured in a few spots one each side and was coming up with about 1-3/4" for "X" number of inches (length of a given leg) on the factory K-member. And that's on the outer stamping. The inner stamping has even less surface area that is parallel and in contact to the outer. I took a look at Maximum's K-member from under the car and measured ~2-1/4" with ~2" making contact when each radius is taken into account.
Hopefully mention of this particular area on the factory floorpan serves to discourage those that may jack from this spot. Probably a good idea for those that track their cars, use a big brake kit, extra wide wheel/tire combinations, or simply navigate some subpar roads with great frequency to take a look at their floor in this location.
ON EDIT...I just found this moments ago.
[video=youtube;VSOge6QVdh0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSOge6QVdh0#t=22[/video]
If you were under the car and looking up you'd see a wider portion of the tail than what is actually in contact with the floorpan. From below you see a width of about 3-3/4" at that point.
Now if you look closely at the area from an end view, you see two separate stampings that have been stitch welded together. And you can clearly see that the surface area making contact with the floorpan sheet metal is much narrower.
You have to pay attention when measuring the contact area as the radius on each side means even less material is making contact than you'd think at first look.
I measured in a few spots one each side and was coming up with about 1-3/4" for "X" number of inches (length of a given leg) on the factory K-member. And that's on the outer stamping. The inner stamping has even less surface area that is parallel and in contact to the outer. I took a look at Maximum's K-member from under the car and measured ~2-1/4" with ~2" making contact when each radius is taken into account.
Hopefully mention of this particular area on the factory floorpan serves to discourage those that may jack from this spot. Probably a good idea for those that track their cars, use a big brake kit, extra wide wheel/tire combinations, or simply navigate some subpar roads with great frequency to take a look at their floor in this location.
ON EDIT...I just found this moments ago.
[video=youtube;VSOge6QVdh0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSOge6QVdh0#t=22[/video]
Wow, great looking piece there. Compared to the factory K member, I can see its worth every single penny. Active racers and performance enthusiasts should be VERY excited.
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