Steeda K-member install

[shurur]

Check out the CHE shock tower brace.

I bolted mine all the way through, using nuts and washers, and had the shock tower seams welded.

The brace could be welded in as well.

http://www.cheperformance.com/prod-175.htm

 

[bubblehead93]

nice looking piece, does not look like it would work very well with the MM upper shock mounts, however, I like the design... very solid looking piece for the price...

 

[bubblehead93]

swamped with little progress the last couple days... looks like I miss racing this weekend... sigh

 

[bubblehead93]

weekend of designated family activities, BUT, finally had a chance to get one side mocked up...



need to trim the rear pinch weld a bit further (where the undercoating is removed) as it contacts the spring at the very top...

still need to drill the Kenny Brown rear shock tower cross member for the MM upper shock mount (though it is all welded up now from all the cutting and bending I had to do to make it fit better)... and do the other side as well...

instead of centering the upper shock mount on the stock hole, I had to move it outboard until the MM shock mount makes contact with the wheel well, then open the stock hole up a little bit. This moves the shock outboard far enough so that there is room in the pocket for the 2.5" coil-over spring and hat assembly... the critical point other than the rear pinch weld is between the spring and the inner wall of the pocket, perpendicular to the shock towards the centerline of the car...

the other point of near interference is with the rear sway bar and the bottom of the coil-over, as I mock it up, it keeps a 1/16" of clearance all through the coil-over's range of travel...

 

[bubblehead93]

so I have the Kenny Brown rear shock tower brace in and the MM upper shock mounts, can't really call it a KB brace anymore, since I hacked it to fit my purposes...



have started on a gin & tonic, so no new pictures, but as you see in this initial mockup picture, I decided to not stack the MM upper shock mount with the KB brace... it created more problems than it solved... so I elected to cut the brace flange removing the hashed out material so that it tongue-and-grooved nicely with the top part of the shock tower... both pieces are 1/8" thick, so a little bevel and my trusty MIG and we're done... had to grind the top weld to create a smooth surface for the MM upper shock mount, then a little brushable seem sealer and some black paint...

with respect to the perch...



the pinch weld measures about 1 1/4" on the inside of the flange, you have to trim about a 1/2" here to fit the 2 1/2" ID coil-over spring...

you need to 5/8" spacer between the lower shock spherical bearing and the shock mount on the LCA. Also, the spherical bearing has a 5/8" ID (your only other choice is 1/2", too small), so I have an assortment of bushings of different materials coming from McMaster Carr... at the end of the day, I'll just ream a set of the bushings to fit too eliminate any slop in the lower joint... the reason for the assortment, they had some regular bushings, ready to fit, but they also had some other neat stuff that I thought I would try and adapt to the application... in any event... my gin & tonic calls... I'll take some real pictures tomorrow...

 

[theboss281]

Im looking for purchase one STEEDA K Member 555.5078 , do you help me ?

 

[D-MANN]

I don't see it on the website anymore. Maybe they have discontinued them. Give steeda a call or start a thread in the steeda forum in the vendor section. It is a sweet K member and I was planning on getting one this winter. Hope they are not discontinued. Looks like a solid piece.

 

[tj@steeda]

Unfortunately ... that unit has been discontinued.

Best regards,

TJ

 

[01cobravortech]

Unfortunately ... that unit has been discontinued.

Best regards,

TJ

Why was it discontinued?

Its not every day that vendors provide aftermarket k-members that still allow for factory control arms to be used with stock springs.

 

[svtshadow]

Why was it discontinued?

Its not every day that vendors provide aftermarket k-members that still allow for factory control arms to be used with stock springs.

Most of the K-members nowadays do provide the option of reusing the stock arms and springs. But sad that it has been discountinued. Wanted one.

 

[03 Indy Cobra]

I emailed TJ at Steeda and asked him if they would consider doing another run of K members if there was enough interest. He said they would restart production of these if they could get 10 people who would be interested in picking one up. I will start another interest thread so I don't clutter up this one.

 

[jrgoffin]

Here's an update to this thread from the K-member I installed in my coupe at the beginning of 2014...

I wanted to explore the possibility of using a brace that was a bit more substantial than the factory 2-point version. Turns out the Maximum Motorsports 4-point brace fits this and is a great addition - for those of us fortunate to have acquired it.

Picture of it below, with the rest at: http://www.terminator-cobra.com/chassis & steering.htm

P.S. When I bought this K-member around Christmas of '13, Steeda was running a holiday special and it cost just over $700. It's a loss to all that it was discontinued, but hopefully enough guys will drum up interest to have them to build another batch, even if the price has gone up!

 

[SVT_Troy]

I'm pretty pissed I didnt buy one when they were still being made. Now it's going to take me forever to find one.

 

[94slowbra1]

I've read some pretty good things about this piece. Unfortunately I don't have $900 to drop on one right now. Don't know why they would discontinue a quality product.

 

[mustangmike02]

Im looking for purchase one STEEDA K Member 555.5078 , do you help me ?

I don't see it on the website anymore. Maybe they have discontinued them. Give steeda a call or start a thread in the steeda forum in the vendor section. It is a sweet K member and I was planning on getting one this winter. Hope they are not discontinued. Looks like a solid piece.

Why was it discontinued?

Its not every day that vendors provide aftermarket k-members that still allow for factory control arms to be used with stock springs.

Most of the K-members nowadays do provide the option of reusing the stock arms and springs. But sad that it has been discountinued. Wanted one.

I emailed TJ at Steeda and asked him if they would consider doing another run of K members if there was enough interest. He said they would restart production of these if they could get 10 people who would be interested in picking one up. I will start another interest thread so I don't clutter up this one.

I'm pretty pissed I didnt buy one when they were still being made. Now it's going to take me forever to find one.

I've read some pretty good things about this piece. Unfortunately I don't have $900 to drop on one right now. Don't know why they would discontinue a quality product.

To the OP thanks for the pics and info. I was looking into this unit myself a few months ago and just came across your thread on google. When i was on tapatalk in january i saw a thread pop up about the Steeda K member. Here it is. I guess you can buy them again for those interested?

http://www.svtperformance.com/forum...d-Steeda-Lightweight-Mustang-K-Member-(96-04)

http://www.steeda.com/steeda-lightweight-96-04-mustang-k-member-555-5078/

 

[bubblehead93]

glad you found it useful... there was a recent group buy via another thread on this site...

r/
Andy

 

[NateDogg]

glad you found it useful... there was a recent group buy via another thread on this site...

r/
Andy

Andy,

How is the Longtube/manifold access with this? I've been considering an aftermarket kmember for the sole purpose of easier access to the headers.

 

[bubblehead93]

really good, no more two bolt starter installs, you don't need to pull the k-member for easy access to the header bolts... of course my kooks LT's have been leak free for a long time now...