Drag Racing Tech - K-Members..Worth it?

Im looking to lighten my car up as much as possible. Its a street car, Full Weight 3600+. To get any faster and cut better 60s Im needing to loose weight. Would it be worth the weight savings to put a K-member and A-arms in?

What brands does everyone like? Are there any that are stronger than others for street use?

They are a great mod, but if your 3600+ right now, you have a TON of weigt you can take out for free and still maintain all your options and appearance etc.. Just look over the weight reduction sticky...

im planning on putting a chromoly the k-member in (no a-arms cant afford it lol) and also a sonoco pin on hood and light weight race battary all at once...netting me a little over 100lb drop if my calculations are correct, right off the nose, hopefully help me with some grudge matches comming up :)...but like said if ur car weighs 3600 u got alot of weight you can remove for free just takes a little time...

Like others have said, look at other items first. I just pulled the bumpers and went to town...easily 70+ lbs

Im worried about the bumpers because I drive it a lot..Im very careful but its other dumbshits that worry me!

Putting a K-member in was, for me, just as much about ease of working on the car as it was about weight loss...

It frees up a ton of room.

The PA Racing chromoly is the lightest one that I know of and it's reasonably priced. You can get lighter ones that don't have engine mounts requiring a motor plate, but for a street/strip car i'd go with the chromo pa racing one. FWIW I have the UMI k-member and a-arms and the k-member was 33lbs, the stock k-member was 47lbs, and the pa racing chromo is around 20-22 iirc. The lower a-arms save a nice chunk of weight (usually 8lbs each), and the upper tubular a-arms are a waste of money, since they save nothing.

Tubular upper arms are actually HEAVIER than the stock stamped ones, they are just stronger.

Back in the day people had some problems with street driving the PA racing kmember (cracks and the like) but they may have resolved those rigidity issues.

The additional work room along with the weight lose makes a K-member swap a great choice.

Although we do not offer a Moly version (yet) our standard LS1 K-member with integrated motor mount weighs in at 22#'s which is pretty good considering it's constructed of all DOM tubing.

The motor plate version is I believe is in the low 20# range......

Agree totally with you Lee. I've got y'alls K-member (and damn near everything else you make) and it's all top notch. Definately look to BMR for this stuff! Great to work with!

the upper tubular a-arms are a waste of money, since they save nothing.

That's not true. The upper a arms with heim joints take alot of bind out of the suspension and allow it to work mroe freely, and improve the way the car reacts at the hit, and allows the shocks to do their job more effectively.

Take the spindle off the top of your car and try to move the upper a arm up and down. When you see how much it's binding you'll understand. ANY bind in suspension movement, is something you have to adjust around, and can hamper the suspension from doing it's job.

That's not true. The upper a arms with heim joints take alot of bind out of the suspension and allow it to work mroe freely, and improve the way the car reacts at the hit, and allows the shocks to do their job more effectively.

Take the spindle off the top of your car and try to move the upper a arm up and down. When you see how much it's binding you'll understand. ANY bind in suspension movement, is something you have to adjust around, and can hamper the suspension from doing it's job.


They weigh too much, and that is a no-no with me, lol. I can see your point especially if someone was setting their car up for road racing or autocross, but do we really need butter smooth front suspension movement when the tires are in the air? In the rear I could see needing a smooth movement. Just asking here don't flame me, lol.

Any time you can quicken the response of the suspension it's a good thing :)

Any time you can quicken the response of the suspension it's a good thing :)

True, but even a lightweight 275lb spring can easily overcome the binding of a crappy stock bushing in an upper a-arm. I just can't see much of a gain to be had there for a drag car.

I would be willing to bet, that at the speed you're at (listed in your sig anyway) that you would see a difference in your car by swapping. And you're only talking what 5 lbs? Trust me that isn't gonna make or break the car.

I would be willing to bet, that at the speed you're at (listed in your sig anyway) that you would see a difference in your car by swapping. And you're only talking what 5 lbs? Trust me that isn't gonna make or break the car.

I will probably take you up on that over the winter.

Worth it for the weight in my opinion once you have come to that point. The added room is just an extra bonus.

Our uppers are a tad bit lighter than stock FWIW.

They're a good bit lighter when you narrow them like I did too :)

anyone else have any experience with the PA Racing k member?

Im worried about the bumpers because I drive it a lot..Im very careful but its other dumbshits that worry me!The way I understand it, the bumpers are more for low-speed impacts than anything but I could be wrong. I really don't think it will make the car substantially less safe. However, I certainly wouldn't remove the side impact bars from the doors on a daily driver!

If I weren't so lazy, I'd have pulled off both my bumpers on my DD and not thought twice about it. I'm an emergency responder, too, so I've seen and worked all the gory wrecks in the world.

:)The way I understand it, the bumpers are more for low-speed impacts than anything but I could be wrong. I really don't think it will make the car substantially less safe. However, I certainly wouldn't remove the side impact bars from the doors on a daily driver!

If I weren't so lazy, I'd have pulled off both my bumpers on my DD and not thought twice about it. I'm an emergency responder, too, so I've seen and worked all the gory wrecks in the world.

Damn you.

Now I will have to reconsider this in the future. :)

I've got the BMR Kmember and it's a great piece. As others have mentioned, the weight savings is really just a bonus considering how much room you gain to work around. Installing/removing headers is a 30 minute job with an aftermarket Kmember. :)

Mike

You can usually control who you hit, but not who hits you. That's why I took out the front bumper support and not the rear.

Not to mention the rear bumper support is good weight - over the rear tires.

Joe how bad does your front bumper cover flex without the supports? I want to take mine out but dont want it to sag or spider crack the paint from flexing.

Joe how bad does your front bumper cover flex without the supports? I want to take mine out but dont want it to sag or spider crack the paint from flexing.

you can run the Burkhart tubular front bumper support, it's a nice piece. I've had it for a couple months now, it weighs about half the factory piece. i'm also running their rear bumper support for additional weight savings.

Joe how bad does your front bumper cover flex without the supports? I want to take mine out but dont want it to sag or spider crack the paint from flexing.

As long as you don't break or lose any of the clips the sag is really not noticeable. The gap between the bumper cover and the hood opened up MAYBE 1/16th of an inch.

How much is the burkhart front and rear support. Think about building my own. looks to damn easy.

It's about 250 for the support wit PC. It is not as easy as it looks. If it was we would not have sold several hundred of them.

you can run the Burkhart tubular front bumper support, it's a nice piece. I've had it for a couple months now, it weighs about half the factory piece. i'm also running their rear bumper support for additional weight savings.

As far as I know they dont have a LT1 Firebird front support yet.

Thanks Joe, Im still thinking about it.