Ok guys, I need your 2 cents on all of this. After shopping around and considering an aftermarket K member with after market A arms, I’ve come up with some questions. What are the pros and cons of having one?? Mostly what are the cons, would they cause any drivability problems? Clearance problems with pacesetter L/T’s? I would be using the stock steering assembly also. And im assuming all of these k members your motor mounts become solid. (I was hoping I could use some kind of bushing for drivability reasons) basically what can I expect and who makes the best one?!

Thanks guys

 

no cons as far as drivability or clearance. you'll jump with joy when you see how easy it is to work on other things with that thing under there. you can use your stock motor mounts or buy polyurethane motor mounts (which i recomend).

i'm not gonna say any of them are the best but i got my UMI from Byunspeed and it was like $450 some odd dollars shipped to my door. its built very solid and looks very durable. not saying its the best because i havent owned one of every brand but, i would recommend it because of the price. and they are still on sale as of right now.

 

It doesn't become a solid mount. There are two bushings on each side that act as a mount. You probably can't see them in any pictures because they are red and most people advertise with a red powdercoated k-member.

Fitment with headers will be alot better than a stock k-member and working on your car will be a lot easier.

I have a BMR Fabrication K-member on my BBC set up with long tube headers and love it.

 

The only con I see is that you can't use the center of the K Member as a jacking point anymore. I guess you could but I wouldn't recommend it. I have the BMR with Poly mounts. Install was easy and there is a lot more room under the car.

On the upside, you get all your tools back that fell into the old K Member. I got several sockets and a few plugs back

 

haha good to hear you got your tools back, good point on the jacking points

 

I've got the BMR and it frees up a lot of space. Plus, you save a good amount of weight off the front.

 

Thank you RICEETER and good to hear.

There will be no driveability or alignment issues with any of our K-Member set-up's. Our K-Member is very street friendly and offers addtional clearance, you will also have no issues with the Pacesetter LT's. If you take a look at the picture below and on our site our installation pictures actually show this item installed with rusty Pacesetters

You can also jack up the front of the vehicle with our K-member if you wish.

Hope that helps!
Ryan

www.umiperformance.com/2320.aspx

 

Hi

I do not have one installed, but I do recall some guys on this site complaining about breaking the aftermarket units. The general idea was they were lighter then stock, but not as strong. Try a search.

JA

 

um, the only ones i've heard of cracking were the bmr's. besides it was just a hairline crack. its not like the car fell apart. they suposedly redesigned and fixed it. i bought a umi anyway....

 

do you have pics of this?

Man I was gonna go with BMR

 

i know man that freakin scared me lol

 

There was someone who broke one that posted up pics. I belive they were trying to paralell park when it happened, and the side of the car just fell.

 

to bad umi didn't come out with it sooner before i bought the PA

 

OUCH!!

I THOUGHT BMR WAS HEAVY DUTY?

 

OMG


i think that would be a driveability issue?

 

UMI-

What Manual Rack can we use with your k-member?

 

Right now the Madman manual rack will work just fine since it uses the factory steering rack mounts. We are working on the Flamming River now.. should have that completed shortly.

Hope that helps!
Ryan

 

Glad to hear the parts worked out well for you

Lee Spicher
lee@bmrfabrication.com
(813)986-9302

 

You are correct, we had troubles with earlier designs and loading in certain portions of the k-member. We have been producing these for 6 years now and pioneered many of the design features that are reflected now by other manufactures. During this period we have learned what cannot be shown in computer models or in loading cells and apply it to the next generation. Our latest version has been flawless to date under all loads. Here is a link that shows one our most recent project partnerships.

http://www.gmperformanceparts.com/Racing/ls7_camaro.jsp

Lee Spicher
lee@bmrfabrication.com
(813)986-9302

 

Lee Spicher
lee@bmrfabrication.com
(813)986-9302