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Custom Tubular K Member, Tubular Control Arms, etc

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GSXNXS

15+ Year Contributor
62
0
Jun 5, 2003
Onalaska, Wisconsin
Here are some pics of one of our team's project cars that my bro Shamus is putting together. All parts are made of chromoly. More pics and info soon. The car ran a best of 11.39 @ 123mph last year with a stock block, head (272 cams), small 16g turbo and 75 shot. This year we will tune the AEM and get the chassis setup with the 16g and some methanol prior to going to a built block and 42R. The goal is to have the car well into the 10's with the 16g. It should be 300 to 400lbs lighter this year with a much better suspension setup.

I should also mention the tubular control arms are 4.4lbs total, the steering rack is 12lbs, and K member is 15lbs including the motor mounts. The stock stuff weighed about 99lbs.

Willwood Dynalite brakes and rotors are also being installed. Unsprung weight is going to drop significantly!


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thats nice work there. now where can i purchase mine.LOL
 
I hope you know that if you mass produced these you would get a good amount of business especially from the hard core auto-x'ers and the drag guys. I'm going to step away from the computer now and cross my fingers and toes that you do mass produce these things.
 
If you can offere these things for anywhere near the price of what the mustang/camaro guys are paying for them you should sell them extremely easily.
 
haha, funny coincidence....I was just laying underneath my car today thinking how nice it would be to replace that big heavy thing with a nice tubular piece.

But now I'd like to know, where they hell did you get that sweet steering rack? Is it power or manual steering? Is the chromoly k-member as durable and rigid as the stock piece?
 
Seriously I would be all over a tubular Kmember for a 2g. Sign me up!
 
haha, funny coincidence....I was just laying underneath my car today thinking how nice it would be to replace that big heavy thing with a nice tubular piece.

But now I'd like to know, where they hell did you get that sweet steering rack? Is it power or manual steering? Is the chromoly k-member as durable and rigid as the stock piece?

Its a Flaming River Omni manual rear steer rack. The rack needs to be custom fit/cut. The rack should be very responsive. The k member should be as strong or stronger than stock. Real world testing will be the true story.
 
Not just the tubular stuff, but the whole dang car...AWESOME!:thumb:
 
so any word on producing these yet?
 
Polk makes tubular control arms for the 1G but I have not seen anyone make a tubular K member. I'm sure you would sell a ton of these, hope you can produce enough fast enough. :thumb:
 
Thats some damn nice fabrication. So can we start a waiting list for these k-members and control arms? I too am one who has thought about going with something tubluar, buy my welding and fabing skills are not up to par quite yet. Have you guys came up with any stock steering rack set ups? *DIBS*
 
Very nice piece. Now if you could mate that with the factory manual/power steering rack. If i caalculated right that is about 60lbs of the front end. Oh My!!
 
I like the front control arms. I had thought about doing something similar to that but have not had time to look into it much. I made upper rear control arms like your fronts (though that part was easy)
 
Shamus talked to the fabricator today. We are tenatively meeting with him Wednesday night next week.

The stock suspension geometry changes are minimal.

The fabricator said that he will be able to design the k member for either the Omni rack or the DSM rack. Shamus said the reason he went with an Omni rack is that he could get one brand new for less than what a used DSM manual rack goes for and its a couple pounds lighter.

If I wasn't an old time DSM'er and die hard racer :dsm: , I wouldn't even be considering going down this road of selling these. It is turning out to be alot of work and my normal consulting job pays quite well :)
 
That is some real nice work. Do you plan on doing the same to the rear subframe as well? As far as weight savings in the rear, I think making a custom hub and trailing arm combo would do wonders.

I kinda can't tell from the pics but where is the front part (silver arm) of the control arm bolted to from the knuckle?
 
That is some real nice work. Do you plan on doing the same to the rear subframe as well? As far as weight savings in the rear, I think making a custom hub and trailing arm combo would do wonders.

I kinda can't tell from the pics but where is the front part (silver arm) of the control arm bolted to from the knuckle?

Shamus is doing a custom 4 link rear end so no plans on rear subframe that I know of. I am working on getting answers to your other questions though.
 
Ok, I got some answers. The front cross member pieces were all replaced by a custom chromoly piece and that is where it mounts to. All three cross member pieces are gone so there was some good weight savings there too.

The original plan was to replace the rear pieces with chromoly pieces but then the 4 link was done instead. It is possible that if there is enough interest, he will take the autox/ice racer project car down and get rear pieces made up. That is quite a ways off though (like months). The fabricator is swamped right now as he does quality stuff and is highly reputable. If we do start marketing these, it won't be overnight but hopefully in time for this years racing season.

Other future possibilities are solid motor mounts and rear bushings too. One note on the K member in the picture. The loop is only large enough for the driveshaft. The production one will need to allow for exhaust too unless you all plan on running it out the front bumper ;)
 
This would be strong enough for daily use I would assume? Also would love to see this in the rear too.

Yeah, should be fine for daily use.
 
Cool, I will keep my eyes open for more info and updates. I am always looking for ways to drop some weight off my fat 2g without gutting the interior and stuff.
 
Cool, I will keep my eyes open for more info and updates. I am always looking for ways to drop some weight off my fat 2g without gutting the interior and stuff.

I didn't notice you had a 2G. Right now we are only looking at doing 1G's. Not sure if or when a 2G one would be produced.

I do appreciate everyone's interest but want to stress that production is only a possibility at this point even for the 1G. Thanks for all your positive comments!
 
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