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As everyone ever try to made their own tubular K-member ?

Hemirunner said:
It's a street/drag/standing mile car. I have a build thread on here in the members build section. That Wilwood spindle is virtually the same except that is has a separate steering arm so it's not side specific.
Click to expand...
its supposed to be a stronger forging is what wilwood says. i was gonna make a shorter steering arm for faster ratio and steering angle when drifting. i have a build thread on mine too. its the 69 ratrod charger one. ill have to check urs out
 
smb03 said:
its supposed to be a stronger forging is what wilwood says. i was gonna make a shorter steering arm for faster ratio and steering angle when drifting. i have a build thread on mine too. its the 69 ratrod charger one. ill have to check urs out
Click to expand...
I'm sure it's a stronger, better quality forging. I'm Running a manual rack.
 
Thank you for the steering detail Hemi Runner.

So if I understand correctly you are going to Use upper and lower balljoint from the mustang 2 ? What about the upper control arm ? Maybe mustang ball joint and mopar are the same ?

For the steering, my plan was to keep the factory one with the OE ball joint style. And build a longer steering arm that would fit between the spindle and the balljoint. The LCA should be shorter by the thickness of the new steering arm. What do you think of this combinaison ?
 
I'm using the standard K772 ball joint (which is the original 68-78 upper ball joint) for all 4 locations. You can buy them for $20 each including the sleeve. The ball joint shank is the same as mustangII. IMO, one of the reasons to go to a tubular K-frame is to ditch the heavy steering boxes for a lighter rack. That also frees up room for oil pan clearance since the rear steering linkage is gone. There is very little weight savings by switching to a tubular K-frame if you keep the heavy steering box.

For your steering idea above, if you shorten the LCA, you change the geometry entirely and could introduce all kinds of ill handling effects. The MustangII spindles I purchased weren't very expensive. Using these solves your dilemma. Without knowing your budget or your fabrication skill level, I really can't be of much help. The main recommendation would be to do as much suspension and parts availabilty research as possible, then have a plan before diving in. I'm duplicating a proven design with just some changes to the K-frame rather than starting from a clean slate which is much more difficult.
 
I do not want to use the original steering componement ^^ I'm mostly doing this swap because I need more place to put header right in place of the torsion bar.

For the LCA, how are you planning to build a "case" to put the control arm in to ?

As for the budget of this build, I want to do it correctly but not buying a complete unit from RMS. my total budget would be 1500 with out the coilover. If it's more it's not a problem.

With the mustang spindle, I'm afraid that my weld will not be good ... But a friend can weld those, So I think I will go this way.
 
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Very cool work guys, I'll be staying tuned to this thread. I really like Hemmirunners approach with the box tubing, more surface weld area so I'd think it would be pretty rigid. What kind of mods are you guys doing to the coil over mounts to sturdy it up, pretty sure I saw Hemirunner adding tubing up there as well? Nevermind... spoke before I looked, I see his mounts are incorporated into the K member.

Been pondering an upgrade to mine although it handles surprisingly well and has plenty of header clearance..... still be nice to fee up more room.
 
747mopar said:
Very cool work guys, I'll be staying tuned to this thread. I really like Hemmirunners approach with the box tubing, more surface weld area so I'd think it would be pretty rigid. What kind of mods are you guys doing to the coil over mounts to sturdy it up, pretty sure I saw Hemirunner adding tubing up there as well? Nevermind... spoke before I looked, I see his mounts are incorporated into the K member.

Been pondering an upgrade to mine although it handles surprisingly well and has plenty of header clearance..... still be nice to fee up more room.
Click to expand...

I'm doing a new gen Hemi swap into mines with a Viper T-56 as you now. For now it's a been more like a nightmare and less a dream because of my bodyman that did no work a all on the car in 9 months ! Now my car is back to my home and a really good friends is going to take care of the body shell.

I'm just planning to stiffening the body with the US car tool kit plus an home made engine bay brace like this one
charge10.jpg
 
ELLIOT said:
I'm doing a new gen Hemi swap into mines with a Viper T-56 as you now. For now it's a been more like a nightmare and less a dream because of my bodyman that did no work a all on the car in 9 months ! Now my car is back to my home and a really good friends is going to take care of the body shell.

I'm just planning to stiffening the body with the US car tool kit plus an home made engine bay brace like this one
charge10.jpg
Click to expand...


Something very similar to this strut tower bracing is what I will likely do on mine as well. Sort of stolen from the 60-70's Mustangs but of course much cooler
 
So I have done my homework and with the help of Hemirunner here is the parts that you need for a project like this

First the rack N pinion from a Mustang 2

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-OEM-POW...ON-GEAR-MUSTANG-II-PINTO-BOBCAT-/282067500721

The spindles. They can be found on ebay but wilwood made the same and honestly I prefer to spend a bit more money for some quality spindle ! plus the steering arm is a bolt-on so no need to weld the new one and the spindle (for those that are no confident like me on this kind of parts it's a real plus).

http://www.wilwood.com/Spindles/SpindleProd.aspx?itemno=830-10832

The famous K772 ball joint and the sleeve to build the new control arm

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway-1968-89-Chrysler-Type-Upper-K772-Style-Ball-Joint,38296.html

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Steel-Upper-Ball-Joint-Sleeve-K772-Style,2126.html

Bushings for the lower control arm
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Four-...hing-Kit-for-1-2-Inch-Bolt-Set-of-8,1583.html

Plus a lot of the hardware ^^

I just have two more question:

As for the steering rack location, How do I place it. How far it is from the front K member bolt and how deep from the bottom of the frame rail ? If some one could take these dimension on their RMS unit ? :)

I got the same question for the LCA, I now it need to be centered with the orignial one but :
- how deep it is from the frame rail ?
- how much it measure ?

No I just need to get my K member back from the body shop and the build will start ! I will also order everything at this time.

Thank you for the help ! ;)
 
ELLIOT said:
I just have two more question:

As for the steering rack location, How do I place it. How far it is from the front K member bolt and how deep from the bottom of the frame rail ? If some one could take these dimension on their RMS unit ? :)

I got the same question for the LCA, I now it need to be centered with the orignial one but :
- how deep it is from the frame rail ?
- how much it measure ?

No I just need to get my K member back from the body shop and the build will start ! I will also order everything at this time.

Thank you for the help ! ;)
Click to expand...
Ideally, the rack centerline will intersect the LCA pivot centerline. In general, the steering arms need to be parallel to the LCA in both planes to avoid bumpsteer. Somewhere in there I think the steering arm length effects Ackerman and you'll want to research that if you're building your own, as several compromises will have to be made everywhere. Good luck.
 
I found some more pictures for you. I think most of it is outlined in my build thread.
 
Thanks for the pictures Hemi Runner

Could you mesure for me the green and blue line ? with those information, I would exately know where the LCA pivot point his. For now it's my biggest problem ^^

I think I had find it but after some mesure on my Charger it's seems like it wasn't good ^^
3910.jpg


Thank's again ;)
 
Thank you for the help you give me Hemirunner !

know it's just grinding and welding time I guess ^^

Will keep this post updated when I start this project. Know we just have to finish the bodywork on my Charger
 
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