another tubular k member thread leaning toward UPR

[psuhillbilly150]

Just spent an hour in the search section looking at the posts from the past 2 years and here is what I have come up with.

MM and UPR seem to be the favorites of the forum. There isn't alot of imput on the Team Z and D&D front except a few saying the D&D was hard to get in but worked out in the end. QA-1 seems iffy in most people's opinion.

I am liking the UPR, Team Z and D&D pricing and am leaning toward UPR simply because there is so much more information on here regarding people's good experiance using them and they are somewhat cheaper then the D&D.

My setup is as follows
408w with long tube hooker super comp headers
Canton deep sump 7 quart oil pan
Flaming river manual steering rack, tie rod ends, and steering arm
Aeorspace engineering manual brakes
Coilover suspention
5 lug conversion using 94-95 spindles 13" rotors and 2000 bullitt twin piston PBR calipers.
Weld pro star skinnies with 1" wheel spacers for caliper clearance

Here are my questions regarding the UPR k-member
#1 will I have problems with my 5 lug conversion not fitting correctly?
#2 How are the clearances with the UPR setup with long tube headers?
#3 What if any are the standard modifications that need to be made to the UPR setup to make it work properly?

while buying any tubular k member I will be purchasing a-arms and caster camber plates.

Thanks for your imput guys.

 

[90lxcoupe]

Alot of people on here talk smack about the UPR, i have one and am happy with it, but there were a few little things that i had issuse with like on the passenger side motor mount i had to grind the little nub looking thing off cause UPR dosent have a hole on that side, and i had to clearance the k-member to clear the power steering rack, and it had no instructions with it. But i switched to a manual rack, and no clearancing is neccessary there, so you will be fine.

1991vert has the team z i think, and if i was going to do it over, thats what i would go with for the k-member. the nice thing about the team z is that he was able to order it with a tab so you can hook the car onto a trailer, my upr dosent have it and it makes it a real pain to get it onto a flatbed.

but if it was me i wouldnt use team z a-arms, dont like the design and they look kinda flimsy.

 

[S&B]

you not worried about the shoty welding from UPR, i think there invovled in one or two law suits where people died. If i was running a 408 with all that tq you wouldn't catch me buying anything from UPR, execpt a chrome lighter cover.

I would stick with the stock K member or go with the team Z, I would rather spend the extra hundred then be dead

 

[88mouse]

you not worried about the shoty welding from UPR, i think there invovled in one or two law suits where people died. If i was running a 408 with all that tq you wouldn't catch me buying anything from UPR, execpt a chrome lighter cover.

I would stick with the stock K member or go with the team Z, I would rather spend the extra hundred then be dead

Have you read anything about the law suits? The one I was reading about the two guy where out driving in the snow and ice on slicks, with a full built motor doing like 70mph.

I just bought a upr k member back in Feb. I check everthing over really good all the welds look fine. I also Have a qa1. And it also moves the wheel 1" forward, It also toe's the front end way in. By the time I got the toe set, there wasn't very much thread left on the outer tie rods ends.

 

[Shaolin Crane]

I got the MM unit, depening on what tire size you have your gonna have fender issues

 

[Gearbanger 101]

I got the MM unit, depening on what tire size you have your gonna have fender issues

Only if you order the wrong A-Arms.

http://forums.stangnet.com/7902801-post28.html

 

[Turd Tops]

I don't have one yet but i think i will be buying the MM so i set the whole engine back 1 inch. I'm sure it will cause tons of other problems but i'm up for a project.

 

[90lxcoupe]

nevermind

 

[Shaolin Crane]

Only if you order the wrong A-Arms.

http://forums.stangnet.com/7902801-post28.html

I still stand by what i ordered and that was the standard offset, but still 3/4" back isnt much and your still gonna have some issues, dont know what the **** happened to mine to give me over 2" of total offset but im not complaining anymore

 

[white 89 GT]

I have a D&D and its not good in the end, it sucks and I could not get long tubes on the car, but the wheel placement was good (centered).

What I have on the car now is a team z it has tons of header room but it moved the tires out and forward and it lowers the rack so much that you have to use a bump steer kit and my car sits normal ht. and then because the rack sits so low you have to get a longer steering shaft.

All I ever wanted in the beginning was to lose some weight and gain some header room and not have my car re engineered for me.
So if you ask me I would buy the UPR.

 

[blackened88lx]

you not worried about the shoty welding from UPR, i think there invovled in one or two law suits where people died. If i was running a 408 with all that tq you wouldn't catch me buying anything from UPR, execpt a chrome lighter cover.

I would stick with the stock K member or go with the team Z, I would rather spend the extra hundred then be dead

What he said. It's not just the welding either, I've seen a lot of very sketchy things about the material being used. Someone had a thread showing what actually seemed like a crack or serious defect in a brand new A-arm and they insisted it was an issue with the powdercoat. I have heard of several cases with A-arms breaking, including the one where the kids were killed, which was supposedly from a broken A-arm.

I've seen nothing but good from team-z. Why risk it?

Have you read anything about the law suits? The one I was reading about the two guy where out driving in the snow and ice on slicks, with a full built motor doing like 70mph.

Wow, never heard that side of the story. I heard they were cruising at 40 or something and when the A-arm broke it forced them into the other lane. Sounds like you heard one of those stories where the fish just keeps getting bigger. I'm sure the snow was 3 ft deep and uphill both ways too.

Bottom line, you'll never see that junk on my car. Just the principle of how they copy everyone else's ideas is enough to steer me away. Nevermind the horror stories of quality and customer service.

 

[white 89 GT]

Well I know all about the thread on hardcore5.0 and I know parts sometimes make it to market that should not, and there are others that have had problems also. Its like you should never recieve two left hand control arms when you buy one of these kits, but it happens and it cost more shipping fees and time. No matter who you buy from you must inspect all parts.
And UPR has been around longer than most, so who copies who is hard to say.

 

[Shaolin Crane]

Well I know all about the thread on hardcore5.0 and I know parts sometimes make it to market that should not, and there are others that have had problems also. Its like you should never recieve two left hand control arms when you buy one of these kits, but it happens and it cost more shipping fees and time. No matter who you buy from you must inspect all parts.
And UPR has been around longer than most, so who copies who is hard to say.

thats has NEVER happened to me with MM, one time they sent the wrong shocks (standard bilsteins no groove) not only did they make it right, the sent me new ones the same day with a return tag to assure i wasnt out any more time than neccesary, and one other time i ordered a entire SS brake line kit but they only charged me for the front, so to make up for the mistake they discounted the kit 25% and gave me free shipping, and this last order when i ordered my k member and torque arm and other goodies they discounted the parts something around 200 bucks for being a loyal customer, regardless of quality disputes NO ONE can top MM for customer service in any department

 

[90lxcoupe]

What he said. It's not just the welding either, I've seen a lot of very sketchy things about the material being used. Someone had a thread showing what actually seemed like a crack or serious defect in a brand new A-arm and they insisted it was an issue with the powdercoat. I have heard of several cases with A-arms breaking, including the one where the kids were killed, which was supposedly from a broken A-arm.

I've seen nothing but good from team-z. Why risk it?

I read that thread on corral last night, UPR gave that guy his money back in the end and took car of the problem, after recieving the arm they concluded it wasnt a powdercoat issue, and that story that you read about the kids that died... well you obv didnt read that far into it, the REAR control arm broke, and the mustang collision happend at the rear quarter, so who knows if the control arm just broke or it happened from the impact. The road was icy and the kids lost control of the car.

heres a little quote from said thread...

This whole accident is a very tragic thing for the family involved.

I have all the information and pictures and police reports from this and it is so crazy to be driving a car like this as it was not a daily driver but a track car with a full 10pt. roll cage, 28 X 10 slicks, C4 with cheetah shifter, forced induction on a carburated forced induction completely stripped motor and engine bay with skinnies up front.

I read the police report and even the father said they were testing the car on icy roads ????? WTH ????? I could not understand why this was allowed in any weather or condition on the street.

The pictures show the slicks are over inflated to boot. The vehicle lost control and got bent out of shape and could not be corrected before it went into the grass and slid dead sideways for 700 feet or so.

It slid so far and was honestly going so fast that when it hit the other car as far away as it was it hit hard enough to cause fatalities as it slid into the nose of the car with the passenger door and rear quarter forcing the rear end to push out the driver side.

This is what caused the lower rear control arm to sheer clean in half ! This was not a front a-arm failure as the whole accident investigation was very poorly done and the police did not record anything. They just assumed exactly what happened that the driver and passenger were out playing with the car and lost control and crashed.

I have pictures of the broken race lower control arm also and the story it tells is the impact sheered it. This car was smashed so bad on the passenger side it was any wonder the driver of the other car did not get killed.

Our hearts go out to the family, but the attorneys involved should just grab a gun and try and stick up the insurance company. We have some experts involved that took one look at the evidence and it is remarkable that the other side is trying to blame a product for this tragedy.

Anyways the car does not have nitrous it just had braided fuel lines on it so the whole story is severely skewed. I am ashamed that anyone is trying an angle on this and should just leave this alone as it is unfair to all parties involved.

The car was bought used with everything already installed on it so no one knows exactly what happened or even if the parts are UPR parts or another brand.

I personally have never seen any pics of a FAILED upr lower control arm, and the crack that you were spealking of before was .009'' deep in the metal and when it was analized it was determined that it would not have failed.

 

[Mustang5L5]

they look kinda flimsy.

Oh boy. I said that about a specific brand's K-member a whole ago on corral.net and it set off a huge **** storm when someone involved with that company read the thread.

You can bash stuff like TB's and Intakes and nobody cars but the minute you say something bad about critical suspension component designs like k-members or control arms and it sets off a huge arguement

 

[Mustang5L5]

Have you read anything about the law suits? The one I was reading about the two guy where out driving in the snow and ice on slicks, with a full built motor doing like 70mph..

And i also read the cops think he hit the nitrous in the middle of the snowstorm.


I find that hard to beleive, but truth is none of us were there. It could be very well true that he was in the snow on slicks but it could also be some serious exaggeration.

 

[90lxcoupe]

And i also read the cops think he hit the nitrous in the middle of the snowstorm.


I find that hard to beleive, but truth is none of us were there. It could be very well true that he was in the snow on slicks but it could also be some serious exaggeration.

The cops thought he had nitrous cause there were braided lines from the fuel tank... in my above post there is a little more detail about that accident

 

[psuhillbilly150]

thanks for the imput guys, so far what i am reading the
UPR a-arms may or may not have issues, the UPR k-member is half decent, and no one has anything bad to say about the MM k-member except that its a shade on the pricy side.

the team z is only 380 with the tie downs but needs 160 bucks more for the bump steer kit so thats 540 right there I would seem that the extra 100 for the MM kit is worth not having to mess with the bump steer nonsense.

If anyone else has experiance with the MM kit I would very much like to hear about it.

 

[Shaolin Crane]

what do you wanna know?

 

[Gearbanger 101]

I personally have never seen any pics of a FAILED upr lower control arm, and the crack that you were spealking of before was .009'' deep in the metal and when it was analized it was determined that it would not have failed.

There was a thread created on here a while back by someone with a Mach 1 who's welds broke right off of the upper control arm at the bracket. Not cracked, or rusted out, but plain popped off.....like there wasn't enough heat used to penatrate the metal during the welding process. It looked like a piece of bubble gum had been squished around one part of the tube. The other tube was barely etched at all......it looked like it hardly even got hot.

There were pics too....I'll be damned if I can find the thread though?