tamadrummer88
Active Member
Come test your tubular K members on our insanely crappy Honolulu roads and see how it holds up. THATS the true test. We weren't voted #2 in the nation for worst roadway upkeep for nothing haha
Popular Mods That You'd Recommend To Not Do
- Thread starter Dave2000GT
- Start date
-
Sponsors (?)
we've been on the back tires for over 330 feet in both the turbo car and the nitrous car and both K members are fine. the nitrous car is AJE and the turbo car is UPR. ive seen more people blow struts bend frame rails crack strut towers than break K members from it
The performance oriented bushings tubular K-member kits utilize don't absorb vibration like the stock rubber ones do. They tend to transfer more of the road noise and vibration into the K-member. The lighter gauge, hollow steel tubular arm's and K-member add to and amplify these conditions, because a) they don't utilize the soft rubber bushings the stock arms do and b) the lighter tubular design promotes a lot of high frequency harmonic resonances through the member and into the body of the vehicle.
There are many examples of this in your car. It's very much the same as after market shifter uses, or steel drive shafts. After market shifters don't have that big chunk of rubber between them and the shift handle to absorb road noise and drive-line vibration, so more of it is transferred into the handle. Stock iron drive shaft although not ideal for high RPM usage, do a better job at dampening lower frequency harmonic resonance due to their greater mass and heavier construction. They also transfer a lot less road and drive-line noise than the lighter aluminum shafts.
Believe it or not, metal can be "tuned" much like a muffler can. Different materials, constructions, lengths, masses.....all done in the name of harmonic analysis. Generally, the heavier the construction and greater the mass, the more resistant they are to lower frequency distortion. This is also one of the big reasons we all got the "dog bone" bolted to the back of our 8.8" rear ends from the factory. All in the name of cutting harmonics and vibration.
Simple test....take a solid steel bar and bang it against a table. Makes an audible "thump" with very little resonance. Now, take another bar, with the exact same exterior dimensions, but it hollow in the middle and do the same thing. You now get a higher pitch "thwang", with residual resonance.
Cold air intake is a waste of money in my experience.
On an otherwise stock motor larger than stock injectors is a waste of money.
With regard to the other typical bolt on's and gears I will say in my experience they were all worth something regarding decreasing ET and increasing HP. Not a single 1 of those modifications made the car less drivable, less fun, or more of a problem on the street.
Gears were the single best upgrade. First was 3.73's then on to 4.10's. Wish I had done 4.10's from the beginning.
Stock motor, stock suspension, full weight, bolt-ons and 4.10's = 12.9 @ 104.0.
The car is now slightly modified running ported stock heads and a nifty cam and it looks like 4.56's are going into the axle which will sort out a lot of gear overlap issues I'm frustrated with on the street... and will put the car through the traps in 4th where it needs to be.... 7000rpm.
See gears are combo specific, and this combo really hates cruising at lower rpm. As it is now 5th gear is useless at anything below 75mph with the 4.10's in it, but in 4th at that speed I'm sitting at 4000rpms... and I don't drive 80mph in 65mph zones.
On an otherwise stock motor larger than stock injectors is a waste of money.
With regard to the other typical bolt on's and gears I will say in my experience they were all worth something regarding decreasing ET and increasing HP. Not a single 1 of those modifications made the car less drivable, less fun, or more of a problem on the street.
Gears were the single best upgrade. First was 3.73's then on to 4.10's. Wish I had done 4.10's from the beginning.
Stock motor, stock suspension, full weight, bolt-ons and 4.10's = 12.9 @ 104.0.
The car is now slightly modified running ported stock heads and a nifty cam and it looks like 4.56's are going into the axle which will sort out a lot of gear overlap issues I'm frustrated with on the street... and will put the car through the traps in 4th where it needs to be.... 7000rpm.
See gears are combo specific, and this combo really hates cruising at lower rpm. As it is now 5th gear is useless at anything below 75mph with the 4.10's in it, but in 4th at that speed I'm sitting at 4000rpms... and I don't drive 80mph in 65mph zones.
Unfortunately other than common sense and visibly never seeing a broken stock k member, you aren't going to get much proof.
Let's be realistic though, it doesn't take an engineering degree to know that one 1 1/2 holow steel tube isn't as strong as the stock beast of a k member.
You guys want to love your k members? That's cool go ahead. Still doesn't change the fact that it's a poor value to the average driver. I can see it where you need every tenth, otherwise it's a whole lot of money for very little.
BTW, i do have a tubular k member.
Last edited:
Mr. Rustypwnz
Advanced Member
Everyone knows the first mod SHOULD be a tubular K...
That way you can do an LS swap
But a tubular K will just break if you install it! I read it on the internetz somewhere
Mr. Rustypwnz
Advanced Member
Totally understand this completely. However its usually just barely noticeable, and 99.9% of v8 mustangs have some type of aftermarket exhaust installed, so its damn near impossible to tell a difference.
7upstang91
10 Year Member
I'm still trying to figure out how the bolt on car guys can't get traction with the 3.73s on the street.
lol....Start Trek references referring to no win scenarios....where a winner is declared? Einstein's Theory of Relativity? Assumptions that all Fox owners look for the same thing when buying their car? I had a big response typed out, but for the sake of simplicity I'm just going to cut it short and say....I'm sorry, but that above read like a complete pile of overcomplicated horse
. That is all. 
Granted....cookie cutter is cookie cutter and for a while it seemed like gears, Flows and pulleys were the only parts ever sold for these cars. No argument there, but it kinda becomes a blurred line. How many of us build up our cars in stages. To the point eventually that we don't even remember what they were like to drive when they were stock? I think if one had the chance to drive two identical cars (one with and one without the after market front end) the differences would be made more apparent. My point in that respect is it really all depends on what one is willing to live with and what they're willing to live without?
My point also revolved around front end crash safety too....but that kind of got lost in the shuffle.
7upstang91
10 Year Member
No, why?
You really think they make a tire stickier than stock? Pretty sure ford would have used them if they did. If you can't plant the power on a 225/50/16 then what hope do we have? You don't want gears, it'll make the car undrivable.
Sigh............ I never declared a winner, I gave my own personal observation. I even said "Personally I do not see......ect" I never said all Fox owners look for the same thing. It was actually a well qualified statement. You are the one that assumes to much me thinks. A Star Trek reference and using Einstein's theory should have been a clue to the "tongue in cheek" tone of the post. But I digress.........."Yours.......is......superior..."lol....Start Trek references referring to no win scenarios....where a winner is declared? Einstein's Theory of Relativity? Assumptions that all Fox owners look for the same thing when buying their car? I had a big response typed out, but for the sake of simplicity I'm just going to cut it short and say....I'm sorry, but that above read like a complete pile of overcomplicated horse ****. That is all.
.
It seems sarcasm doesn't translate very well over the internet?
In any case.....I shall avenge you!
Yep my bfg's spin at will.
More importantly no one took me up on 190 11r trade for doritos and now they're all eaten.. darn
Sharad
ALWAYS choose the V over the P!!! Wait... what?
