K member broken, suggestions?

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-Zach-

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Okay I have searched the forums and read a lot on the k member posts that I have found and it has honestly friend my brain a little bit. I am going to replace the k member currently in the car, which you can see a picture of below, and don't know what the best one for drag/street use should be.

I am leaning towards a v8 k member(have a swap meet I am going to tomorrow in hopes of finding one) since some of the nicer units are out of my price range, minus the QA1 but a lot of people seem to think it is not so great. The car will primarily be taken to a cruise night and the drag strip. If anyone needs to know for a decision on k member it will be getting a 440.

Thanks for advice, opinions, points in the right direction, or anything!


 
I have a qa1 on our 71 Dart...race car only....no problems with it...

Got the same K member on 71 Demon...race car only...no problems with it...it was bought before qa1 bought out the old company
 
70aarcuda said:
I have a qa1 on our 71 Dart...race car only....no problems with it...

Got the same K member on 71 Demon...race car only...no problems with it...it was bought before qa1 bought out the old company
Click to expand...

If I remember reading correctly it was issue's began after they bought out the old company?
 
One is a QA!....one is a CAP...swap the decals around and you can not tell the difference...

wait..I am wrong..the QA1 has mounts for sway bar....Cap does not
 
You are helping the QA1 be a contender. I know mustang guys who run a lot of their suspension products and are pleased with them.

I read the hemidenny thread a little bit on here and will email him some point in the next day or so.
 
70aarcuda said:
One is a QA!....one is a CAP...swap the decals around and you can not tell the difference...

wait..I am wrong..the QA1 has mounts for sway bar....Cap does not
Click to expand...

Without starting a crap-storm about CAP, I can attest that the welding that left CAP was also downright unsafe in some cases. I wouldn't run any of the old CAP products after I broke a weld on my tubular LCA's from them.

To the OP, is it just the engine mount on your stock frame that's broken? For what you've described as the uses of your car, it would be a heck of a lot more cost effective to just weld another engine mount on unless the K-frame is bent or damaged somewhere else. Reinforce the steering box mount while you're at it and it should be good for a very, very long time. If there's more damage, a stock K frame is still a heck of a lot more economical than any of the replacement K's out there.
 
72bluNblu said:
Without starting a crap-storm about CAP, I can attest that the welding that left CAP was also downright unsafe in some cases. I wouldn't run any of the old CAP products after I broke a weld on my tubular LCA's from them.

To the OP, is it just the engine mount on your stock frame that's broken? For what you've described as the uses of your car, it would be a heck of a lot more cost effective to just weld another engine mount on unless the K-frame is bent or damaged somewhere else. Reinforce the steering box mount while you're at it and it should be good for a very, very long time. If there's more damage, a stock K frame is still a heck of a lot more economical than any of the replacement K's out there.
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I don't want a crap storm either lol. With the old CAP stuff having bad welds I wonder if the QA1 units now have those same issues?

Just the engine mount is broken the rest is good from looking at it. I hope I can find a replacement tomorrow. As far as welding it I have done a few tach weld's here and there but never anything that was of importance like that. If I knew of a shop around here that I could trust I would be more than willing to have them do the work.
 
Took a pretty serious hit to fold the driver's side wheel under like that, flatten a motor mount, and bend the lower control arm pin on the passenger's side. Before you spend up a bunch of money on purty parts for that car, it might be a good idea to have the front frame rails checked for straightness...
 
grumpuscreature said:
Took a pretty serious hit to fold the driver's side wheel under like that, flatten a motor mount, and bend the lower control arm pin on the passenger's side. Before you spend up a bunch of money on purty parts for that car, it might be a good idea to have the front frame rails checked for straightness...
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I know I said broken in my post too, but it looks to me like that engine mount was cut off. You can see what looks like saw marks in the larger picture.

The lower control arm pin looks straight to me, the LCA is just backed off of it because the bushing is shot. Of course, it also wouldn't be the first time the welds broke on the LCA pin mount either.

-Zach- said:
I don't want a crap storm either lol. With the old CAP stuff having bad welds I wonder if the QA1 units now have those same issues?
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I seriously doubt it. QA1 retooled a lot of the designs after they bought out CAP, and I don't think anyone from CAP is still involved with QA1. They were just bought out. QA1 is a good company with a good reputation.

-Zach- said:
Just the engine mount is broken the rest is good from looking at it. I hope I can find a replacement tomorrow. As far as welding it I have done a few tach weld's here and there but never anything that was of importance like that. If I knew of a shop around here that I could trust I would be more than willing to have them do the work.
Click to expand...

If you can source another engine mount the work isn't that hard. The biggest thing will be making sure its in the right spot, not the welding. If you take a close look at the factory welds on the K frame, you'll see what I mean. A few well placed and decently executed tack welds would probably be as strong as the factory bubblegum. Of course I would suggest fully welding it in, I'm just saying that the factory welds were pretty crappy in some cases.
 
I will add an engine mount on my look for list tomorrow and hope one of the choices pans out. As far as the lca and such nothing on the car now suspension, drivetrain, whatever wise is staying untouched. It needs a full go through but I do appreciate looking out for me!

With everything needing a check over or replacement the budget is really something I need to watch. I dont have a max budget for it but dont want a member as high priced as what the alterkation ones or whatever they re called I have seen.
 
I'm not seeing the issue here?
Just fixing the motormount and saving yourself 2-3 grand sounds like a no brainer to me.

Mock up the engine on the right engine mount, level it and fab the left motormount brackets.
 
There are a couple of used K frames for sale on this site.
Might be an affordable option.
AlV
 
Or buy a fully cleaned, straightened, boxed and welded K-member outright from Firm Feel. I would put US Cartool's chassis stiffening kit in the car while you have everything out too. It makes a huge difference in the car, especially if you are going to put a big old 440 in it. There has to be someone in your area that fabricates and builds race cars etc.
 
Swap meet was a bust parts wise today. I only found a swinger emblem but I met a few local mopar guys with dart projects.

I like the firm feel one a lot actually. It is something I will add to my short list. I still need to e-mail hemidenny though.
 
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