Mopar Muscle has an article about tubular K-frame from Magnum Force.

Is this as strong as the original K-frame? Does anyone know anyone who has installed one of these? I won't be considering this because of the cost.
It cuts alot of weight and makes room for better exhaust. Something like this for an early A-body could free up some space. It doesn't look to be very strong.

Agree it is pricey. My feeling is a lot of work is required to install one and I also question the durability. Don't see any practical advantage to installing this on a street machine. Now to find out about coilover conversion which I think has possibilities for my clearance issues. The following is strictly my opinion in the matter.

The weight savings claimed is more than the weight of an OEM K-frame! The lightweight replacement rack-and-pinion is a good part of the reduced weight.

While hunting efi from a 3.8 noticed the control arms and rack and pinnion from a Ferreo looked real close. didn't measure but now i'm curious, even the pontiac control arms look similar to dodge units. I wonder?

I have looked a bit at tubular Ks. Seem like a nice mod, if they are strong enough, can retain the torsion bars, and give good geometry with rack&pinion steering. Dare Racing is the only one that seems to offer one that uses stock LCAs and T-bars, but he won't sell to anyone for street (or assumedly road race) use.

Switching to R&P is a huge weight savings since you get rid of the drag link, idler/pitman arms, inner tie rod ends. There are also way fewer front end parts to wear out.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Agree 270, think I will go back and measure that feiro r&p as can't get the idea out of my head now.

I've been watching a guy out at 66 try and straighten out a DARE setup on a low 9 second Dart. Everything I thought would be wrong with it has been, and then some.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Dr. D,

Care to elaborate on what you thought/is wrong with it?

Thankee,

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Big D is putting a tube k in his Duster, Right?
How is that install going?

I would worry about using one of these "feather weight" units in a wheel-hanging drag car. Come down hard off a wheelie and you run the risk of folding-up all that expensive hardware.
DD

I am putting an AJE in my Duster, and it has been a royal pain.

I went down to DARE's shop and looked at one of his units. The big NO-NO that I saw was that he is trying to use the stock lower ball joints for steering arms, he is just switching them side for side to make them front steer. As much as he tried to tell me that it works, I knew that it would make the car bump-steer like crazy, and it throws the Ackerman so far off that the car is almost uncontrollable. Couple that with the fact that the rack is mounted way too far forward and you have a recipe for a car that will be twitchy and evil handling. This is exactly what the guy with the 9 second Dart is running into. We were watching from the stands the other day and at about 300 feet out, the front wheels start shaking so badly that I can not see how the guy could stay in the gas.

The bonus problem that the guy found was that the tubular mounts (which are 1-1/2" tube with flats welded into them) punched up into the frame when the car came down from a wheelstand.

Please excuse my French here, but I wouldn't have a DARE K-frame shoved up my ass.

I am not thrilled with an AJE either, but I think we will at least be able to make it work. If I had to do it all over, I would just get an Alston weld-in setup.

Oh yeah, the Magnumforce setup is not much better than an AJE as far as fit. Definitely not worth the extra $$$$.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Thanks Dennis, lots of good info there. Scary...

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I think I will stick to my current K-frame approach.
Take a factory K, drill, cut and grind-off all the extra metal you can find that is non-structural, then re-weld / reinforce high stress areas.
I can usually get a few pounds out of one and in the end, have a stronger then factory made K.
Now, if I can make some hollow torsion bars......
DD

If we had custom steering arms designed for rack-and-pinion could the existing K-frame have clearance for the rack?

Yes, you can make that work. Seymour Pederson has R&P in his '62 Valiant with the stock (modified) K.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Do we need to bend the steering arms so that the ackerman geometry is correct? Swapping in RNP can often introduce subtle differences which can cause problems.