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AJE RACING: A-ARMS & FRONT COILOVER CONVERSION
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Along with the looks and the weight savings I got with the k-member, I wanted to get something to replace my busted tubular A-arms. The stock ones were an eye sore and were quite heavy! Now my big concern was going back to a design that had the possible weaknesses of my old PA racing a-arms. Granted their failure was due to a defect in the manufacturing, not a failure of the part's design, but I was still leary. Was a turbular design that retained the factory spring pocket design ever going to be really safe?
So I looked at was AJE Racing offered with the K-member I purchased. The had a solid a-arm that eliminated the spring pocket all together and a conversion kit to go to a coil over spring design. Neater & less stress on those critical suspension parts! Plus, installation should be easier compared to the stock style, so I could concievably go to a different spring rate for the drag strip and avoid some of the obvious suspension issues I'm having now!
So I went with the Stronger road race package deal from AJE offered at Super Chevy... a whole new front suspension...
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As I stated previously... I decided on AJE because...
After the PA Racing A-arm incident, I wanted to be sure of what I was buying this go around... First thing I did was find out what was even available and who made it! Then I wanted to get some opinions of those in the business... I had taken my PA a-arm to a a local world know Chassis shop for an inspection. Lance Carter of Carter chassis was just down the way from me. He is a very well known and well respected chassis builder known thru out the country. After I got my A-arm questions answered, we went on to discuss K-members� He has heard horror stories about them (PA) and most others... he said there was only one company he would consider a prefabbed unit from and that was AJE... He had seen their Mustang stuff and was impresed with what they offered. I never mentioned AJE to him at all. This was his unsolicited opinion! Funny thing...he offered to build me some a-arms...asking price $1800... but they would NEVER break! LOL!
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A-ARMS
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Here are the AJE Tubular A-arms...

The black plates you see in these pics are part of the coilover conversion...
Intstalled

They are also extra braced for Road racing, so I hope they can hold up better then the PA version. You will notice there are no spring pockets in these. I opted to go with a coil over conversion since it would allow for easier height changes and spring swaps. Plus, the spring pocket stress is where my PA Version showed its weakness.
Here you can see the up & down travel in the arms...

The only thing that gave us real issue was the fact that the lower bar of the k-member interfered with the travel of the a-arm. The a-arm was not able to drop as low as stock. Normally we would allow the a-arm to completely drop to remove/install the strut & spindle as an assembly; however, it would not allow enough drop to do this. So we installed things differently. Once its all put together, the arm travel is not a problem at all.
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COIL OVER CONVERSION
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Here they are getting painted...
Red Primer

Red Candy Base coat

Clear coat

The metal plates I mentioned earier pictured with the A-arms above... well they get mounted at the top.

The circular cuff holds the spring in place. There is a Timkin (sp) bearing kit that also comes with the coilover conversion kit and is installed to allow the unit to travel smoothly as needed while driving, as well as, when adjusting the unit's height!
Here it is all assembled... looks good since we painted the blue Eibach springs Candy Apple red!

Brakes are added!

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WEIGHT COMPARISONS
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Here are the AJE weight comparisons to stock...

Its hard to read the writing, but it says...
Stock K-member with stock a-arms: 78lbs
Eibach Prokit Springs: 27lbs
AJE K-member: 21 lbs
AJE A-arms: 10 lbs
So combined the AJE K-member and A-rms are: 31lbs
Coilover conversion and springs: 13lbs
Total Stock w/ Eibach stock style Prokit springs: 105lbs
AJE Front w/ coilover conversion: 44Lbs
Total savings: 61lbs
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HOME PAGE
Follow this link to additional information on the car not found on this site!
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DIRECTORY FOR RAIF'S HANDLING SITE
01
Site Overview
02
Rims
03
Tires
04
Shocks & Struts
05
Lowering Springs
06
Panhard Rod & Lower Control Arms
07
Steering
08
Sway Bars & Wonderbar
09
Strut Tower Brace
10
Old PA Racing A-Arms: Failure
11
Old PA Racing A-Arms: Passenger side damage
12
Old PA Racing A-Arms: Driver side damage
13
Subframe Connectors
14
Underbody View
15
Brakes
16
AJE Racing: Tubular cross member
17
AJE Racing: Tubular A-arms and coilover conversion <<<
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