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You still have issues of cold lap, limited penetration, etc,

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LOL - were you referring to the factory welds or the ones the owners made? The 70 k-member I'm getting ready to weld has it all, poor penetration, porosity, missing welds, etc. Its amazing the thing survived all these years without coming apart, yet there's no cracks or failures anywhere.


I whole-heartedly agree with your points but with reasonable care, technique, & proper heat settings, I can only make it stronger as the factory welds were pretty crappy:)

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The Factory K Frames are poorly welded together IMO, but did get the job done, from a bean counter stand point.

But, after xxxxx miles, and years, some are cracking apart on there own. Front torsion bar mounts being the primary failure, plus lower control arm cracking etc.


As far as welding the Stock K Frame, alot of home enthuisiests could only help it.

Now building and welding a new Tubular K Frame from scratch, No!! I think some are talking about two different dimensions here.

I didnt read all the posts, but welding on the stock K Frame isnt Rocket science. Its the worst Welded piece of contraption Ive ever seen.

There is a Huge difference IMO

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When rewelding a K-member (or sheetmetal), do you just weld on the outer ridge of both parts (like most do), or do you want to grind through the first sheet/part (between the org. spotwelds) and weld a bed there for a more functional weld?

I know the K-member is thicker gauge so it might not be that relevant, but on sheetmetal where 2 sheets come together I think it would be much more solid that way.

(Photoshopped example below)

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That's an excellent question, to the best of my memory, one that has not been ever addressed here before. IMO adding any weld to the outside of the two meeting flanges is not a very efficient design solution. Sure it helps, but so would epoxy. Other then redesigning the entire K member, adding quality, and very numerous additional spot welds would be best. This weld doesn't seem to fail very often, therefore it is likely not very stressed, however removing gaps in non welded areas should make it more rigid. The problem of spot welding a nearly uncleanable joint, remains an issue, and many here do not have access to suitable spot welder.

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You still have issues of cold lap, limited penetration, etc,

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LOL - were you referring to the factory welds or the ones the owners made? The 70 k-member I'm getting ready to weld has it all, poor penetration, porosity, missing welds, etc. Its amazing the thing survived all these years without coming apart, yet there's no cracks or failures anywhere.


I whole-heartedly agree with your points but with reasonable care, technique, & proper heat settings, I can only make it stronger as the factory welds were pretty crappy:)

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^^^THIS SO MUCH.^^^
Some people can break an anvil with a feather, I've seen it and fixed it. Before I became a civil servant I made plenty of $$$ fixing cars for DIY hacks. The K member that I modded was welded by a drunken monkey and though it held up, I have an engine that has more than 2X the stock HP and will pull close to 2X the G forces than the stock car could. Some people are quite naive about the engineering or execution of the construction of these old cars and ignorant of the effectiveness of aftermarket mods. "Stupid is as Stupid Does"

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Think You missed the main points:

Point 1: the factory welds suck- "The K member that I modded was welded by a drunken monkey"

Point 2 : Not every DIY'er is a hack. I never said that. I stand behind what I said 100%, there are plenty of hacks out there and I've made bank fixing their F ups. They usually didn't complain much, because they had only come to the shop after they had gotten so frustrated that they gave up. There are all too many "professional" hacks out there.

Point 3: Welding/reinforcing the K-member is not rocket science. Again, I don't see where you got that out of my post. In fact "Some people are quite naive about the engineering or execution of the construction of these old cars and ignorant of the effectiveness of aftermarket mods.

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When rewelding a K-member (or sheetmetal), do you just weld on the outer ridge of both parts (like most do), or do you want to grind through the first sheet/part (between the org. spotwelds) and weld a bed there for a more functional weld?

I know the K-member is thicker gauge so it might not be that relevant, but on sheetmetal where 2 sheets come together I think it would be much more solid that way.

(Photoshopped example below)

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Brazing is/was widely used for race car and aircraft fab work in Europe. Is welding "better" (stronger)? Yes, but brazing is almost always strong enough. The issue would generally be the rules organization(SCCA/NASA/etc) S/F....Ken M

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One of my favorites is mopar's 11/16 tie rods. A 9/16 rod end is capable sustaining 5g tensile and compressive loading, but a lot of guys insist on using 11/16 units.

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, just wait till someone stunmbles onto 3/4" TR's

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...One of my favorites is mopar's 11/16 tie rods. A 9/16 rod end is capable sustaining 5g tensile and compressive loading, but a lot of guys insist on using 11/16 units.

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A radiator shop can boil it out too. They do large car gas tanks so K member will fit in the tank as well.

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