Just curious, I was buttoning up my rear end swap and just looking at things. I've got the LCA brackets to put the LCA's back level, I've got an adjustable panhard to recenter the rear, and I know they make the panhard brackets to re-level it.

My question is, looking at the end-links it would seem that they point down a lot more than should, to the point that one half of the bushings isn't even compressed due to the angle. Would it be better if we used shorter end-links to make up for some of the increased angle? Stock centers are a little over 2". I guess maybe if you go too much shorter than that you lose the 'sway' part and you get basically a buffered solid connection..

On a side note about increase shock travel, any reason not to make a 1/2" plate that bolts to where the shock normally bolts to and extends it down with a new hole 1-2" lower?

Kevin D.

 

I was thinking the same thing this weekend. With this car lowered these longer endlinks are about 5mm away from scraping under the fendewells....and theyre slanted too.

 

yeah i've had the same thought the question is how much to cut them down? It all a question of geometry and the proper application of force. Perhaps someone like Dean might have the answer. I was thinking that for a 1-2 inch drop cutting the endlinks down a 1/4inch might be in the ball park.

 

As cheap as the ES one's are at Autozone, I figured just pick up a smaller size instead of cutting..

Kevin D.

 

To answer the question: yes. Cut the sleeves down so that the end-link mounts on the sway bars sit parallel to the ground. You may also want to trim the end of the bolts.

 

Yes, you should use shorter endlinks if the geometry isn’t right.

No, you shouldn’t cut the sleeves down. You should be tightening them till the nut hits the shoulder and cutting the sleeves down accomplishes nothing but adding slop to the setup, making the bars less effective. I suppose that if you really wanted to reuse them you could put the part of the spacer that you cut off between the washer and the nut.

Go buy new, shorter endlinks for less then $20 and do it right, but make sure that the sway bar won’t contact anything with the shorter links

 

What's the difference between trimming the sleeve and buying shorter end links? I've got brand new ES links on the rear that I was thinking the same thing about.

Why not just trim the sleeve and the bolt?

 

For the life of me I don’t understand why this is so hard for 3rd gen guys to understand… If you have a bolt that has a 4” shoulder and a stack of parts that get clamped down in that 4” space, if you cut the length of the spacer that makes that stack of parts a specific height and still used a bolt with the same shoulder length what happens?

 

Thread another 1" of that bolt or go find a bolt with a shorter shoulder?

Why go buy all new bushings and everything when $2.00 worth of bolts or 10 minutes worth of time will accomplish the same thing?

Not trying to be a smart ***, but I'm trying to race on a budget. Doesn't make sense to throw away good parts.

 

First, you won’t find an adequate pair of bolts for $2, not in that size unless you’re buying bulk fasteners from someplace like fastenall. Second, the shoulder is the wrong size and too hard to thread with a die, you’ll ruin the die. Third, in most cases you’ll manage to loosen end links only once or twice before you strip the bolt, you’ll be putting a lot of effort into something that likely will work once to save probably $4 over buying the complete, new assembly assuming you buy ES parts, but if you know what to ask for at most parts stores you can find them for $4-8 in their normal suspension parts.

Lastly, I even offered a no $ solution in a previous post… I’m not sure what more you really want.

 

I forgot about the damn shoulder. But yeah, like you said, you could put the cut spacer at the top end of the bolt (with another washer), but that's just sloppy and will probably hit something. If you can find bolts with the correct size shoulder, that would work in conjuction with cutting the sleeves.