Bump.

So, I took off my end links the other day and started to move the end bolt in full circles both ways on both sides. I really couldn't get any noise out of them and they seemed ok. No cracks, stuck joints, etc. Could the endlink still be bad if I can't get them to make a noise when they are off the car?

 

My rear endlinks went bad and creaked when under load.

 

My car makes a clunk sound when I turn the wheels in either direction but not really when I go over bumps. Is that what you guys are experiencing?

 

??

 

it could be anything from ball joints, to inner or outer tie rods, to bad steering rack bushings, to a bad steering rack. It doesn't sound likely that it's endlinks

 

Interesting perspective, no doubt from experience. I have that "junk" on lighter cars like my '91 Sentra which also have lube ports, appear plenty strong for a 2400 lb track day car.

However I was wondering about this when you add another 1000 lbs and lots more force to the equation, the heim joints having more moving parts seem like they would be failure-prone over the long haul.

Still, these links on my 33mm Progress Front sway on my B13 hold up to some pretty heavy loads, and get exposed to the elements, etc. One thing I don't like about bushing links is usually the bushings are not replaceable, cannot be lubed, etc. I can at least pack these regularly with marine grease or other water-resistant suspension lube:




Somebody must make something decent for less than 300 bucks for all 4 corners, that's absurd for a street car with really simple links.

 

The ones we showed above are for a Subaru - the bushings are repleacable (I've never had to sell a set in the 4 or so years we've offered them). Due to the nature of the Z endlink design, we deemed it not feasible to run the same type of link without running into potential problems down the road. So we looked for an alternative, and in all the ones we came across, we chose to only offer the Powergrid. The reason was simple - they offered the best of all worlds, and I ran a set on my own car for 6 months before deciding to ever offer them for sale.

No matter what the car, nothing is ever particularly special about an endlink - it's got a very simple job to do. I've had heim joint links on several of my track cars (BMW's) and they all took a crap at some point - every one of these cars was alot lighter than a Z, and used much smaller swaybars as well. A Z uses quite a large bar, especially up front and is a porker! A G even moreso.

The Powergrid ones we exclusively offer for the Z are a motorsports level part (tons of articulation and fully adjustable), with streetable civility (ie zero increase in NVH). They never need greasing, they are completely silent, they won't come loose, and that's the reason we chose to offer them.

 

Thanks, they do look great. I didn't realize at first read these were Powergrid, I've seen older product and it was also really impressive.

Just installed my Hotchkis sways, and first time I really looked at the end links, my reaction was "you've got to be kidding?" Puny, non-articulating and open to the elements, I started checking around for whether people have had issues...well, you know the rest. When I pulled the front bar out I had the same reaction, what a porker!

The links look great. Count me in

Goodbye underachieving OEM links!'

 

Thanks for doing all the leg work, just placed my order.

 

thanks Steve, we'll get them sent in the morning for you...should be with you Friday

I see you're from CT - we've probably seen each other at Lime Rock without even realizing it - we're always with 2 or 3 white/red/black BMW's (an E30, an E36 and an E46 sedan)

 

Thank you, that's a pleasant surprise bonus!

I haven't been out to the rock since I bought my G coupe and sold my 350, but I'll look for the cars. Bummer our first track date (I belong to CT CART club, www.ctcart.com) was canceled for paving. This new $100k Friends of Lime Rock club is great for pumping money into the track, but this first year looks like it will be taking quite a few mid-week dates off the calendar due to construction and track improvements.

Look for a black '91 SE-R B13, that's my track car now. Coleman's former SCC project car, it's a hoot

Thanks again seriously for doing the leg work, it's great to go from "duh, these look like a problem to me" to "hey, those are exactly what I want!" in less than a few days.



- Steve

 

cool! I know some guys running an SER too I think (or maybe its a 200SX..I forget) out of Rhode Island. Next time you are headed out there, shoot me a PM!

 

If I have the Hotchkis sways with the three way adjustability,would I probably need to re-set the end-link length when I switch mounting points? I would definately re-adjust if when moving the second link position it didn't slip right into the hole.

 

Now that's a good question - stock you have no choice, the fixed length means you take what you get and slightly change the "at-rest" angle the end-link makes at the bar.

I would also be interested to know the best way to determine the length to set the adustable end link. On my other cars they are set so the bar ends are level at rest, and the end link forms close to a right angle with the bar (e.g. its' 90 deg or close to the bar).

My corner weight balancing was done with sways disconnected on my B13, I believe, so the end-link wasn't involved in pre-load or things like that.

Guess I have some to learn here, too.

 

The only way to properly set endlink length is with scales. Without a set of scales, best bet is to start at stock length

 

That's what I was guessing, given length determines pre-load and you need a scale on each corner to measure that.

I never fully quite understood why corner-balancing for CO's is done with the sways not connected, or at least why you wouldn't do it again with the sway end links on - assuming they are adjustable. If they're not adjustable then perhaps it's kind of pointless?

First pass w/sways not connected is really a static corner weight balance for adjustment of the CO's. I would think esp for road course track use, doing this again with links attached would be very beneficial for making sure the actual corner balance is even side to side and you don't have more load on one side of the car due to uneven sway links (unless that's desirable for some particular course).

Well, at least my local shop (Bishop Motorsports) in Canton knows a lot more about this than I do, and has been a big help.

Thanks for the feedback from Z1, again very helpful.

 

it all depends on circumstances - if the car has coilovers and swaybar preload is adjustable, it should be done with both taken into consideration. I'll be doing a nice little write up on this soon, as my car is scheduled to go in for a new alignment and cornerbalance prior to ZDayz

 

Still deciding on CO's for my G, but did finally get a good alignment done recently, things were pretty out of whack, sort of like so w/re to toe settings:
/ /
\ \

Gee, no wonder the wheel wanted to go right. I also did not know Nissan spec'd a rear toe-in, changed that to zero toe and dropped a 1/2 deg of rear camber with +1 to 19's (245/F, 275R), now it tracks so much better. Dropping 5 lbs a corner of wheel/tire weight didn't hurt, either.

Look forward to that write-up, might be around the time I finally make some sort of decision on springs/CO's.

First decent alignment the car probably had, last one before this was 40k plus miles ago at the dealer when new:

 

I know this is off topic from end-links but the tech sheet above reminds me of the guestion I always have.How much is 1/16" or 1/8" toe equal to in degrees with tire diameter being close to OEM size? Everyone usually quotes their toe measurement in inches but with lazer alignment racks always give degrees.

 

all i can say is that i highly recommend NOT using SPL end links. i had the oems on, and was getting some mild noise from them for several months and decided to go with SPL. i've had them on for about two weeks, followed the instructions to eliminate pre load on the sway bar and today i go up a driveway and the bolt connecting the endlink to the right lower control arm snapped in half. i'm a little pissed off to say the least..