Sway bar end links for lowered cars.

[Daeldalus]

I have a 90 325i lowered on h&r sports plus drophats. I noticed that the front
end links were way too long for how low it is sitting. the bar is up at
probably 25-30 degree angle. so i decided to see if there was any options out
there to bring the bar back down to level. A level sway bar is better at
reducing body roll. I think the math works out that you lose 4% efficiency if
your bar is 15 degrees off and get progressively worse from there. at 30
degrees off my bar has lost more than 10% of its ability to reduce body roll

I work at a parts store, so i got out the Moog book and started thumbing
through the pictures in the back. first i found that there aren't many end
links made like the e30 ones. next i found that if you remove the bracket on
the control arm that the end link bolts through you can use a different style
of end link that is very common and has many different lengths available.

they look like this.


you would bolt the bottom part with the bushings through the control arm.
may need to trim down the bushings a bit i haven't put them on yet.


I got a bunch of them in different lengths sent to my store where i then
matched them up against my current setup to see which would be best. I
found three that seem like they would match up well with common setups.
I will provide Moog numbers because they are common but you could use the
house brand also if you wanted.


For H&R Sport springs without drophats
05-06 Chevrolet Equinox rear end links
Moog number k80850


For H&R Sport springs with drophats
93-01 Nissan Altima front end links
Moog number k9824
~0.5 inches shorter than the Equinox end link


For H&R race or low coilover setups
93-02 Nissan Quest front end links
Moog number k8643
~0.75 inches shorter than the Altima end link

[vpilarrt]

Moog number k8643 - $1.83 ea at Rock Auto

[Daeldalus]

also thought i would add that polyurethane bushings for these are super cheap and easily available.
like these
http://www.jegs.com/i/Prothane/311/1...FYZhfgodV6kIgA

[Streichholzschächtelchen]

This is awesome! I might be getting a set of these soon

[vpilarrt]

http://www.jegs.com/i/Prothane/311/1...FYZhfgodV6kIgA

Do you know if that's the right size for the Moog links?

[Daeldalus]

I don't know 100% but i am pretty certain. those are the bushings that fit on the 'truck'
style end links. like on many Chevys and Dodges and Jeeps. I had the Moog thermoplastic
blue bushings for those kind of end links sent to the store to see if they would fit the end
links that i was testing out and they fit. so I would think that the polyurethane bushings for
the same vehicles would fit as well.

I can get some of the energy suspension bushings sent to the store tomorrow or the
next day and test fit those to check for sure.

[Daeldalus]

I did more research today. Yaye!

the tests were done on the Moog k8643 end links because i still had those
laying around the store.

I ordered a set of Energy Suspension 9.8106R polyurethane sway bar end link
bushings. They fit snugly on the end link. They also will need to be trimmed
down a bit because they are thicker than the original rubber bushings but i
figure that you would have to cut them down anyway because of the additional
thickness of the control arm. Also had a set of the Energy Suspension bushings
with their metal washers too. Those washers are just a tiny bit too small to fit
over the inside part of the k8643 end link, but would fit with very light drilling.
overall i would say to just reuse the original washers.

If you need a vehicle to reference that comes with these bushings then a 87-93
Mustang is what i found them for in the book. The inside diameter of the
bushing is 3/8 inch.



I then went and grabbed a Moog heavy duty sway bar end link k7275. It says
to have a 7/16 inch inside diameter bushing and are made of the blue
thermoplastic that Moog uses for their HD line. Those bushings fit loosely but
not sloppily and the washers fit the same. The bushings themselves were
slightly thicker than the Energy Suspension ones and would require a little
more trimming.

Vehicle reference for those is a 94-01 Dodge Ram RWD front end link.


From my tests i would say that any bushings fitting those specs would work.
If i you can find ones that are made a little thinner then you may not need
to trim them.

[Daeldalus]

UPDATE.

I decided to go ahead and buy some for my daily beater to see how they fit and how they worked.

This is the before shot on the ground.


I was able to install these by myself with the car on the ground and without modifying the links at all. Easy

Here is the after install shot on the ground



Much more level but not exactly..... But that is because I bought the ones for without drophats and this car has them too.... Whoops.
Still they look great and are only about 0.5 inches from level.


I do have one concern about them though.
They stick through the bottom of the control arm a bit.
I don't think they will hit anything but it is something I may correct later

Picture of what I am talking about



.

[Streichholzschächtelchen]

Which are these?

[Daeldalus]

those are the K80850s
from an Equinox.

[Daeldalus]

I just took them on a test drive.
I honestly didn't think i would be able to feel a difference when i wasn't driving them hard but they helped a bunch. felt great the whole ride.

[crash n' burn]

just trim the bottoms if its a concern. I doubt you'll ever have a problem with them sticking down that far though, you're going to be hitting a lot more shit first..haha

I like it

[z28]

I replaced mine with oem links a few months ago, but when its time to replace them again I'm gonna try some of these.

[5Toes]

great info. this is why I love r3v! thanks dude!!!

[Heitzke]

Damn, yeah, nice find there. Angle of the way looks much much better.