Hi friends...,

Back in the fall I did a total rebuild of front and rear suspension. KYB's put in both F/R, all bushings now poly, Fierostore lowering springs.... but my question is regarding the swaybar endlinks for both front and rear (the cheapest thing I bought)... I took the old links out on the rear, and the new ones I put in had a sleeve and bolt that were longer than OEM. I just shrugged it off as newer is better and 2 weeks later did the front. Same thing except this time the new sleeve and bolt were over a full inch longer than OEM. It was so tall that the upper arm wouldnt clear the bolt. I remedied that by using the old bolt and sleeve with new washers and bushings. SO what gives? I double checked the Fierostore product catalog against what they sent me for the '88 V-6's and it matched, so I dont think they were endlinks for a different year or motor combo. Also, what difference will those taller endlinks make in the back?

As I understand it the swaybar ends should be parallel to the ground while the suspension is loaded. Go to Pep Boys or some such store and get the size end links to make this happen.

Yep, the FS 88 end links are the incorrect length for stock replacement, and they do not state this on their site. IMHO, I really doubt that they give a rats a$$ if the parts they sell you actually fit or not.

[This message has been edited by 00lE (edited 12-28-2001).]

Would someone with an original '88 please measure the endlinks (front and rear, preferable). That way we know what we're looking for. Maybe I'll just get replacement bushings instead of the entire endlink. My rear swaybar isn't parallel to the ground when installed, and I don't know if I've got the original end links or not.

Hey Phil, thanks for your reply, you might have a good general rule of thumb there, and based on that I took my question to a mechanic buddy who is a 'Z-car' fanatic. Just as rabid about early z's as we are about Fiero. He is redoing a '73 z-suspension for a grassroots challenge to be raced in FL. I think cadero2max is gonna be participating in this..... ANYWAY.... I posed the same endlink question to him and his reply was from a Z stand point, but said that on some level it should fundamentally apply to all cars.
Formula88-- this might help you decide whether or not you want to adjust those endlinks. If I remeber right it (they) attached to the lower control arm. He said that having a sleeve that pushed the swaybar AWAY from the lower control arm reduces the swaybar rate and a sleeve closer to the arm, likewise would increase its rate. But he also said that in the grand scheme of things that this 1" of difference is virtually negligble and would never be noticed unless you had super sticky tires in high speed turn under race conditions... it is more of a superfine adjustment than anything. Further he said, a much more noticeable adjustment would be changing the geometry of where the sway bar mounts. i.e. a link mounted closer to the ball joint will effectivley increase rate much more than a link mounted closer to the pivot point on the control arm. Or lengthening the legs of the swaybar (therefore allowing more leverage) will do the same.
So what I got from Fierostore shouldn't really matter in the handeling. It does bother me that it was not EXACTLY the same length as OEM though.