I stripped down the front suspension today ready to install my prothane total poly bushing kit tomorrow.
Whilst checking over the parts i noticed that the propthane sway bar end links are abount 3/4 inch shorter than the old ones that i've just taken off.

Is this normal and are these links ok to use ?

Interesting... I'm rebuilding the rear end of a customer's car ('88) and the Prothane end links are about 3/4" too long! At least I can cut mine down. There shouldn't be any problem using the shorter links as long as the ends of the sway bar clear the rest of the suspension in their arc of travel from full compression to full extension. But still... it makes you wonder how competent a company must be to make a product as simple as swaybar end links and get it wrong.

I suppose I could always replace the metal sleave with the old one to push the bushings out to the stock length, assuming of course that the threaded part is long enough, although it would really piss me off to have to replace that nice shiny bit with an old rusty bit !

Prothane makes link kits in several different lengths. Don't rely on the counter guy or the catalog to be correct - measure what you need and order accordingly. The links the Fiero Store sells for the front of an 88 are about 2" too long, but don't try to tell them that they are too long, because they have "never had a complaint" and they fit just fine.

Go to the Prothane website and look at all of the lengths that they make. There's something there for everyone!

The thing is these links came as part of a prothane total suspension kit, I obvioilsy assume that the kit would have the correct parts.
On a positive note, the links although a bit sharter, do seem to be heavier duty, they are thicker bolts.

From what I understand, the key in setting up the front sway bar is to be sure that when you are all done and the car is sitting on the ground that the sway bar is parallel to the lower control arm. Olejoe provided that tip to me. I just put in new Energy Suspension links (the centre tube being 4-1/2" long) because I added Rodney's lowering ball joint. The Energy Suspension web site has details.

If the end links are part of a kit, I would ask them why the links are non-stock lengths.

Perhaps they decided to change the lengths to compliment the handling with the addition of the rest of the kit.

Or, perhaps they didn't.

If they don't hit anything, and are only 3/4" shorter, don't worry about it.

well, the basic "rule of thumb" for sway bar end links is:
with the car on the ground, at rest - the sway bar should be roughly parallel to the ground
other than that - as long as the sway bar doesnt hit anything in its range of motion - its all OK