Nm35 Sway Bars

[scotty nm35]

I think 316 is the go, 5mm angle wont be breaking in a hurry and will never rust, not like zinc or gal. I wouldn't gusset it as this is supposed to be the weak point anyway.

[Daleo]

I think 316 is the go, 5mm angle wont be breaking in a hurry and will never rust, not like zinc or gal. I wouldn't gusset it as this is supposed to be the weak point anyway.

Yeah, 316 is all we use.

[Daleo]

So I recieved these in the mail from Wayne on Thursday, and fitted them Friday morning. They are a Whiteline 350Z Heavy Duty Swaybar Ball Link.

They replace this little fella;

The originals were still in ok condition; the boots were starting to perish a little, but still sealed. No free play, but not tight. So probably indicative of most examples fitted to local cars.

The Ball joint is more than twice the size of the original and should be able to take a hell of a lot more load, whilst still remaining quiet & maintenance free, unlike a race style aircraft or rose jointed link. As you can see, they came with neat little nylon shields to further protect the ball joint from stones, dirt etc.

I removed the rifling from the centres with a scalpel, and also cut them down to 10mm so they would fit neatly over the shaft hex, and not press against the ball joint dust shield.

They came with nyloc nuts, which I elected not to use; preferring to stay with the shouldered nuts used on the original links.

This decision was twofold;

1; Using the nylocs precludes the fitting of the dust shields, as you would need to put a spanner on the flats otherwise the shaft will turn as you try to do up the nyloc.

2; The originals were fine, and a little loctite will do the trick.

Fitted to the car;

Rolled the car up on some ramps, chocked front wheels, car in Park. Everything is accessible now.

I elected to remove the top mounts with the links attached and fit the new ones on the bench as space is limited. My top mounts were in perfect condition. The shafts are a bit longer than the originals, but do not cause any clearance issues under the car.

Once the mounts were bolted in and the sway bar was reattached, I locked up one side, ensuring the ball joints were at 90 deg angles as per the std links.

I then located the other to the swaybar and adjusted the turnbuckle until the swaybar was not preloaded in either direction NOTE *this must be done with the car on a flat, level surface* this was the n locked up.

All threads have a small amount of loctite 242 stick (low strength locking compound) just to be safe.

The original links are 110mm centre to centre, and the Whiteline links are 115mm fully wound in, with around 25mm of adjustment. They have an anodised billet turnbuckle which alows the user to allow for sway bar variance,and unload the sway bar at rest. I believe the greater length will reposition the swaybar closer to it's original alignment on lowered cars anyway.

So thats it; less than an hour fitted

I was fairly cynical going into this about the difference they would make with a Standard swaybar, but felt it was the best way to test definitively.

Bloody Hell!

At 60 km/h a sharp swerve in either direction ellicts instant response; you can feel the rear sway bar working faster than the front one, honestly feel like it's running a stiffer rear swaybar! There is obviously far less flexibility in these ball joints, as the vagueness just after turn in is completely gone, the car just dives in. I believe this will be even more pronounced with uprated swaybars.

Once fully loaded, they behave as normal; completely silent, no harshness, just like stock. But it definitely feels as if there is less roll and that the rear is reacting more quickly than the front.

I'm stunned at the difference these links made, for such a simple part, and I believe the adjustability may actually make life easier on the standard (under engineered) link top mounts, due to being able to reduce the angle of misalignment in lowered cars.

I'll be approaching Wayne very soon about a group buy, and he's assured me we'll have an extremely competitive price.

I'm happy to answer any questions you may have, and obviously, stay tuned for more developments

[Daleo]

So I recieved these in the mail from Wayne on Thursday, and fitted them Friday morning. They are a Whiteline 350Z Heavy Duty Swaybar Ball Link.

They replace this little fella;

The originals were still in ok condition; the boots were starting to perish a little, but still sealed. No free play, but not tight. So probably indicative of most examples fitted to local cars.

The Ball joint is more than twice the size of the original and should be able to take a hell of a lot more load, whilst still remaining quiet & maintenance free, unlike a race style aircraft or rose jointed link. As you can see, they came with neat little nylon shields to further protect the ball joint from stones, dirt etc.

I removed the rifling from the centres with a scalpel, and also cut them down to 10mm so they would fit neatly over the shaft hex, and not press against the ball joint dust shield.

They came with nyloc nuts, which I elected not to use; preferring to stay with the shouldered nuts used on the original links.

This decision was twofold;

1; Using the nylocs precludes the fitting of the dust shields, as you would need to put a spanner on the flats otherwise the shaft will turn as you try to do up the nyloc.

2; The originals were fine, and a little loctite will do the trick.

Fitted to the car;

Rolled the car up on some ramps, chocked front wheels, car in Park. Everything is accessible now.

I elected to remove the top mounts with the links attached and fit the new ones on the bench as space is limited. My top mounts were in perfect condition. The shafts are a bit longer than the originals, but do not cause any clearance issues under the car.

Once the mounts were bolted in and the sway bar was reattached, I locked up one side, ensuring the ball joints were at 90 deg angles as per the std links.

I then located the other to the swaybar and adjusted the turnbuckle until the swaybar was not preloaded in either direction NOTE *this must be done with the car on a flat, level surface* this was the n locked up.

All threads have a small amount of loctite 242 stick (low strength locking compound) just to be safe.

The original links are 110mm centre to centre, and the Whiteline links are 115mm fully wound in, with around 25mm of adjustment. They have an anodised billet turnbuckle which alows the user to allow for sway bar variance,and unload the sway bar at rest. I believe the greater length will reposition the swaybar closer to it's original alignment on lowered cars anyway.

So thats it; less than an hour fitted

I was fairly cynical going into this about the difference they would make with a Standard swaybar, but felt it was the best way to test definitively.

Bloody Hell!

At 60 km/h a sharp swerve in either direction ellicts instant response; you can feel the rear sway bar working faster than the front one, honestly feel like it's running a stiffer rear swaybar! There is obviously far less flexibility in these ball joints, as the vagueness just after turn in is completely gone, the car just dives in. I believe this will be even more pronounced with uprated swaybars.

Once fully loaded, they behave as normal; completely silent, no harshness, just like stock. But it definitely feels as if there is less roll and that the rear is reacting more quickly than the front.

I'm stunned at the difference these links made, for such a simple part, and I believe the adjustability may actually make life easier on the standard (under engineered) link top mounts, due to being able to reduce the angle of misalignment in lowered cars.

I'll be approaching Wayne very soon about a group buy, and he's assured me we'll have an extremely competitive price.

I'm happy to answer any questions you may have, and obviously, stay tuned for more developments

[Daleo]

Third time lucky don't know why the pics didn't appear, hopefully this time.

So I recieved these in the mail from Wayne on Thursday, and fitted them Friday morning. They are a Whiteline 350Z Heavy Duty Swaybar Ball Link.

They replace this little fella;

The originals were still in ok condition; the boots were starting to perish a little, but still sealed. No free play, but not tight. So probably indicative of most examples fitted to local cars.

The Ball joint is more than twice the size of the original and should be able to take a hell of a lot more load, whilst still remaining quiet & maintenance free, unlike a race style aircraft or rose jointed link. As you can see, they came with neat little nylon shields to further protect the ball joint from stones, dirt etc.

I removed the rifling from the centres of the shields with a scalpel, and also cut them down to 10mm so they would fit neatly over the shaft hex, and not press against the ball joint dust shield.

They came with nyloc nuts, which I elected not to use; preferring to stay with the shouldered nuts used on the original links.

This decision was twofold;

1; Using the nylocs precludes the fitting of the dust shields, as you would need to put a spanner on the flats otherwise the shaft will turn as you try to do up the nyloc.

2; The originals were fine, and a little loctite will do the trick.

Fitted to the car;

Rolled the car up on some ramps, chocked front wheels, car in Park. Everything is accessible now.

I elected to remove the top mounts with the links attached and fit the new ones on the bench as space is limited. My top mounts were in perfect condition. The shafts are a bit longer than the originals, but do not cause any clearance issues under the car.

Once the mounts were bolted in and the sway bar was reattached, I locked up one side, ensuring the ball joints were at 90 deg angles as per the std links.

I then located the other to the swaybar and adjusted the turnbuckle until the swaybar was not preloaded in either direction NOTE *this must be done with the car on a flat, level surface* this was then locked up.

All threads have a small amount of loctite 242 stick (low strength locking compound) just to be safe.

The original links are 110mm centre to centre, and the Whiteline links are 115mm fully wound in, with around 25mm of adjustment. They have an anodised billet turnbuckle with lock nuts and are left and right hand threaded which facilitates on car adjustment. This allows the user to allow for sway bar variance,and unload the sway bar at rest. I believe the greater length will reposition the swaybar closer to it's original alignment on lowered cars anyway.

So thats it; less than an hour fitted.

I was fairly cynical going into this about the difference they would make with a Standard swaybar, but felt it was the best way to test definitively.

Bloody Hell!

At 60 km/h a sharp swerve in either direction ellicts instant response; you can feel the rear sway bar working faster than the front one, honestly feel like it's running a stiffer rear swaybar! There is obviously far less flexibility in these ball joints, as the vagueness just after turn in is completely gone, the car just dives in. I believe this will be even more pronounced with uprated swaybars.

Once fully loaded, they behave as normal; completely silent, no harshness, just like stock. But it definitely feels as if there is less roll and that the rear is reacting more quickly than the front.

I'm stunned at the difference these links made, for such a simple part, and I believe the adjustability may actually make life easier on the standard (under engineered) link top mounts, due to being able to reduce the angle of misalignment in lowered cars, and cars with adjustable bars.

I'll be approaching Wayne very soon about a group buy, and he's assured me we'll have an extremely competitive price.

I'm happy to answer any questions you may have, and obviously, stay tuned for more developments.

Cheers, Dale.

Edited January 25, 2011 by Daleo

[ironpaw]

wow can't wait!!!

[andy65b]

Nice work Dale,

You said you thought that by the link being slightly longer it will position the link on a better angle to the mount. So what you are saying is that by lengthing the link it lowers the position of the end of the sway bar which moves the mounting hole on the sway bar further forward and thus in line with the mount? Sounds logical and may well reduce the stress on the mount.

Is this link you were supplied, the 350Z link?

Cheers

Andy

[Daleo]

Nice work Dale,

You said you thought that by the link being slightly longer it will position the link on a better angle to the mount. So what you are saying is that by lengthing the link it lowers the position of the end of the sway bar which moves the mounting hole on the sway bar further forward and thus in line with the mount? Sounds logical and may well reduce the stress on the mount.

Is this link you were supplied, the 350Z link?

Cheers

Andy

That's right Andy.

Yes, the link is their 350z Heavy duty link;

http://www.whiteline.com.au/product_detail.php?part_number=KLC141

Group Buy price will be SIGNIFICANTLY better than Whiteline's retail price; they do not discount, to protect their dealers. The dealers however, CAN discount.

[zei20l]

im interested in the group buy of these

any chance of a front one too??

[Daleo]

im interested in the group buy of these

any chance of a front one too??

Group Buy will be happening next month.

Front is a little complicated, got one off Stephen's wreck I can use as a sample? Whiteline haven't seen anything like it. I've got a couple of ideas. Thinking about a profile cut block, with one of their ball joints threaded into it. Send me a price and I'll take one off your hands.

Cheers, Dale

Edited January 26, 2011 by Daleo

[zei20l]

i have spares you can have for the group buy, mate.

PM me some details and ill post them to you. or feel free to come past on your way to/from work. you have my address still

[richzx]

Front and rear links sound like an excellent upgrade that I would be interetsed on for sure.

[Daleo]

i have spares you can have for the group buy, mate.

PM me some details and ill post them to you. or feel free to come past on your way to/from work. you have my address still

No worries, I'll give you a call early next week mate.

[zei20l]

no problems dale

[Jetwreck]

No worries, I'll give you a call early next week mate.

hey they talking about you in this? Dario!

[rosella]

Count me on the action

[zei20l]

hey they talking about you in this? Dario!

lol europeans crack me up.

[Daleo]

hey they talking about you in this? Dario!

Bless those chicks in bikinis! Lol dude!

[Sunkist]

Craig its amazing as to how much those air guitarist's remind me of you lol

your one Scattered man...

[Jetwreck]

Craig its amazing as to how much those air guitarist's remind me of you lol

your one Scattered man...

Problem is is that I have heard it about three times now and it's stuck in my head!!!!!