Instead of polluting the race setup thread I thought I'd start this one on my experiences and thoughts on these adjustable end links.

 

Product build comments first

The good
Nice product. Thoughtful bits like;

Left hand thread ends are marked with an L including the jam nuts.

Beefy rod and cast pivot ball section ( Note later exception to this comment ). The threads are cast into the end section so they should be stronger than cut threads.

Nice flat cut into the adjustement rod

Decent instructions

The IMO not so good

The cast ends are fairly soft metal. Since the loads are in tension and compression this won't be as big a deal if the were a lot of torsional loads.
Comments on here lead me to believe they are quite robust. The rod is tougher than the end pieces so I know which will give first.

Speaking of the rod. The flat is nice but it's only cut on one end, that's not the real issue to me. The cross section at the flat is 8mm so in that one area it is thinner than the stock piece. The cut also has 90º non radiused sides. I am certain where this piece will fail. If compression loads are absolutely linear this isn't an issue. They won't be.

The biggy.
Instructions say tighten the 12mm pivot shaft nuts to 55 lbs/ft. The first 2 I tightend, with 2 different torque wrenches failed at what I would guess was about 40lbs/ft. Stripped the threads right out of the nylock nuts.
Luckily, Home Depot had some good 10mm x 1.5 tension nuts. Used these on all 4 and tightened to 45 lbs/ft.

Installation stuff

Pretty simple.
Take wheel off
lift hub with another jack until you have slack
remove old units
match length ( in my instance I ended up 5-8mm at a guess shorter after final adjustment)
install new bits
do other side

Personal comment:
Need garage and paved driveway badly

Final adjustment
Drive to house that has nice flat paved driveway
The driveway had a bit of a slope which helped. I backed the car up ramps until it set level. Not ideal but the best I had at the time.

As noted above I had to shorten the total length from stock to get slack on both sides. Alternated sides to keep free length as even as possible.

Loaded tools and volunteer body into drivers seat area to match my weight.

Locked down adjustments and made sure link ends were as parallel to the bar and hub face as possible.

Installation gotcha(pretty much my problem). This refers to my earlier comments on only 1 notch in the adjustment rod.
I installed the links with the left hand threads down. My thinking being that I am far more familiar with RH threads and the room at the top link is a bit crowded so I wanted familiar threads where it was harder to reach, especially since I was looking up.
The less familiar LH threads would be down where it was easier to see them and orient better.
Sounds good doesn't it? Well this also puts the adjustment flat up at the top where it's pretty useless Ooops
A small strap wrench was the answer and recommended even if you don't do what I did.

The fun part

Took my car for my usual post suspension mod route. Much of it is on my way to work or close to where I work. Very familiar to me.

The car is much less twitchy. Feels more predictable and best part was it sets better in undulating or patchy corners and sweepers( On and Off ramps actually ).
I do feel like I gained a bit of understeer back. Not much but it's there.

The surprise? Double blind tested by taking the wife for a ride with here not knowing what I had done.
The ride feels smoother.


Now I can't wait to do the front. Between this and the OMP brace I now have a car that handles better and rides smoother.

Final comments

Well worth the time, effort and money.
Negative comments aside this is a worthwhile upgrade.

Thanks to Scott and others who led me down this path.

 

I tried these out a few months back and the first nut I tightened lost its thread well before 41 ft-lb. I see that you were able to shorten your rear link; mine would only go a single mm shorter so it appears that issue has been addressed now. The front links could be lengthened by 13mm safely; just barely adequate for my drop. As a test, I could insert the un-secured stock link bolt on the sway bars using only hand leverage even with ballast in the front seat so I past on using these links because of the questionable fastener hardware and the minor pre-load exhibited by my set –up.

 

Thanks.

I didn't think to mention that my car is on stock struts and springs. I'm guessing that makes a difference.
An educated guess is that I could have gone 10-15 mm shorter than I needed.

 

With stock ride height there’s no need to shorten the rear link except for neutralizing the swaybar. On a lowered vehicle the link wouldn’t take much more reduction in length than 10mm before contact between the trailing arm and bar end might occur.

I can see where some rear bars may have more preload in affect than others (not counting spring rates & corner balanced adjusted coilovers). The only bar I’ve had that was completely straight/flat was a 25.5mm H-Sport. I have an early Madness bar with offset holes because of a crummy jig and I’ve had two H&R bars that were tweaked in opposite directions from each other; it just so happens that the H&R bar on the vehicle is tweaked to my advantage.

 

I got lucky. My bar was very flat. This was mainly the result of a group buy gone bad. TonyB will remember.

The length reduction I did was solely to remove preload. I don't know enough to fiddle around so I do the safe stuff.

 

not sure if this is much info, but those are either THK or
THK wannabie joints.

most of them that ive tried in the past on different cars
had failed after using settings 60% or more stiffer than factory.

even the ones on my G35C right now are by THK... after running
swaybars advertized as 74% stiffer than stock, the joints started
rattling at low speeds after about 2k miles. At 50% stiffer than
stock, it was ok.

 

I need to call Chip. I know Keith had problems with these - I never followed up with him Keith.

The endlinks are supposed to be ordered based upon individual ride height. so they are custom where length is concerned.

 

...just as I mention on my web site.

 

That would be why I sent you a PM.

Hint hint.....nudge nudge.....

 

Chip's lengths were off for the stock MINI and more so for a lowered car... He's rectified the issue.

On the subject of strength, the load ratings and such are the best I have seen for the type of ends they are...

 

I communicated with Chip at Powergrid before trying these links and was assured that any drop other than “slammed” (less than 3/4inch on mine) would not require a special order other than the model designed for the MINI. As far as the miscue in adjustment range for that set, I can only speculate. The nut failure is another matter and that’s main reason I chimed in. Chip followed up afterwards so Powergrid has my feedback; that is evident by the reduction in rear shaft length.

My MINI opinions of adjustable links in general: For vehicles without corner height adjustability, lowering farther than an inch, or very stiff aftermarket bars, the stock links are OK provided they are in good health. Maintaining range of motion and neutralization of the front swaybar is important; if the vehicle were lowered (without independent corner adjustment) I would target the front links before going after the rears. Of course corner weighting is where adjustability shines.

scobib, please share with us how much pre-load (as per turns of the shaft) needed to be adjusted out on your vehicle? Also other details of your suspension.

 

Bilstein SP's + H&R springs, Ireland camber plates, KMAC rear camber kit, 19mm H&R rear swaybar, stock front bar... Corner weights and cross-weights are quite remarkably close, given the lack of adjustment (also note that completely stock, the MINI suspension is impressively similar).

-2.2 camber up front, -1.2 in the rear... 1/8" total toe out in front, neutral in rear...

Took about a full turn on the driver's front and between 1/8-1/4 turn on the passenger front, until the center sections rotated easily. Reversed on the rear - full turn on the passenger rear and 1/8 turn on the driver's rear.

Soon, I'll be putting in the Ledas and cornerweighting. Then, I'll check just how much cross-weights change with a full adjustment turn on one of the endlinks. My guess is ~3 pounds, but we can take bets. IMHO, there won't be as much of a change as Chip saw on the Mustangs... (Of course, we'll install, set initial ride height, tweak corner weights, install links, adjust to zero, then adjust, etc. so we have good results).

 

Has anyone challenged Chip with regard to the torque setting? When I first installed my Wilwood BBK, I called Todd and told him I thought the torque setting was too high...and infact it was and these were revised but not before destroying one of the studs.

I would think that mid to upper 30s would be correct...35-38ftlbs

 

I actually spoke to Chip just awhile ago... Seems that his supplier may have mixed his nuts up and that may be why some are stripping. He's contacted his supplier, and he's shipping replacement nuts to his retailers and will also ship some to anyone that's bought a set of endlinks. The correct nuts have yellow nylon inserts and are a different spec than some of the ones out there... He slightly panicked when notified of the issue, as he now is unsure how many sets are out there with the incorrect hardware. If you have the endlinks, double-check the nuts (I just did, and mine are correct). If you don't request some new ones from either your retailer or Chip directly...

I also wonder about the torque spec - IIRC, the factory links spec is less than 55 ft/lbs by a considerable margin?

 

I know one set

I'll stick with the tension nuts. They're better and more reusable than nylocks anyway.

Thanks for the great info folks

 

Ran my first event today with the new setup.

The end links are money well spent. Took a bit to get used and have a bit more to go but the car just felt more sure in the corners.

The first aspect of the course was a full 360º 100ft radius skid pad. The rear starts to step out now in a more relaxed and controllable manner. Much nicer than before.

I really hope doing the front makes as nice a difference.

 

Installed the fronts today.
This mod goes down as one of the great under rated upgrades you can do.
Other than a 22mm bar I've been running for 3 years my suspension is stock and basically unchanged.

I have a 2 day event coming in 2 weeks and I can't wait. For now though the front now feels less twitchy and more compliant.

The new bars are adjusted to ~7mm shorter than the stock units.


Get some.

 

When used with stock springs, there is no need to change the length of the links other than to remove preload and that should only require a couple of mm. The relationship of the front bar with the strut is different than the rears; when the vehicle is lowered the front links need to be lengthened to return correct orientation, so once again, there is no need to shorten the front links. Below is an example of the direction the front links should go even when only neutralizing the bar.

 

I know what you're saying but I did have to shorten them ~ 7mm to remove the preload. Very close to if not exactly what I did with the rears...
like I noted in the first post. Other than a rear anti roll bar and now the end links it's a stock suspension.

 

Only one side of the axle needs to be adjusted to neutralize the bar and that should be the side that requires length for the fronts and the side that shortens on the rears because the other directions head toward the zone of poor mechanical advantage. Adjusting both links the same direction on one axle is ineffectual for neutralizing pre-load; stock or otherwise, although for a lowered vehicle (which is what my photo represents, a baseline, because both are the same, not sway bar neutralization) it can improve range of motion. On a corner balanced vehicle there will be some tweaking in opposite directions to maintain the correct orientation (one that provides the most range of motion and best mechanical advantage) but it will still follow the same guideline. Reducing the length of the front link pulls the bar closer to the strut shortening the travel arc.

 

BTW - when fully neutralized, a full turn on one of the links will change corner weights by 5 pounds! Not enough to hugely affect cross weight %, but still - it's nice to know that you could tweak it if you wanted to... We checked it on my car, after corner weighting, for fun.

 

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Why OEM endlinks are no good... Pic kind of says it all - good thing this one didn't snap mid corner at Texas World Speedway, or it would have been a fun ride... Yeah, that's all plastic holding the ball in place...

 

Just a note.
I still got the crap nuts with my second set of end links.