VAP

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/711/adjlink4.jpg"></center><p>
let me show you how I'v been keeping myself busy. The stock links are extreme top &amp; left of pic. These are also the highly sought after and hard-to-find steel end links. Their replacements are all plastic nowadays and even if you order steel you get plastic. Ubernugen was able to get me front and rear steel ones but the rears were a very lucky find indeed being the last known pair in existence on the back shelf of some obscure warehouse on the east coast. This is the pic of the custom B4/90 4130 Chromolly tubing (hollow) adjustable sway bar end links that are going on my car. The beauty of these is their light weight at less than half the weight of stock pieces, ie; only 2lbs compared with stock 4.2lbs. They're even lighter/stronger than the aluminum ones currently available for the B4/B5 front/rear. But it's the increased strength, over 20 times stronger than stock, and fully adjustable for length that make them shine. Additionally each part is serviceable and replaceable individually without replacing the entire part so its a "life-of-the-car" investment on my part. I've already broke one stock plastic front end link on the track so I know track use is very hard on the stock end links. And all new ones from Audi for the rear have now been substituted with plastic as well.

With these I can now fully corner-balance the car and adjust the sway bars with me (my weight) on board so that the balance is achieved with driver on-board for when I track the car or compete in any track or Auto-X event as well as just driving on the streets.

Now I know there's always the "these are street cars" contingent and/or the "my stock end links are fine" people reading this and to them I say "yep, you're right" and good thing too cuz you'd be hard-pressed to find any at this level of development. Those people dont need these nor do I by the very definition of the word. But I "want" them. And I only "need" them as a means to an end. Since I "want" a corner-balanced car and sway bar system the stock end links will not and cannot the meet the "needs" required to accomplish it.

This kit features the ultra-spendy all-stainless spherical bearing kit. I spent just under $50 each to get these bearings and 8 are required so as you might guess this is an incredibly expensive set-up. Couple that with all Chromolly tubing thats drilled, reamed then custom bent for left and right hand sides, tapped for metric left/right hand threads at each end of every piece with custom machined Chromolly spacers and Chromolly grade 12.9 allen head cap bolts with stainless Nyloks you could say this may be pound-for-pound the most expensive item I've ever made up for my car. Pure artwork for the B4/90 front/rear or the B5 rear. And while some may take offense with the Rolex comparison there's no arguing the precision of these or that timepiece's internals.

Still have to get the protective 2-step finish on these tomorrow then get them installed and out on the track before the weeks over. I bought a set of wheels and R-compound tires to test these with (ok, maybe not "just" for these ;-). I figure if I want to REALLY stress them and test their metal I need to do it in a "if we're gonna be a dog, why be a chihuahua" fashion. Maybe next time I'll buy a set of pure racing slicks if the end-links (as if there's any doubt) hold up to R-compounds (just for further testing ya know ;-). With the track and those tires I'm likely to put more load/stresses on them in a few laps than can/will ever be duplicated in any other environment short of a side impact collision or a direct hit from another car into a wheel well.

Promises to be a fun week!

Jretal

sorry to see you're taking it so hard Those are beautiful mance... nice work!

Ghostfire

But entertaining. What kind of shop would i ventur to to have make me things such as these and other products I may want down the line. I know you cant always offer things when its do able with my finaces as is why I havnt gotten these. So if you could only lead me in the right directiong maybe soon enough ill be owning a rolex for my car. You are a genius and yet you drive. I guess im new and wouldnt know so ill ask. Do alot of inovators drive as well when it comes to the track. Iv alway seen a team one does the work one makes the product one races. Guess thats movies talking. Life isnt always whats on the big screen though. Besides people that do the work know what there dealing with.

VAP

the only way to do these at a decent price is to make them yourself and have 3-4 faithful and reliable followers who'll ante up for an entire front/rear kit at pretty much cost which in this case is still expensive but allows for at least some price breaks due to a quantity larger than 1ea of everything. To match this set or even come close with non-stainless spherical bearings and all custom work with 4130 Chromolly tubing would probably place them at or near $2k for one front/rear set. These are not fun, easy or cheap to make. They are a challenge due to materials chosen and require custom made spiral flute titanium taps in left hand and right hand threads. Also they require CNC'd tube-bending ball-bearing jigs in right hand and left hand configurations so the bends are perfect, dont flatten at the bends and are repeatable from one to the next. You dont just spit pieces like this out without a serious set of design plans, 18-20 hours under the car and the machinery, hardware and cutting tools to make something like this happen. I was in this for over $2k just in tooling/materials for making jigs, fixtures and tools to allow me to build these for 6 weeks before I bought even the first parts that you see in this picture that make up the end links.

And they're not even finished yet as the Chromolly still has to be given a protective finish or it'll rust. And it's entirely possible I may have to go to a larger diameter tubing with a greater wall thickness. I walk a very fine line between weight/strength on this project... wanting the lightest I can get but so strong as to never bend/deflect in use. Mathematically it should never come to that but real world doesnt always agree with the math. And that means testing these on a car in the worst possible conditions... at the track. And we all know how little fun and unrewarding that can be. But &lt;sigh&gt; someone HAS to do it ;-)

Ghostfire

Thanks for the info but you still didnt answer my question What type of shop would I go to to have things such as these made. I am just looking for people to talk to man 2k is out of my rang but at least talking with these kinds of people will get me started. Even if you dont answer whatever its cool no hard feelings. Just trying to get ahead in life for my self. Lol peace mance thanks for the info.

VAP

someone with the machine tools and expertise to make the bending/forming jigs/dies and capable of working with C4130 chromolly tubing. With access to an Audi that matches yours to crawl around under and get all the measurements. You cant just do these with the stock Audi end links to duplicate as the ball/stud geometry in the stock links isnt available in a spherical bearing format so there needs to be a design difference in the front due to steerings affect on the end link and in the rear due to left and right hand configurations. This is likely beyond the breadth &amp; scope of any local machine shop.

And ya gotta trust they use these on their race car so they may have a B5 set already designed. Wouldn't work for B4 front but the rear would work fine.

Ghostfire

Thanks