Hi all,

Following my recent purchase of a 95 M reg 323F, I noticed a lot of noise from the back end which turned out to be knackered anti-roll bar links.

After Mazda quoted me £83.00 EACH!!!! for the replacement links, I decided that this was just taking the p*ss. Anyway after a bit of detective work, it transpires that the FRONT anti-roll bar links for a mark 4 escort / fiesta are almost exactly the same (about 0.5cm difference in length over what is a 25cm link). I have since fitted a pair of these with no problems to report (and the noise has gone).

The biggest difference is that Partco want £8.60 EACH for the Ford ones!

Just thought I'd share this with you guys - I hate being ripped-off!

Fairplay mate.... extremely useful info..... you've also reminded me about a similar situation I had a while ago.

However, if memory serves me correctly I ended going for rear vectra links ( I'm waiting for my mechanic to come back to me to confirm ) which were beautiful looking ( anodised / silver finish & blue rubber inserts - we'll they looked pretty smart anyway! )

Anyway, more importantly, mazda wanted 98 quid for each, I only needed one but ended up changing both coz' cafco delivered two for about 40 quid - correct length( 250mm I think), only thing was the radius of the bolts that joined to the anti roll bar were larger, so we had to drill out the holes a little to make room! Went through a few drill bits though, 'kin strong metal used in the anti roll bar - anyone know what it's made of?!

ttfn

Phil.

Is there any enhancement or degredation in handling?

I'm a bit sceptical about changing suspension geometry without a technical reason.

Whiteline's anti roll bar (not the links) is only 5mm extra in diametre over the OEM one, and that makes a huge positive difference to the weight distribution of the car.

Mark

I can only say that handling has greatly improved, but this is in comparison to the knackered links before.

tannerma2002 - I did think about the difference in length prior to fitting, but decided that as it is only a link piece and it is only really moving the actual roll bar up the slightest amount (imagine the 0.5cm difference on the link is actually at an angle to meet the roll bar which translates to an even smaller amount the roll bar comes up by), any change/degredation in handling is going to be minute - I drive like an old man anyhow!

Fil_auto - tell me about the metal used. We had to grind out the old link ends and they were stuck and that took some doing!

The info about ford arms sounds mint, only i paid £103 from Mazda for ONE just a few months ago, but i think i need another one for the other side.

I'm not being pesimistic but 0.5mm could make a lot of difference on the stresses and strains on the car, but most thinks made of metal are made with a factor of safety that is normally 4 times stronger than it needs to be or occasionaly 2 times stronger for health and safety reasons. So no, i don't really think 0.5mm will make much difference. Although, no offence Phil, it is probably more harmfull to drill the hole size out to a larger dia. because this makes the ring weaker and if you drive a car hard, is probably not that useful. But as i said before, factors of safety are used so i doubt there will be any damage.

Fairplay stealth, I was concerned at the time to but they needed replacing and they were the ones delivered, so we had to interagrate, adapt and oversome!

On the anti roll bars front, does anyone have the Whiteline:

Heavy duty swaybar-rr
R / 20 / B / MAZDA 323 ASTINA - BMR53

- thinking of purchasing this - does it come with new roll bar rods / links?!


[img]http://www.whiteline.com.au/store/images/products/BMR53.jpg[/img]

Cheer Phil.

90% sure it's just the anti roll bar.

This will be my next upgrade for sure. There was some chat on the Aussie AstinaGT forum a while back. A guy on there had this as his only suspension upgrade and was WELL impressed.

Think it will be about £80 by the time you add P&P from Demon tweeks.


Let me know if/when you get it!

Mark

YOu can get link bars from Anglo-Jap spares in Derby for £33.00