Stillen or Z1-Motorsports upper links?

[mattd1979]

I'm caught between two different brands of upper links and need a little help deciding on one. The Z1-motorsports has a website that goes into detail about their upper links and the construction of them for street and race use. Also they have a clearance designed into them so that they will not bind at full up stroke. Here are the two links. One from Z1 and the other is Stillen.

http://www.z1motorsports.com/product_in ... ts_id=6190

http://www.stillen.com/product/control- ... -7250.html

I can buy the Stillen links a few dollars cheaper from another site. I'm on a tight budget right now because I am currently out of work and been doing side jobs to get by and so the most I am willing to spend is what it costs for the Z1 upper links for $388. Why is there an offset to the shaft of the Stillen upper links and other similar ones that I have seen.

Matt

[Brew Q]

I think you answered your own question -- the Z1's appear to be better construction and are basically the same price. I've never been a Stealin fan.

I have a close sister to your Pearl 90, in my '92, so I've bookmarked the Z1's for future purchase and install myself!

[mattd1979]

The only thing that concerns me with the Z1s is that the shaft portion seems a bit narrower at the middle than all of the other types I have seen. I'm worried that might be a weak point.

Matt

[SanCarlosQ45]

Are you set on FUCAs that have bushings?

The weak point I see is the aluminium housing for the bearings/bushings not the steel threaded rods. That's why I went with an all steel version with bearings. If you do get these make sure you use anti-seaze because of galvanic corrosion between the aluminium and steel. You can get the whiteline bushings with +/- 0.5 of adjustment which means you use your original arms. I would rather see an arm made out of something like 4130 chromoly steel or equivalent.

I wouldn't go with the stillen, even look at the messy welds in the example picture. It looks better than the last design they had though, which isn't saying much I guess.

[Brew Q]

a set of Megans for $263, powdercoated. I can't vouch for the quality though.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEGAN-FRONT-UPP ... 5d&vxp=mtr

[mattd1979]

I am set on upper control arms that have polyurethane bushings for two reasons. The first one is that if I use the polyurethane style I don't have to bother with replacing the tension rods with solid adjustable types. The other reason is that from the way I see it, as the wheel travels up from center or down from center, the tension rod pulls the wheel towards the front of the car causing a rotation at the upper control arm which will twist it back and forth until the locking nuts will come loose in the long term and the adjustment slowly change. I feel that if there is some give in the bushings to allow for some twist then there would be more flex absorbed in the bushings and less twist exerted at the adjustment point. That is my theory by the way the suspension travels up and down.

Matt

[SanCarlosQ45]

Those megans are the ones I have, quality is good from what I can see. I only have about 10k on them but so far no problems. Make sure you put anti-seize on the threads because they will rust. Just like lowering springs and stiffer shocks you may notice more noise from the suspension due to worn out components like ball joints and lower control arm bushings. I've dealt with all of this so I don't have problems. I forget how many miles he has on his SPL FUCAs but it was over 100k I think which is very good.

That's exactly why you replace the tension bushings with solid one when you go with adjustable FUCAs with bearings. The ride is not that different, I don't know why people complain about solid uppers and tension rods. I didn't feel any ride quality degrade even after poly tension rod bushings. I would go with the Z1 as I know the quality of their in house designs are very good.

[mattd1979]

I'm not concerned about the ride when it comes to using bearings. It's the twisting stress on the upper links that I explained in my previous response. A friend of mine has a 1991 Q that I replaced both his front upper links and tension rods with roller bearing adjustable sets and I know how it rides. If you want a more responsive feel you get more road feedback. I know that if you were to just replace the upper links with solid roller bearing ones without replacing the tension rods (bad idea) I don't believe you would notice any difference in ride feedback. The solid tension rods will give you that additional feedback. I will go with the Z1s from the responses I have heard. If I want to run a bearing setup down the road, I can just order the bearings from Z1 and swap them in. Thanks everyone for the help and opinions. That is what I needed. Now I just have to wait on my tax return to deposit.

Matt