Hi all, after talking with Phil he's agreed to let me give this a try. He'd considered "lesser quality" drop links as a lot of people baulk at the price of the billet alloy ones and has kindly let me step in to have a look at interest.

Don't know about anyone else but his fancy rose jointed drop links are a bit out of my price range, so i've been looking into a way of making some cheaper ie. less fancy shiny bits but equally as functional. The principle is still the same as his and the joints themselves will be kevlar/ptfe self lubricating.

They will use high tensile M10 mounting bolts using top hat reducers to fit M12 rose joints, which are slightly more durable than M10. A nice compromise rather than going to aerospace spec gubbins.

The differences to Phil's will be as follows:

- Constructed of zinc plated steel so will be corrosion resistant but not as long lasting as his billet alloy aerospace ones

- Length will be adjustable from 310mm to 340mm

- All will be finished in gunmetal grey (no fancy anodising here sorry)

- Rubber gaiters will be an additional £10. They aren't strictly necessary but after hearing feedback on Phil's Mk I's I think they're recommended as people generally cba giving them an intermittent clean

This is only a provisional list as I need to get playing about with them before I try and pass them on. To summarise though they'll be identical in function to Phil's but cheaper, reflecting the "lower" quality of the materials. If you aren't arsed about massively shiny bits then these could be a good alternative to his.

I'm still to discuss with the supplier to calculate final prices but i'm not after much of a profit, i'm hoping for a final price of around £65 delivered with the rubber gaiters or £55 without, possibly a little less.

Anyone interested?

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Please note this is not set in stone and I certainly don't want any money at the minute, but if I get an idea of numbers I can go back to them and try and get a decent price.

Chris

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Bye bye Sundance Kid

You'll be wanting to dig out a thread listing the advantages etc and post it here, some dick will no doubt ask soon

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Membership expiring soon, get in contact on our new little forum project.

cheers Chris, get 'em made soon, I need some!

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team: Stealth

I think you should make a couple of sets then pass them on to people to try?

How do we know they arent going to fall apart?

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Chris
1999 China Gti6 Supercharged [Fun car] >>Project Thread<<
2000 Bianca 306 Diesel [Work runabout]

maybe me, although I just bought new lemforder ones - will these be made before or after the rest of the strut braces he's bending up?

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Team: Moonstone GTI-6™
Team: Working air-con™

dave they'll probably be ready to go in the next fortnight or so. Going to get a set made up and road tested for the weekend on a 600 mile round trip. If all goes well i'll start on the rest.

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Bye bye Sundance Kid

not until i have enough names down for them to order the bits in. Would probably do as phil did, 50% deposit and rest payable when ready. Am away for a long weekend so at the earliest it would be the end of next week

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Bye bye Sundance Kid

1. eddiebeano
2. shadows entity
3. Ballardpaul
4. davewagon (maybe)
5. woking rob (maybe)
6. judge dead (maybe)
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Paul i'm aiming to keep them below £65 at most, including the rubber boots. The boots cost about £10 for a set of four so if someone wants a set without take £10 off the price

For the sake of a tenner though personally i'd recommend getting them, less maintenance then.

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Bye bye Sundance Kid

Won't know final weights until I get one in my hands, the bodies are pre fab'd tubular carbon steel with threaded inserts, zinc plated in graphite grey. They should be pretty light but the joints are quite chunky as i'm going to be using M12 heads for the extra strength, they give slightly better movement angle too although not sure if it'll be that noticeable

The top hat spacers should give a total range of 54degrees at each end too, 108degrees total travel on the whole linkage.

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Bye bye Sundance Kid

The only problem with that is the length I need in M10 is special order at the minute, two month wait and almost double the price depending on quantity. Will see how the M12's go first, the 310-340mm adjustment is near enough perfect, OEM plastic links are 306mm and ideally you want slightly longer on lowered cars, so these should cater even up to the silly low coilover boys, the extra 35mm maximum length should cover up to about an 80mm drop

M10's as standard would be either too short or too long, can't get an inbetween size like the M12's at a competitive price. There's only about £2 difference per link between the M10 and M12 joints, but the bodies being fab'd work out a lot more in the right length.

As for movement and durability, i'd rather overkill if it all works as planned. Last thing anyone wants is joints popping. The mounting bolts will still be M10's though so direct fit with no drilling the ARB.

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Bye bye Sundance Kid

No, i'll reveal all my secrets then

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Bye bye Sundance Kid

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R H Davey Welding Supplies. I sell new and used welding equipment in the Hampshire area. I take on welding jobs in the evenings, ally casting repairs are one of my specialities but I can weld pretty much anything. PM me with your requirements.

Some of my services: (See my for sale threads)
Engine mount/chassis repair
Solid Beam Mounts BACK IN PRODUCTION
Harness bars

Bill should be able to ship to Oz, can you recommend a carrier though?

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Bye bye Sundance Kid