[gto4evr]

with aftermarket, you're going to just have to use your judgement. I've bought replacement link kits over the years and you get varying lengths of bolts as well as different heights to the threads on them. I recently pulled apart an absolutely original link pin setup off a 31,000 original mileage car and the nut bottoms on the end of the threads of the pins so no guess work. However, compare the original bolt to the replacements I have in a few different TRW kits I bought over the years and none of the replacement bolts are the same length. Most are longer. (that always bugged me over the years too, the bolt comes almost into the upper ball joint) The original bolt also has fewer threads on it where the new bolts are longer and also have much longer thread area so if you were to bottom out the threads on the new one, those bushings would be squashed flat. I'm guessing they made the bolts longer to make it easier to install. When I switched out the setup, I decided to use the original bolts but it was a chore getting the nut on there with the brand new bushings pushing and I had to use a breaker bar to force the swaybar down to compress the rubber bushings enough to get the nut started. It helps to equalize the stress on them by jacking the wheel up until it's carrying the weight of the car as your tightening it, also brings the angle of the swaybar eye more square with the area so the bushings can lay flatter as your tightening it up. I can imagine it's tougher with the motor out so the spring won't want to compress as much without the weight of the motor on it.

Without original bolts I go for the "squash" to be maybe half way between the uncompressed state, and how flat the one your taking off was. The top one will always be the most deformed of the set