Help! Aspire swap with Escort tie-rods

[Pocket_Rocket]

Here's the new tie-rod end on the car:

And here's the original Festiva tie-rod end:

Up to the square part, both are the exact length, but the Escort rod end is at least 1/4 inch longer past that part, and that extra length is what my mechanic wants to cut off, so I'd end up with the same thread length as the Festiva rod end. And yes, I trust my mechanic, and woundn't trust anyone else, and he stands by his work. If he screws something up, he'll give me my car back properly fixed without making me pay for his mistakes.

[skeeters_keeper]

Well that sure looks like the problem! Glad to hear you've got a trustworthy mech, sometimes their hard to come by.

I have a lot more threads showing on my inner rod ends; you can see I've easily got .75" or so of extra thread, and thats with an escort end:


I guess you either managed to get some super duper long escort ends, or the threading on your inner ends is a little different. Hopefully cutting a bit off works!

[Pocket_Rocket]

But looking at your pic, yours stop right after the square part, where as mine have the extra length after. But obviously, they are pretty different, and mine also have a grease fitting.

[skeeters_keeper]

My new ones have grease fittings and have a square part like yours (those have hex shaped ends), but those are still longer than the festiva ends by a bit... I can't remember if it was 1/4 or 1/8. The new ones with fittings are about the same length has those with the hex ends.

I still agree that it seems you have longer outer ends than most of us other folks have... just out of curiosity, do you know a brand/part#? I got my first pair from autozone, and my second pair from nappa (grease zerks and urethane boots, for 3x the cost! but worth it).

[Pocket_Rocket]

They are NAPA Master Ride, P/N ES3073...

[Pocket_Rocket]

Oh and Nate, on a different note, you were right about the e-brake cables for the Aspire swap; the Festiva cables do fit. The guy who sold me the parts cut the center cable, and after a trip to every parts store in town, I realized that nobody sells new ones were I live. So my mechanic compared them side to side, and also compared the mounting holes and came to the conclusion that they are the same and bolt in the same place, and the Festiva cables work great for me.

[skeeters_keeper]

I thought they were the same! I didn't take a pic, but I'm pretty sure when I did the swap I lined them up next to each other to check. And we had a lot of neigh sayers... lol.

my rod ends are napa NCP 269-2741, and were $36.91 each. Blue urethane boots and a grease zerk. The $11 ones I got from autozone the boots only lasted a year, and I wanted a grease fitting, so I bought the nappa ones instead of just replacing the boot on the autozone ones. Now I have backups, or extras in case someone else needs them. I'll probobly give them to paul when we do the aspire/BP/G25mr swap on his car, since they are only like a year old, but who knows.

[Pocket_Rocket]

Well I got my tie-rod ends cut off last thursday; they are now the same length as some Festiva stockers, and did the job well enough to keep the alignment boys happy!!!