Koni Shock/Strut & Epic Engineering Spring Install

Like he said though, he doesn't have his Konis yet. He is just prepping his donor housings ahead of time.

 

I have never cut that much off accidentally, but it is going to be close. The bumps on the cartridge are 46mm down from the top. I have never measured them up from the bottom, which would be the preferred method of checking to see if the cartridge will bottom out before the bumps engage.

 

I've sold or assembled all the sets I had from my last stocking order or I would check for you.

Yeah I've cut it too much before like a 1/2" too much cause I misread the instructions. A friend welded the entire piece back for me and I started over with it.

I plan on doing my fronts this weekend. I will be using the pipe cutter mentioned a few posts down from the OP, pushing it up against the stock cap, but will still be measuring to be sure.

 

I also plan on painting them Koni Yellow to match the inserts and rear shocks. Apparently PlastiKote School Bus Yellow (T-29) is a pretty close match

I plan on doing my fronts this weekend. I will be using the pipe cutter mentioned a few posts down from the OP, pushing it up against the stock cap, but will still be measuring to be sure.

 

I also plan on painting them Koni Yellow to match the inserts and rear shocks. Apparently PlastiKote School Bus Yellow (T-29) is a pretty close match

 

To quote m sprank: bonus points for style!

 

Pipe cutter against the cap is still my favorite method. While it takes about the same amount of time as a saw it yields a far cleaner cut and only needs a very light deburr on the inside edge. I use a mastercraft pipe cutter with a 2.5" capacity. There are probably better tools out there but this one has lasted a few dozen sets and is still in good shape. Just clean the cut area of grime/dirt to minimize damage to the cutting wheel.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/13/9a9e6ahu.jpg**** my Life!

 

Driverside front went in without a hitch. Passenger side was much more of a nightmare... Removal and disassembly and reassembly of the strut went fine. Went to go put it back in and the strut seems almost too long, specially compared to the driver side. So I took it back out and double checked my work. All was fine, put it back together and tried to install again. Finally figured out how to wrestle it into place. Thought all was well, put the wheel back on, but as I was tightening the lugs I realized my wheel was spinning freely.... :::SCRATCH HEAD::: So I pull the wheel off to double check everything and it turns out the axle fell out of the hub. Ive spent about an hour now trying to wrestle it into place, took the strut back out.... still cant get it to go back in. Turning the rotor a bit trying to match up those splines is not working well.

 

WHY ME! Was going too easy. Does anybody have any idea how to fix this without taking the whole hub apart or popping the hub off the lower ball joint? FML FML FML.

 

Im guessing I will need to take the boot off at the very least. Does a place like AutoZone carry the weird clamps they use to hold the boots on?

Edited April 12, 2014 by MaStaMooN

Welp, I got it back in. Ate some dinner then headed back out there... clipped the big clamp and pushed it back... saw why I couldnt get it back in. The part that the axle goes in was all cockeyed so no wonder I couldnt pop it back in. I felt the clip at the end of the axle was still in there, so I managed to monkey around with it enough to get it seated fully and then had to wrestle the strut back into place. Going to try and find one of those clamps and hopefully get it in there without taking anything else apart!

 

All done!

Like he said though, he doesn't have his Konis yet. He is just prepping his donor housings ahead of time.

 

I have never cut that much off accidentally, but it is going to be close. The bumps on the cartridge are 46mm down from the top. I have never measured them up from the bottom, which would be the preferred method of checking to see if the cartridge will bottom out before the bumps engage.

 

I've sold or assembled all the sets I had from my last stocking order or I would check for you.

 

 

 

I checked and the the bottom of shock does bottom out before the bump stops on the shock itself hit the oem housing that was cut off unfortunately.

So I guess I will need another donor front strut to install? Damn!

I checked and the the bottom of shock does bottom out before the bump stops on the shock itself hit the oem housing that was cut off unfortunately.

So I guess I will need another donor front strut to install? Damn!

 

Yup Yup.

 

-mike

Not talking about bump stops, talking about the cartridge nubs (bumps) that hold the top of it tight in the housing.

Yeah those little bumps on the koni insert don't hit the top where I cut it off. The bottom of insert bottoms out first.

Yeah those little bumps on the koni insert don't hit the top where I cut it off. The bottom of insert bottoms out first.

 

They shouldnt just hit, they should go completely inside.

Once the inserts are bolted down from the bottom why does it matter if a little more was cut off? I haven't bolted them down from the bottom yet but putting them in until it bottoms out by hand the one I cut too much off from the little bumps are about 6mm above of the oem housing.

How tight are they in the housing? One of mine I cut a little short but the insert was so tight I had to use a rubber hammer to tap it in far enough to screw in the bolt the other was loose until I got to the bumps and had to tighten the bolt to pull it in.

 

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The instructions at the beginning of this thread tell you that the nubs go inside the housing, every thread on this forum dealing with Koni's tells you that the nubs go inside the housing, Koni's instructions tell you that the nubs go inside the housing.

 

And still questioning why....you must be an engineer.

The nubs keep the insert concentric in the housing.

I'll bolt them inside the housing and see if they go inside housing or not. Hopefully they will.

Yes, it would be worth it to do that before a wholesale redo.

Bolted them in and I think I'm good to go. The one I cut short doesn't go all the way in but the bumps do go in a little bit and no wiggle or anything.

 

Are the silver collars used for anything? I didn't seem them used in this DIY write up.

Only if it's loose

 

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Ok cool. Didn't think so. Thanks!

If the nubs aren't inside completely, when you put the weight/stress of a car on them, they will start to jiggle around and you will have variable camber.

 

I would just get an insert and do it right before it becomes a PITA later on.

 

-Mike Paisan

 

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For the rears. The top nut just spins the dampening adjuster with it. Is that normal? It doesn't seem to get tight.

For the rears. The top nut just spins the dampening adjuster with it. Is that normal? It doesn't seem to get tight.

 

You need a pass through ratchet to tighten the nut or it will spin. You have to use 2 ratchets one being the pass through. I got a nice craftsman's set from sears for 70 that worked great.

 

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