Koni Shock/Strut & Epic Engineering Spring Install

I always presumed that the Konis, like Bilsteins, were pretty stable/balanced. Sounds like this is not the case. Edited November 6, 2014 by SBT
took out the extra "presumed that" - doh

Any adjustable shock is going to have some variability within the adjustment and some brands/models are better than others. I would put more faith in the Konis than a set of Tein coils but a matched set would still be preferred. FWIW this is why I run non-adjustable Bilsteins on my street driven vehicles (BSS coils on the LGT and HDs on the OBXT).

Matched sets are the only way to get them to be perfect.

 

The advantage of having adjustability is you could throw them on a shock dyno and tune them to match. That's why non-adjustable are sometimes not good in that manner. Non-adjustable's are good in that you can't adjust them so you just have to live with them.

 

I would put way more faith in Koni or Bilstein than Tein or BC

 

-Mike Paisan

 

http://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/153798190.jpg

Maintaining, Modifying and Educating TriState Enthusiasts since 2001.

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"Race Tested, Enthusiast Approved!"

So what is a schmoe with a new set of the Konis to do? Ideally they would be shock dyno'ed before mounting and adjusted to be as well matched side to side as possible, but that seems very unlikely for most folks. I am assuming shock dynos are not common...

 

Thanks, Doug

You begin by setting all 4 corners to the "middle" setting. Half way between "hard" and "soft". Then you drive the car. Take notes and make small adjustments from there. Always keep notes of the adjustments made and the response. Make small changes not large and adjust 1 strut at a time or 1 side or front/back. Just dont make too many changes or you wont know what worked/failed.

You begin by setting all 4 corners to the "middle" setting. Half way between "hard" and "soft". Then you drive the car. Take notes and make small adjustments from there. Always keep notes of the adjustments made and the response. Make small changes not large and adjust 1 strut at a time or 1 side or front/back. Just dont make too many changes or you wont know what worked/failed.

 

Exactly what mikey said. We have been working with our Spec86 Test Car for an entire race season here in the Northeast and at each event we've made 1 change to the car so we could document and learn what each component did to improve or not improve the car. There is a lot of testing that is done in R&D. Most folks don't understand that or respect it.

 

This is why when Mike or I or other folks on here mention things like R&D and QC in regards to "cheap" brands of products, its because they haven't had the time or money or put forth the effort to do R&D and QC on their products.

 

-Mike Paisan

 

http://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/153798190.jpg

Maintaining, Modifying and Educating TriState Enthusiasts since 2001.

Like us on Facebook! | E-mail: sales@azpinstalls.com | 725 Fairfield Ave | Kenilworth, NJ 07033 | 908.248.AZP1 (2971) |AIM: AZP Installs

"Race Tested, Enthusiast Approved!"

so if i torque the strut rod nut with the car on the ground the strut rod wont spin?

so if i torque the strut rod nut with the car on the ground the strut rod wont spin?

It will still spin. You wont be able to actually torque that nut without a very specialized torque wrench. Just get it as tight as you can get it with your pass thru wrench and a 1/4 socket on the strut rod.

I had to use a 17mm socket holding it with vice grips and an allen through the center. I tightened it like that as much as i could off the car but still the spring could move around a tad so i installed them (im talking abou the rears btw) and tried to torque them when they were installed and that didnt work. My buddy is going to bring over a pass through wrench this morning. hopefully i can snug down the nut in the car so i dont have to take them out again.

Quick question about my install.......

 

My front insert kit didn't come with the rubber sleeve that is shown in the tutorial. Instead it has a metal sleeve that doesn't fit over the top of the donor strut body. I assume I can install the insert into the strut body without the rubber or metal sleeve. Can anyone confirm?

The rubber boot is to help keep water out of the strut housing and to dress up the cut edge. You can get away without it but I would try to get a replacement from Koni.

^^Thank for the input. I talked to Koni and they're sending replacement parts. Wonder why my kit came with something different than the rubber boots?

I just completed this upgrade but I used Eibach springs.

 

The only thing that made job a PITA was the fact that the front strut bolt was nowhere near long enough to reach the bottom of the front struts through the hole I had to drill. It delayed the upgrade until I was able to find a M12x1.5 bolt and nut at 40mm in length to pull the strut in. I was barely able to get the bolt in 3 threads before I could tighten the nut to pull the strut in. Get yourself the longest threads you can find on a M12x1.5 bolt and nut. I had to visit 4 hardware stores to find one! It sure would have been nice if Koni would have thrown in a piece of M12x1.5 all-thread and a nut. Grrr!

 

Other than that, the upgrade was a MAJOR improvement in handling on my 2011 Legacy! Now I can throw the car into turns that I previously had to slow way down for.

^^Thank for the input. I talked to Koni and they're sending replacement parts. Wonder why my kit came with something different than the rubber boots?

 

I believe the metal boot is included for inserts where the diameter of the donor strut is greater than 45mm. I remember seeing that diagrammed (no wording) on one of the informational cards in the included accessory baggies

 

 

 

 

I just completed this upgrade but I used Eibach springs.

 

The only thing that made job a PITA was the fact that the front strut bolt was nowhere near long enough to reach the bottom of the front struts through the hole I had to drill. It delayed the upgrade until I was able to find a M12x1.5 bolt and nut at 40mm in length to pull the strut in. I was barely able to get the bolt in 3 threads before I could tighten the nut to pull the strut in. Get yourself the longest threads you can find on a M12x1.5 bolt and nut. I had to visit 4 hardware stores to find one! It sure would have been nice if Koni would have thrown in a piece of M12x1.5 all-thread and a nut. Grrr!

 

Other than that, the upgrade was a MAJOR improvement in handling on my 2011 Legacy! Now I can throw the car into turns that I previously had to slow way down for.

 

 

I personally did not have to use longer bolts to pull the struts in. The supplied bolts were plenty long enough to pull in the strut in my case. Easily 4-5 threads before making contact with the lower strut body.

 

Nonetheless, I love the new setup with H&R springs. I did take the car in afterwards to get an alignment for piece of mind but everything was pretty good after the upgrade. I can post the alignment details (pre/post) if anyone is curious.

On H&R/Epic/Eibach springs the car will dial into factory alignment specs.

Hi,

 

I did this install I while ago, but I recently swapped the springs from Vogtland to Prova.

 

http://www.mijnalbum.nl/Foto-CJOC3AP7-G.jpg

 

While looking for a good way to torque the front upper strut nuts, I came across a great idea in a Saab forum. It's described in post number 7.

 

http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230476

 

Until now I just torqued it while the car is on the ground. The shaft spinned a little until there's some resistance from the shock / spring / tire, but it works. There's some flex, so that influences the torque specs. That's why I kept looking for a better solution.

Edited August 11, 2015 by Roke
forgot something

Wow. Ummm the answer is have the proper tools. They have been selling pass through socket sets for over 20 years.

Yeah, I found out today the technique I found is totally unnecessary. The nut is high enough to simply use a pass through wrench. Excuse me for polluting this thread by posting something before actually trying it myself. Edited August 13, 2015 by Roke

We all learn something new every day.

 

Today I have been fighting the mysterious PFFFF and PFFFE codes on an 02 WRX where the tuner turned off the misfire codes (P0301-304) and locked the tune. Thanks for making my life easy, lol.

 

Seafoam did not work so it was not carbon build up (compression is good on all 4). Coil packs and injectors were swapped out a few thousand miles ago. So, its most likely an injector, but I cant see which one via the ECM.

 

Thanks to Clark Turner for pointing me in the right direction (Bill was out at Dsport and unavailable today).

 

Back to Koni installs. The Koni "Spring" sale ends this month. So, prices go back up by 25% for the next 6 months.

I've started maintaining my own cars since I got this Legacy 5 years ago. I have done and learned a lot. (As always the biggest lessons where learned from mistakes.) But there is still much more to learn than I know now. Still feeling noob-ish. It's great fun though...most of the time.

 

This thread has been VERY helpful for me.

 

Good luck on tracking down your mysterious issue(s).

Edited August 18, 2015 by Roke
Translated something wronly.

Thanks and enjoy the time working on the car. I deff enjoyed it more when it was a hobby, not a job.

 

Figured out the "misfire" issue. Light weight FW, big cams, 1500cc injectors and e-85. Idle above 1200 rpm and no issue. Idle below that (as you must because idling above 1075 will cause the O2 sensor to not set) and you get the code (car has a 6MT swap, not the original 5MT). Bill was able to assist when he returned and I was then able to determine that the misfire was caused by the motor build itself (which we did not do, the motor as built in Maine). So, the 300 series misfire codes are now active with no CEL and the PFFF-U codes are gone.

 

Back to Konis. Get them while the getting is good. Install them before the first snow falls.

So if doing this by yourself, could you remove the top two nuts for the rear, then remove the lower bolt? That way you don't need to be two places at once?

Yes. You will probably need to hang it loosely by the top two nuts when installing, get the bottom bolt in and then tighten up the fasteners. You will likely need a jack for getting the rear control arm to the right height.

If you're on jack stands, I'd put something under the hub assembly, i.e., a 6x6 block to keep the hub from dropping when you undo the top bolts, then keep it under there while you take off the bottom bolt.

Cool thanks, that's what I figured. I can use a jack, or my Rhino ramps etc to hold the knuckle. Kind of OT, but how much of a bitch is a rear wheel bearing to replace? Might do that at the same time.