WEEKEND

I had to get that in first:

Just installed My Koni's and wanted to pass on some ideas for you to consider.

DOing them requires general skills and effort. Ill only hit on the differences that youll have to deal with.

THe shock rods are larger and will require that you drill out or grind out the CROSSFIRE shock dust boots. They are reused and too small to go over the rod, drill out a bit to fit using a 3/8 inch drill and bit to clear the threaded end.
Photo provided of this.

THe shocks have drawn instructions and no words, so study the placement of the bushings, white washers are next to the shock body.

I had tried the lowering springs and found them lacking, too much interference and not stiff enough. In that effort I had trimmed and cut the bump stop bushings WHICH I saved. Well thats good as you need to reuse them, photo shown.

THe shocks are adjustable and there are some thoughts here that may make it easier for you. First there is a small nut on top of the shock, before tightning the shock, adjust it open or closed and with the **** installed on the shock, rotate the shock nut to align the **** front or back, your choice. Doing this will allow you to adjust the shocks equally by pointing **** the same way. Thus the position can be confirmed visually with the **** on the shock and you wont spend time opening and closing them to count each time you set them differently. See **** photo.

To make a better install on the rear, I drilled a 1.5" hole in the rear trunk sides to adjust the shocks. To do this in a class manner, before you remove the trunk shells, PUSH THEM DOWN to make an impression of the current shock on the backside of the shell, photo shown. THis will give you a reference point for your drill that is spot on the first time.
By pushing in the shock area you ll feel the shock rod, push a bunch to leave a dent for your drill point to start. THe aligned hole is shown in another photo.

Pulling the shells off requires that you pull the centers out of the black push buttons before they release. To do this I had made a tool for grasping the center core out of vice grips. The jaws were ground out with a dremel tool to leave the jaw modified as shown on the photo. THese pliers are good for crimping the band clamps on constant velocity joints and cost next to nothing to make, if your interested.

I will get some pop in buttons to cover the holes, have tried some but not 100% happy yet. Want black, rubber is a possibility, but with these shocks the ability to adjust for the track, strip or the street for different driving suggests that the shock adjustment is going to be a real plus if you have easy access to the screws on the end of the shock rod, with the ****.

Iused blue thread locker to hold the shock, but can remove if needed, a good thing.

There you have it, now to the races to see if there is much of a gain for me, Ill let yo know. WOODY

WEEKEND AGAIN>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Weeeee

Please review the photos in the gallery / album

 

I did this recently and the hardest part of the job, for me, was getting those darn plastic push pins out! I pried them out using 2 screwdrivers. If you can use chop sticks you can do it this way, if not; suffer, buy the correct tool or make a Woodydesign tool. As far as the adjustability I'll be interested to hear what you think. I found that going softer just made the car bouncy. The car handles great at the track. I dialed out the understeer, if you can believe it. At least on the higher speed corners. In the really slow corners the car still understeers. I like the plug idea, but once you get the shocks where you like them for the track you may never touch them again. I haven't. Are Koni's worth it? Shoot yea! I have mine set at 1 turn from full hard on the front and 1 turn from full soft on the rear. Good luck at the track and don't be surprised if you oversteer a bit if you go into a corner too hot. Can you imagine?

Les