Revalving Koni inserts

[Hack]

Thanks to the magazine Grassroots Motorsports, I just found out that Koni will revalve their struts/shocks. Due to the higher spring rates of coilovers, I am thinking that some firmer valving would be a godd idea. Has anyone had this done? Any opinions? FWIW it is pretty spendy at $125 per strut, but I think it would be worthwhile.

 

[RJ-92]

When you crank them down the Konis get pretty stiff. i cant see that you would either need or want to have them stiffened even more.

When I drove home from the auto - X last year I forgot to soften them up and they were left of full hard, it was like I was driving a go-cart.

 

[philw349]

RJ-92:
When you crank them down the Konis get pretty stiff. i cant see that you would either need or want to have them stiffened even more.

When I drove home from the auto - X last year I forgot to soften them up and they were left of full hard, it was like I was driving a go-cart.

What he said. I can't take the hard setting for a very long period of time.

 

[RJ-92]

yellowSHO:
FWIW it is pretty spendy at $125 per strut,

Yeah no Shizzy! That's a few dollars short of what I paid for mine brand new.

 

[AutoSHO]

My personal opinion is that the compression damping in the Konis ramps up too much in the lower travel, creating a harsh ride on lowered cars. I would prefer to have a matched Coilover and double adjustable damper to go with it, providing a truly decent ride on the street and excellent track characteristics as well. The Konis were very harsh in the last car I had (which also had SS Linears, a truly painful combination) and I would not get them again without a much more positive experience.

 

[Shoaz]

There have been some that have expressed that with coilovers with stiff springs the Konis (which are about the stiffest thing available) are barely adequate. I have 500/350 springs on my coilovers, and I do agree that the Konis just barely do the job at the stiffest setting, and there are times when I could use them to be stiffer.

As YellowSNO mentioned, with coilovers the Koni custom valving is not a bad idea and bring the adjustment range up to where it needs to be for coilovers with stiff springs.

 

[Hack]

Well, I finally got around to starting the swap on all my suspension components. Coilovers, TCE rear control arms, TCE knuckle braces, 21mm rear swaybar, no front swaybar, and new Ford front control arms. My spring rates are currently the same as Shoaz's. I might up the springs to a 600/400 setup later, after I get some track time in the car. After I get everything assembled, I will have a better idea on whether I will proceed with the revalving or not. I brought the whole thing up because I recall Gary M. saying that he spoke with an engineer at Koni, and was told that the inserts will only dampen up to a certain rate of spring. IIRC, it was 500 lb/in. I could do a search, but I am too lazy at the moment.

I should also mention that this car is not and never will be a daily driver. ****, it won't see much of any street use except to and from the track. Therefore I am not too concerned with ride harshness. I am also certainly not recommending that everyone get their struts revalved.

<small>[ March 07, 2004, 04:22 AM: Message edited by: yellowSHO ]</small>

 

[Lance Cheney]

Glen,

Did Koni say anything about warranty? If they'll still honor the warranty (and revalve the replacement ones before they send them back) then it'd probably be worth it. The 500/350 combo is probably about the limit for the Konis.

-Lance

 

[Hack]

Lance, I will put a call in to Koni tommorow and ask about that. thumb

 

[Shoaz]

yellowSNO, the 21mm rear bar may be a bit wimpy for the setup you're describing (which is essentially what I have). I'm using a 23mm rear bar, and it could stand to be a bit bigger, but 26mm will likely be way too big. 21mm won't hurt anything, but it's something to keep in mind as a possible change later.

 

[Lance Cheney]

Shoaz:
yellowSNO, the 21mm rear bar may be a bit wimpy for the setup you're describing (which is essentially what I have). I'm using a 23mm rear bar, and it could stand to be a bit bigger, but 26mm will likely be way too big. 21mm won't hurt anything, but it's something to keep in mind as a possible change later.

I was originally doing 500/400 on my car but the 7" springs (400lb) in the back just wouldn't cut it (way too low). I was figuring a 21mm would be ok with 400s, but now I'm at 10" 350lb ones, and need to find a 23mm bar

Now we just need to figure out how to make them adjustable...

-Lance

 

[Hack]

Just called Koni. Sadly, the original warranty is cancelled and a 90 day shop warranty goes into effect. Also, The price is a little higher then what GRM had quoted. $140+parts.

Eric, nice urine reference! squint nono The first time I figured it was a typo. When I worked at a Ford dealer many years ago, one of the service writers entered the color of my car as "**** yellow". If I went there today and had the car serviced, it would still be there. I will keep the swaybar info in mind(I actually still have your email from back in December!). I picked up the 21mm because it was handy. I figured I would drive with it a bit, and see how I liked it.

Lance, Gary M. mentioned adjustable end links in the past. I seem to remember that Addco might have been where he got them. Either that, or he made the endlinks and got the swaybar from Addco.

<small>[ March 09, 2004, 03:49 PM: Message edited by: yellowSHO ]</small>

 

[twr]

yellowSHO:
Just called Koni. Sadly, the original warranty is cancelled and a 90 day shop warranty goes into effect. Also, The price is a little higher then what GRM had quoted. $140+parts.

Eric, nice urine reference! squint nono The first time I figured it was a typo. When I worked at a Ford dealer many years ago, one of the service writers entered the color of my car as "**** yellow". If I went there today and had the car serviced, it would still be there. I will keep the swaybar info in mind(I actually still have your email from back in December!). I picked up the 21mm because it was handy. I figured I would drive with it a bit, and see how I liked it.

Lance, Gary M. mentioned adjustable end links in the past. I seem to remember that Addco might have been where he got them. Either that, or he made the endlinks and got the swaybar from Addco.

Glen,

Gary made his swaybar end links. He used valve springs and threaded rod as I recall. This allows the swaybar to compress the spring which allows the car to transfer weight and reduces snap oversteer.