dudesqueak

Just bought (stole) a whole set of "used" Koni double adjustable shocks. The guy I bought them from said his son had them sitting in his house since the early 2000s, but they were BRAND NEW and still in the original Koni boxes. When I was pre-setting the shocks, I ran into a problem with one of the front ones. The rebound (upper) adjustment doesn't seem to be right, but maybe someone here can tell me if it is? I "swept" the shaft all the way to full soft. Full soft seems to start at the halfway point in the window. Weird. Then, to see how many turns I could get out of it (I read that everyone's are different over the years), I only got 6 3/4 sweeps, with the little hole ending about 1/4 sweep from the left side of the window. Also weird. I was using a long skinny screwdriver to make the adjustments, so I know that I had enough leverage to make the adjustments. All seven (2 adjustments x 4 shocks) of the other adjustments on the shocks are operating freely and equally, with the rebound (upper) adjustment on the other front shock traveling a total of 11 full sweeps starting from the far left of the window and ending at the far right of the window. So I think that's how this shock should be adjusting as well since they came out of the same box. Question 1: What should I do?

I bought some SP090 springs from BMR to go along with the shocks. The front and rear spring rates on those are 725 lb/in and 210 lb/in respectively. I haven't found any threads about suggested starting-point shock adjustment settings for these spring rates. Question 2: What shock settings do you guys recommend? For now, I set the front rebound adjustments to 6 sweeps from full soft, front bump adjustments to 4 (out of 12) clicks from full soft, the rear rebound adjustments I haven't set yet, I'm thinking one full turn (out of ~2 1/4 turns), and the rear bump adjustments to 4 (out of 12) clicks.

Question(s) 3: When installing the front upper shock mount nut, how many threads should be sticking out of the top of it? Or should the nut be tightened all the way to the bottom of the threads?

Question 4: Why does the spring have to be compressed to install the nut mentioned in question 3? As long as the nut is on with the correct number of threads showing and is at the proper torque, I don't see why the spring has to be compressed for installation.

I suppose I should add how the car is used. It is my spring-summer-fall daily driver. I do intend on taking it to an auto cross course and the drag strip as frequently as possible, but we all know how that goes.

Help is very much appreciated guys! Thanks in advance!

dudesqueak

I sent an email to Koni North America and got a response same day! This is what I got so far. I'll post what Koni says when I get more information.

The sweep window and where the adjuster holes line up within that window can be adjusted by loosening the jam nut on the bottom side of the top eye and rotating it to line up how would like. As for the amount of adjustment there should be 11-12 total sweeps from the full soft to full firm range for the rebound adjuster.

dudesqueak

Bad news. Even though I basically got the shocks for free, one could say that I did not "steal" them now. I went out to the garage to look for that jam nut on the shock and when pulling down the black shroud that goes on top of the piston, I happened to pull down the shaft as well. Then the shaft didn't go back up and I could hear the oil on the inside of the shock moving slowly. Other front shock did the same thing. It's pretty safe to say that I've gotta get the shocks rebuilt now. The rears seemed ok.

dudesqueak

Just got off the phone with a Koni service shop out of Ohio. After explaining the issues to him, he said that he doesn't think the shocks need to be rebuilt since they are brand new out of the box. He suggested installing them on the car and keeping an eye on them since I'm on a tight budget. Cost of rebuilding them was $189 per shock plus shipping. Problem is I am still very weary about installing a shock that didn't extend itself back out automatically after compressing it when it was adjusted to 6 sweeps. Is anyone willing to comment with some advice, opinion, or other input?

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

As for them not extending, where is the rebound set? Increasing the rebound stiffness will slow the extension. They should not extend quickly, they should be fairly slow due to the stiffer valving which slows oil transfer. Set the rebound to the softest setting and see if they extend on their own at a more noticeable rate. Also, have you tried extending them by hand or by using leverage? Keep in mind the forces you apply to the shock by hand are nothing compared to what it will see in the car. So for the shock to extend on its own quickly would mean it has little rebound resistance

2ToeRacing

iTrader: (5)

That's kind of a fuking,190 per shock: bang: What goes into rebuilding one of these shocks??? I've done plenty of motorcycle shocks/forks and I'm sure it's not any different. This make me think about ordering Koni's

dudesqueak

The rebound is set to 6 sweeps from full soft. I'll try setting them to the softest setting and see what happens. At 6 sweeps, however, pulling on the shaft seemed to do nothing. But, like you said, the strength of my arm is nothing compared to what the car will be like. As far as the one shock being only able to do 6 3/4 sweeps, however, what should I do?

dudesqueak

Yeah, absolutely crazy, right? I even said, "since the shocks are brand new, just sat in the original boxes for 10+ years, they don't need to be repainted and probably will be extremely easy to take apart due to a serious lack of corrosion. Is there a chance you could lower the price?" He said, "the prices are pretty much set" but at least he didn't try to take my money, he told me that they're probably fine to run, just to set them at the same settings. But now I don't know what to do about the settings since one of them only turns 6 3/4 sweeps. Also, the Konis come with a lifetime warranty to the original purchaser, so rebuild costs are whatever it costs to ship them to a rebuild center. And Double Adjustables are more expensive to rebuild too.

dudesqueak

I tried again on full soft and then full firm and there was a distinct difference between the two. So they must be fine. I just didn't know what I was talking about. So, back to questions 1,2,3, and 4. Anyone have any input?

dudesqueak

bump it up please help

one sweet ws6

Koni are lifetime they shouldnt charge u to fix them. I have a set and i set mine in the middle but i am gona play with them this yr.

dudesqueak

I don't have the original purchase receipt.

dudesqueak

Question 1 answer: Just adjust the shocks to the same number of sweeps. Front end seems to be the same on left and right turns after installation.
Question 2 answer: I adjusted the fronts to 5 sweeps each and 4 clicks. The rears are at 1 turn each and 3 clicks. Car seems to ride like stock, just needs a little more fine tuning for the bumps.
Question 3 answer: All of the threads should be showing
Question 4 answer: No, the spring does not need to be compressed to install the nut. As long as the Koni supplied washer is in full contact with the rubber above it, you're good - you won't get any clunking noise.

one sweet ws6

How do u guys get to the rears do u have slits in the carpet or do u roll the carpet up