Printable Version of Topic

Click here to view this topic in its original format

914World.com _ 914World Garage _ Front yellow Konis

Posted by: tradisrad Feb 19 2011, 10:57 AM

I have put some yellow adjustable konis in my car and I cut one of the three bump stops off (the soft one on the top,stock parts, not the ones that came with the konis. yet). I've got just shy of two inches of suspension travel, I would to get as much travel as possible w/o bottoming the shocks or raising the car. I have not bottomed onto the stops yet, but I've not driven it too much since the swap.
Am I safe to cut one more of the bump stops off and only have one stop section ? Should I use the stock stops or koni provided stops?
thanks
-Rob

Posted by: sean_v8_914 Feb 19 2011, 11:09 AM

if your konis bottom out once, you will destroy the valve

the car in this avatar is too low in teh front and suspension geometry is off. if you want to be this low you must raise your spindles on teh strut housing.
look under the car. if the bottom of teh A arrm is less than parallell to the ground, its not to good. the ball joint must be lower than the suspension pivot

Posted by: tradisrad Feb 19 2011, 11:43 AM

ok, the car does not sit like the avatar picture anymore. here is picture from 5 minutes ago as well as a picture of how the a-arm sits. I know that my shocks can be destroyed from bottoming out, but thanks for reiterating that point.
Attached Image

Posted by: DanT Feb 19 2011, 12:00 PM

current stance looks good Rob..
and your A arm looks to be pretty level.

I think I would leave it with one section off the snubber for safety...better to bump the snubber than to bottom the shock.
I believe the Koni snubber is a bit stiffer rubber, I would problably use those.
On my orange car I had the snubber down to just one section, but that car was considerably lower than your car

Car is looking good.

Attached thumbnail(s)

Attached image(s)

Posted by: tradisrad Feb 19 2011, 12:33 PM

thanks Dan,
I thought that my ride height is ok and the a-arms are in a good position. I will keep two sections on the snubber and leave well enough alone. I wish the rain would stop so I can take the car for a spin.
Also Rich at HPH told me to drive on the shocks at the full soft setting for the first 1000 miles or so. Have you heard this before? It may take two months for me to put that may miles on the car.
thanks
-Rob

Posted by: DanT Feb 19 2011, 12:37 PM

no I have never heard that before...
I have had Koni adjustables on 4 of my 5 914s and have never worried about what setting I broke them in on, or for how long...new one on me.
Although on the street I always run them on full soft, but never was concerned about a "break in" period.

Posted by: sean_v8_914 Feb 19 2011, 12:51 PM

oh good. excuse me. I get on my rant because i try to help peeps avoid costs that might turn them away from their happy place. that looks good.

use the bumps that are the highest density material. the ones that are the hardest to compress.

compress the shock alone and measure where the bottom is. I would stay at 2 bump humps on teh rubber stoppers to be safe. the measurement will show you how conservative 2 lumps is

Posted by: tradisrad Feb 19 2011, 12:53 PM

Sean, thanks for the replies. I think I am going to install the Koni provided bump stops with two sections and call it good.

Dan, I really like your white car; it looks great. I had a white one in the early '90s and it was my favorite car & color; until my girl friend wrecked it after a night shift at Alice's restaurant (she almost killed us both. the car ended up on the passenger door with a tree across the windshield that stopped us from tumbling hundreds of feet down the hill.)

Posted by: sean_v8_914 Feb 19 2011, 12:55 PM

hmmm... what component needs break in inside a shock? rings to seat? cam to lifter face?
I slapped yellows on ziggy and went straight to willow. same shocks are on 10jreen now

you could also shorten your strut housings and run rabbit inserts

Posted by: Cairo94507 Feb 20 2011, 09:37 AM

Rob,
Your car looks terrific sitting like that. I have an office in Redwood City and drive all over the peninsula and will keep an eye out for your car and hope to see it on the road one day.
Michael