I hear some have problems with the top of the Koni yellow shocks hitting the inside of the front hood, not allowing it to fully close. I also thought I have seen photos of at least one hood that had little humps or holes in the hood to allow the adjuster screw to clear for closing. Anyways, what is normally done when the clearance issue is encountered without having to modify the hood? I have 72-73 911 struts (for Koni) and a fiberglass hood. Thanks.

The 911 had 1/2" spacers between the shock dust cover and the lower rubber mount.

That was for the US ride height. I think I have some (maybe only one?)

I ended up using two large washers in the location Ron detailed above.

I installed a lot of these as they were the shop owners preferred shocks. Never had to do anything except on cars with mono ball camber plates. Everything with a stock camber plate and bushing/mount cleared without issue.

A wad of clay or dum dum on top of the shock and closing the hood most of the way, will tell you if it is close. If it is not close try again closing the hood farther. Repeat until you get too close for comfort or close the hood all the way and still have clearance.

Jim

i was going to say... are you sure you're going to have a problem?

Just a smiggin'
Click to view attachment

I'll proabably just go with the 2 washer solution.

Nice paint Mike... I have older Yellows on my car. I will have to go and take a look and see how it was done. Not by me. I am pretty sure that the shocks are not that high though.

Let me see if I can find a pair.

Here ya go...

Click to view attachment

How thick are those washers? My new lathe should be here Friday...

Stop laughing... pretty sure the pair I found is yours.

You got the dust covers installed on those guys?

Yikes, that is a lot of thread. Mine looked like this before adding the washers.

Click to view attachment

Stock washers are 10 mm (0.396") thick.

I always thought they were there to add weight to the front end of an assdragger so it would almost handle.

They were added to US cars when the ride height was bumped up to comply with US Headlight height laws. I believe it was mid to late 70s. Pretty much at all the shops I worked at it was routine to toss them anytime the front struts were dropped down on a 911.

Jim

Dust covers are on but not the original but are like the original. The struts are wider than a "normal" early 911 strut. They take 3.5" calipers but again, are noticeable wider than normal struts. After doing some research just now, I believe these are the Hydropneumatic struts from an early E. They now have Koni yellows in them. Just had to fabricate a custom gland nut (as the nut is much wider than a T or S strut.

I bought them from a well regarded local 914 racer years ago. The part ID on the strut is 90134108410 which says they are Koni struts for 72-73 911 w/ S caliper according to the PET catalog. However.... the struts have BOGE on them and are much wider than a T or S strut of the same vintage.

Yes, those sound like Hydro struts. There was a kit available for them back in the day to retrofit Koni's. Sounds like that's what you have.

Do you want the washer or should I put them back in the box under the press with the other metal drifts and bits?

Eric, the washers will be needed. PM me the detail$. Thanks.

Thanks Eric!!! Paypal sent.

The yellows in my 73 touched the hood.

Washers were added.

I'm late to this topic but I recently installed Koni Sport Adjustable front struts to my 72' 914 without any clearance issues. I used the same hardware from my original Boge struts. The only issue I had was it was tough getting the nuts on the top of the shocks because there was not a lot of thread. I had replaced the upper strut mounts to poly graphite mounts and that is what I attribute to the clearance issue. I bet if I had left the stock mounts in there would have been a lot more thread sticking out and potentially a clearance issue. I never even thought about a clearance issue till I saw this thread.

This thread made me go out and check for dents in my hood. Thankfully, none. Pheww! I didn't even think to check for clearance, but not a lot of thread showing above the stock mount.

I think the issues come into play when you use a later model 911 strut housing and get the specified insert for that housing. Those inserts are spec'd longer in order to deal with the 10mm washers that are stock on those year 911's (am I making sense?)

I wonder if that is the same issue I saw with the Bilsteins a while back?

You never make any sense whatsoever!

Bitter... find me some HE's

Mint BTW.

Erc, I don't think HE's come in different flavours. Just trying to save you some disappointment at a later date.

Yes, making sense. You described my set up exactly. I think we used washers to get around the issue.

I'm late to this topic but I recently installed Koni Sport Adjustable front struts to my 72' 914 without any clearance issues. I used the same hardware from my original Boge struts. The only issue I had was it was tough getting the nuts on the top of the shocks because there was not a lot of thread. I had replaced the upper strut mounts to poly graphite mounts and that is what I attribute to the clearance issue. I bet if I had left the stock mounts in there would have been a lot more thread sticking out and potentially a clearance issue. I never even thought about a clearance issue till I saw this thread. Now i have to go check how much clearance I have.

Again...



Sounds like you should be fine.

Like Eric said, some of the struts will NEED the spacer, others WON'T depending on the strut year.

I checked and there are no clearance issues on my 1972 914/4.

No issues on my 70 with koni top and bottom bushings supplied with struts.

I ALSO have no issues with my set up.