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Old 03-09-2012, 12:48 PM   #1
phenryiv1
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Default How To: Install Koni inserts in a GR (2008+)

After putting 28K on my 2011 WRX 5DR, I decided that it was time to do more upgrades to the suspension. To date, my only modifications were Kartboy endlinks and Eibach swaybars F&R. This did a lot to help with body roll, but I could not help but to think that some better dampers and springs (more on that later) would help with ride and handling.

Winter wheels are the OEM WRX wheels with 235/45/17 Continental ExtremeContact DWS. Summer setup (yet to be bolted on the car) is a set of 17x8 et48 OZ Ultraleggera wearing 235/45/17 Hankook Ventus V12 Evo K110.

Braking mods are a GrimmSpeed MCB (done) and Technafit lines and Performance Friction Z-Rated pads (yet to be installed).


I plan to autoX the car a few times a year and to possibly do hyperdrive events, and maybe an HPDE is in my future.

So why Konis?

Two reasons- First, I have liked them in every car that I have driven that had them installed, including my 2003 Sentra SE-R SpecV, which had them paired with the Nismo springs (the only known setup of its kind in the country at the time). Second- Price. I got my Konis (NEW) for $550 shipped using a discount code for the "Shock Value" sale. This made them a lot cheaper than Bilsteins, which were my other main consideration. I was not sure how much (if at all) I wanted to drop the WRX, so I was not sure whether I wanted to put $1350 into the Bilsteins and RCE yellows. Even factoring in a spare set of 2009 WRX front strut housings I am still under $600 for the full set of Konis.

My standard disclaimer: I drive approximately 100 miles every weekday on my commute. It consists of 4-lane divided highways, 2-lane secondary roads, and about 15 miles of twisting mountaintop roads with serious curves, elevation changes, and lots of other fun features. I have 2 children, so the car has to be able to have them comfortable in the back seat, so no killer-stiff suspension will work for me. I also don't want suspension that will require a lot of tweaking, frequent rebuilds, or a huge up-front investment.

Planning

During the planning phase, I found this thread informative about the general process, but not about drawing/pushing the insert into the OEM housing:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=1219607

I also found this thread (mostly important to 2011-2012 owners) regarding using 2008-2010 struts as donor struts. This was not the intent of the thread, but nothing in the thread (which was geared toward RCE/GTWorx Bilsteins on a 2011+ WRX) is different as far as fit.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=2066911

Here is the important part:

Quote:
Originally Posted by RaceComp Engineering
The holes in the front clevis tabs are spaced 10mm further out than on the GH struts. I did not take additional measurements, but I assume that the front control arms are 10mm wider as well. What this means is that when using 08-10 struts on the 2011, you gain a ton of front negative camber. With the car on the alignment rack, it maxed out at -2.8 with OEM strut top mounts It can also be dialed back as far as -1.2 for a more conservative alignment.

With all of these mods done and the camber dialed in to max negative, the car feels absolutely amazing. [Y]ou might gain a large advantage (in competition)with the additional camber capability.
I also posted a new thread, just to be sure that I was understanding/interpreting the information correctly:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=2312145

Before you begin:

First off, I HIGHLY recommend having a set of donor struts. They can be from a WRX or "regular" Impreza, so they are not too terribly hard to find. I got mine complete with all F&R mounting hardware for $85. That was for 2009 WRX front struts (with 31K), F&R top mounts, bearings, bumpstops, dustboots, etc. Once installed with my spare springs, I will not have to disassemble my OEM parts to swap from OEM to upgraded.

I did NOT gather the parts for a full swap-out suspension setup so that I can do a summer/winter swap. My reason was to make it simple to do the install in an afternoon without rushing, and so that I can revert back to stock in an hour or so if I really need to do so. Also, if I ever need the Konis rebuilt or re-valved, I don't have to do much disassembly.

Tools:
  • Torque wrench (3/8" and ½" in my case)
  • Metric sockets (I have "go-thru" sockets from harbor Freight as well as regular metric sockets)
  • Socket wrenches
  • Allen head sockets- specifically 6mm and 8mm
  • Bench vice
  • Tape measure (one with metric markings helps)
  • Hacksaw
  • Drill with assorted bits (1/8" 3/8" and ½" in my case)
  • Assorted screwdrivers
  • Rags
  • Catch basin/bucket
  • Punch (or a really hard, sharp screw or nail)
  • Hammer
  • Sharpie
  • Masking tape
  • Threadlocker (Red)

Not really a "tool" but really helpful for my install (more on that later):
  • M12-1.50 bolts in 30mm, 40mm, and 45mm lengths
  • Washer with a ½" opening


Parts:

Koni 8610 1453Sport (2)
Koni 8010 1055Sport (2)

2011 WRX STi front springs (rate approximately 250 lb./in) w/ 15K
2008 WRX STi rear springs (rate approximately 197 lb./in) w/18K

Complete tophats, mounts, housings, bushings, bearings, bumpstops, dustboots, etc. from a 2009 WRX w/ 31K.

So why the springs that I chose?

Originally, I was going to go with all 2008 STi takeoff springs. This would have given me a slight lowering in the front (~5mm) with the same spring rates as my 2011 WRX (approximately 220F/200R, at least accoring to forum lore). I looked at the 2011 WRX rates and compared them to the STi rates and was hoping that I could take advantage of the STi reported rates of 250F/297R. I bought a set of low-mile 2011 STi take-offs, but after some hands-on research, more forum searching, and some frustrating measurements I determined that the 2011 STi rear springs were too short to work on WRX Koni struts.

I abandoned that idea and went back with the 2008 STi rear springs, which were SUPPOSEDLY the same as the 2011 WRX rear springs. With similar mileage on my 2011 stockers and the '08 STi takeoffs, I was surprised to find that the rear came up by about .25" even with the front still at stock height.

At some point, I may disassemble my OEM rears and put them on the Konis and take off the '08 STi springs, but we'll see if they settle any more.

It is important to note that the '08 STi springs are longer than the 09-12 STi springs. Only '08 STi rear springs will work for this, but they DO raise the rear very slightly.

08-12 STi fronts will work fine but the rates differ from year to year. DO YOUR RESEARCH!

Install:

Starting with the assembled strut, you have to take it apart. Obviously my application did not have springs, so you need to adjust the procedure to account for safely and properly using spring compressors to remove the tophats from the spring assembly. What I am depicting is exactly the same process except that I don't have springs and compressors in the mix.



Using a 17mm go thru socket and a 6mm allen head socket, I removed the top nut. The allen socket basically holds the piston in place while the go-thru socket turns the top nut. Because you will be hacking the OEM strut anyway, you could use vice grips or something similar to hold the piston in place and then use a standard socket on the top nut but I prefer to do it the "right" way. Having done it both ways, the $21 for the go-thru sockets was well worth the investment.

With both sockets in place, you really just squeeze the handles together to loosen the top nut.



Everything apart:



At this point I placed the strut in a vice with the bottom facing up. Koni instructs you to mark the center of the strut, center punch the hole, and then drill a 1/8" hole in the bottom of the strut. On the GR, the bottom of the housing is not a perfect circle. The tube in the middle is a perfect circle, but the section that wraps around the main tube to allow it to bolt to the rest of the suspension makes a "c" shaped wrap that can throw off your measurements. I found that if I ignored the "c" shaped metal, the exact center was at the 1" mark on the tape.

Here it is going from both angles:





I placed my punch in the location that I thought was the center and then I verified that I was 1" in from all 4 angles. At that point, I whacked it with a hammered and made my orienting mark for the drill.

Normally I would totally ignore safey and not wear safety glasses but I decided to wear them based on the fact that the struts were pressurized. Don't put your face over the end of the strut while drilling.

I positioned the strut vertically and drilled straight down, using a 1/8" drill bit. I let the drill do the work and did not put too much downward pressure on the drill. Metal shavings built up on the bottom of the strut and then all of the sudden the bit broke through and the metal shavings went flying. No oil escaped at that point, but once you break through you can stop drilling.

Result:



The 1" measurement from the main body sides ended up being dead center.
To drain the strut I removed it from the vice and aimed the hole into the catch basin. I then pumped the piston slowly to expel the oil from the housing. After a minute or so the oil was out and the housing was ready for the next step.
Repeat for the other side and you are good to go there.

Koni next instructs you to measure the distance from the top of the insert body to the "nubs" on the side of the insert. This distance will determine how far down the OEM body you go to cut it off to allow the insert to nest into the housing.

Let me make it easy for you: The nubs are at 46mm, equating to the need to cut 40mm off of the OEM housing.



Based on that, I measured down 40mm and used masking tape to mark a ring. I checked the measurement at multiple points- 40mm all around.



Note: If you have a pipe cutter, use it. Borrow, rent, buy***8230;whatever. Hacksawing this (with a new blade) was a PITA. My variation around the circle was about 1mm at most, but it was just a pain. Some people use a reciprocating saw (sawz-all)- which I have- but I did not want to risk making a mistake, so I took the 10 minutes to do it by hand.

Whether by hacksaw, sawz-all, or pipecutter, you end up with this:

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Last edited by phenryiv1; 03-20-2012 at 01:57 PM.
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Old 03-09-2012, 12:49 PM   #2
phenryiv1
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Now you remove the piston from the housing and dump out any remaining goo from the inside of the housing. Let them drain for a few minutes:





After they have drained a bit, use a file or a Dremel with a grinding bit to smooth off the top of the housing. It just looks better, and it will keep you from snagging the insert or the rubber sleeve on the jagged edge of the housing.

Next you drill a larger hole in the bottom of the housing. Koni says 14mm, which seems HUGE to me for an M12 bolt. I put the bolt in a drill bit gauge and decided that a ½" hole is more than large enough to accommodate the M12 bolt. If you were slightly off center with your pilot hole, that might not work for you. My ½" hole ended up being perfect for the bolt.
I stepped the holes up rather than jumping straight to the ½" bit by using a 3/8" but, then the ½" bit. I worked fairly slowly even though I had bits that are designed for metal. It makes the hole cleaner and does not risk the strut housing jumping out of the vice.



When you look at what all Koni sends to you, you see some metal rings that look like they should go inside or outside of the OEM housing. The directions say that you need them only for housings with an inside diameter of 48mm. If you have 45mm I.D. they are not needed.

We have 45mm:



After cleaning up the holes at the top and the bottom and slipping the rubber sleeve over the end of the housing (with the end with the lip facing up), insert the insert (duh) into the housing.



It is an interference fit, meaning that it will stop right here:



Koni says to use the bolt that they supply to "draw" the insert into the housing or to whack the top of the insert (not the piston- the body) with a deadblow hammer to "drive" the insert into place. This is where I encountered my first issue. I wrote about it a bit here, as I was looking for help:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=2320102

I never came back to that thread to post my fix, but I will detail it here.
Koni ***8216;s supplied bolt is 1" long. The insert was resting 1 5/16" inside of the housing.

I was not keen on banging on the housing, so I decided to purchase longer bolts to draw the insert into place. Even if the 1" bolt had been long enough, I wanted to get 4-5 threads of engagement and there was no way that the Koni bolt would do that. Plus, I don't really trust an allen head bolt for work like that.

After talking to Koni, I determined that the allen bolt that comes with the kit is an M12-1.5 x 25. For those who don't know how to read the specs, the size is an M12 with 1.5 threads per millimeter and a length of 25mm (about 1" for we Americans).

I decided that I will first try to draw the insert into the housing, but with the bolt being too short, that means that I need a longer bolt. I got excited when I realized that the bucket of a couple dozen BMW e30 lug bolts that I have from stripping parts cars during a track car build are the same M12-1.5 size/pitch, but then I found that they are only about 28-30mm, which is not much better than the Koni bolt.

I went to Fastenal and ordered 2 more bolts in M12-1.5 in 40mm and 45mm lengths, planning to use them to draw the insert into the housing and then replace them with the Koni bolt (complete with LocTite).



This worked like a charm. I placed the housing in the vice and used the 45mm bolt to get the process started. I put a flat washer around the bolt to keep it from marring the bottom of the housing (not a big deal, really) and drew the insert into the housing. Once the nubs were in the housing, it was very simple to just continue turning the socket wrench to draw the insert to the proper location. After the 45mm bolt bottomed out in the threaded end of the insert, I removed it and went to the 40mm bolt, pulling the insert in my 5mm more. I then used the 30mm BMW bolt to draw it in the rest of the way.

Lastly, I removed the BWM lug bolt and used the Koni bolt, including some red threadlocker and the Koni-supplied washers, then slid the sleeves up into the proper position.

Done:

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Old 03-09-2012, 12:50 PM   #3
phenryiv1
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Reserved for Spring assembly: Front

The process here is fairly simple and straightforward. I had some help with this (my wife dropped the lock washer on the top of the piston rod and started the top nut while I compressed the spring by hand). This saved me 15 minutes of compressing/de-compressing the springs with spring compressors.

Note: There IS a proper up/down orientation to the springs. Only one end of the spring will match up with the upper and lower spring perch and the tophat. Check this before installing.

1. Using the picture in the first post, lay out the parts of the front assembly.
2. Install the bumpstop and dustboot at the top of the piston
3. Put the uncompressed spring on the lower spring perch

(If the piston is not fully extended it is VERY difficult to get the top nut started. )

4. Put the nut on the piston and pull out to extend it all of the way
5. Remove the nut
6. Place the tophat in place and have someone drop the washer on the top, then start the top nut.
7. Secure the top nut
8. Release tension on the spring

To secure the tophat we come back to the go-thru sockets. I used a 19mm go-thru socket and a 9mm 1/4" socket through the middle to hold the Koni piston in place.


Last edited by phenryiv1; 03-20-2012 at 12:03 PM.
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Old 03-09-2012, 12:51 PM   #4
phenryiv1
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Prepping the rear top mounts:

The top of the strut piston has a threaded section that is larger in diameter than the OEM strut.



This requires that you drill it out. Konis says somewhere around 12mm in the directions. Most drill bit sets sold in the US don't measure in millimeters. Thus, let's do math. Or, let's use a drill bit gauge and determine the size of the threaded portion.



15/32"

What, your DeWalt drill bit set from Lowes does not have every drill bit from 1/64" to 1 1/2" in increments of 1/64"?

Seriously, a 1/2" bit will do, but I like to drill as close to the needed size as possible (see my 1/2" hole in the bottom of the strut body as an example) and I happen to have a 15/32" drill bit. My grandfather was a tradesman at a manufacturing plant and had cigar boxes full of drill bits in every reasonable size. He passed them on to me before he died and I am yet to need a drill bit in a size that he did not have.

Drilling out the top mount was a simple process.

I trimmed the bumpstops that I had to shorten the set that I wanted to use. I still don't know which ones were the OEM rear bumpstops, but I cut the longer of the 2 sets to match the length of the shorter pair. The ones that I cut seem to match up best with the front bumpstops.



From there, I positioned the spring seat on the circlip and held the piston in the extended position to allow me to force the bumpstop over the tophat "ledge" at the top of the piston. NOTE: The lower spring seat is updies down in the picture! Koni directions depict the spring seat in an upside-down position. DO NOT POINT THE SPRING SEAT IN AN UPWARDS ORIENTATION DURING ASSEMBLY!!!





You want to ensure that the bottom pf the spring seat has a notch for the circlip. It looks like this:



After that, I installed the dust boot at the top of the piston. I found that it was actually easier to:

1. Install the bumpstop on the piston, then
2. Place the dust boot inside of the compressed spring.



(If the piston is not fully extended it is VERY difficult to get the top nut started. )

3. Put the nut on the piston and pull out to extend it all of the way
4. Remove the nut
5. Place the compressed spring (with the dustboot inside) over the extended piston,
6. Secure the top nut
7. De-compress the spring

After compressing the spring I seated it on the bottom seat and installed the top assembly. Be sure to keep the rubber upper isolator in the proper position. I did not (I let it slip off to the side) and had to re-compress the springs to straighten it out.

Note: There IS a proper up/down orientation to the springs. Only one end of the spring will match up with the upper and lower spring perch and the tophat. Check this before installing.

To secure the tophat we come back to the go-thru sockets. I used a 19mm go-thru socket and a 9mm 1/4" socket through the middle to hold the Koni piston in place.



Once that is tight, you can uncompress the spring. Work carefully from side to side to avoid shifting the spring and/or the rubber isloator at the top.

Assembled:




Last edited by phenryiv1; 03-20-2012 at 01:35 PM.
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Old 03-09-2012, 12:51 PM   #5
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Reserved for on-car install. I will add the text later.


Rear:













Front:









Last edited by phenryiv1; 03-20-2012 at 02:07 PM.
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Old 03-09-2012, 12:51 PM   #6
phenryiv1
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Impressions:

Alignment Specs:



I got -1.29* and -1.26* of camber using the stock bolts and a bubble level and a tape measure. My toe was way off.

After an alignment and 30 miles of driving, the stance look like this:



Measurements were taken from the center of each wheel to a point on the fender lip perpendicular to the ground. This measurement is the most consistent way to show height changes. While on stock suspension, I took two measurements (to ensure accuracy) while parked in each of two different locations and recorded my results. Then I took the same measurements after an alignment and 30 miles of driving. I will do the same in a day or so.

Before:
RR: 14.25" 14.375"
LR: 14.375" 14.25"
RF: 14.5" 14.75"
LF: 14.5" 14.5"

After:
RR: 14.5" 14.5"
LR: 14.625" 14.5"
RF: 14.125" 14.125"
LF: 14.0" 14.0"

So the rear came up by 1/8-1/4" while the front came down by about 1/2" when measured in the same parking spots.

More on driving impressions later.

Koni adjustment settings:

Rear is at 1 full turn from full stiff. Front is 1.25 turns from full stiff.

Last edited by phenryiv1; 03-20-2012 at 02:01 PM.
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Old 03-09-2012, 01:22 PM   #7
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Good work and as I tell people often the install is not that difficult at all. Even easier on these cars considering the rears are bolt on other than having to drill out the tophat hole a little.

PM us if you guys want to get in on the sale. We have many sets in stock.

Tony
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Old 03-10-2012, 08:47 AM   #8
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This is great. Supposed to do a Koni install tomorrow and this will help.
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Old 03-10-2012, 09:08 AM   #9
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I added some more info to the top post.

Hopefully I will be doing the assembly today. Not the install- just assembly of the spring & strut combo.
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Old 03-10-2012, 10:06 AM   #10
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Yup, I'm going to be doing this soon as well as I got in on a crazy stupid deal on some Konis for my 2011. Gonna pair them with some Epic springs.
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Old 03-10-2012, 10:35 AM   #11
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good post. about to do this also..... my donors are from 2010 impreza which previous owner game me complete suspension / with epic springs (which i'll use too).

tks for posting pics/write up.
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Old 03-10-2012, 10:47 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Robin2 View Post
good post. about to do this also..... my donors are from 2010 impreza which previous owner game me complete suspension / with epic springs (which i'll use too).

tks for posting pics/write up.
The only bad thing about non-WRX donors is that the tophats are not as rigid as WRX tophats.

The housings themselves will work, as will the bumpstops, dust boots, upper spring perch, etc. Just the tophats are soft.

I was offered Swift Sports with my donors, but the springs that I went with are higher rates and less of a drop compared to the swift sports. Had they had a set of Epics to go with the donors I'd have probably bought them.
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Old 03-10-2012, 10:49 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike 01Hawk View Post
Yup, I'm going to be doing this soon as well as I got in on a crazy stupid deal on some Konis for my 2011. Gonna pair them with some Epic springs.
I missed out on the 2011 Koni sale. This year I jumped on it. Could not beat $550 shipped.
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Old 03-10-2012, 12:01 PM   #14
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$540 shipped :1up:
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Old 03-10-2012, 12:14 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phenryiv1 View Post
The only bad thing about non-WRX donors is that the tophats are not as rigid as WRX tophats.

The housings themselves will work, as will the bumpstops, dust boots, upper spring perch, etc. Just the tophats are soft.
i know 08's are soft... i checked earlier on fredbean and it was same part # / unless i'm mistaken.

worst case, i'll use my 11wrx top hats then.... and use 10's on the OE 11wrx suspension which i'll be using in winters.
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Old 03-11-2012, 07:35 PM   #16
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So a couple friends and I just did this install on a 2011 wrx. I have to say this is incredibly easy. We are all very comfortable ripping apart cars so for us it went real easy and smooth.

We used a sawzall and hose clamp to cut the front strut housings and it worked great. A minute with a disc after and it was smooth and flat.

The car rides amazing and handles much better. We are looking forward for auto-x to start and start throwing the car around.

Pheny, thanks for the write up. Looking forward to the rest. One friend took a bunch of pics so I will ask him to add them if that is ok with you.
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Old 03-11-2012, 08:58 PM   #17
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I actually ran into an issue today on assembly prep. I have 3 sets of bumpstops:



It looks like the ones on the far left are for the front, but of the 2 sets on the right, I don't know which ones are for the rear. 1 pair came with my 2011 STi springs. The other pair came with my 09 WRX tophats.

Neither pair is large enough to go over the piston on the rear Konis, while the pair on the left fits on the fronts without an issue.

First, I don't even know for sure that the Konis require the re-use of the bumpstops, but without them in place, the dustboots seem to be just hanging out on the pistons.

Can anyone shed light on the proper bumpstops, any trimming that is required, and whether I need to drill out the center hole to make them fit over the piston in the rear?

My usual WRX suspension helper/go-to guy has Bilsteins (which have integrated bumpstops) so he was not helpful.

I am just about ready to assemble these things but I wanted to be clear on the dustboots/bumpstops before I go forward.

Also, Koni ships the struts/inserts with plastic discs. Are they to protect the pistons and the top of the inserts/struts during assembly, or do they stay in place permanently?

Thanks!
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Old 03-12-2012, 03:28 PM   #18
phenryiv1
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After talking to the tech @ Koni, I am posting answers to my own questions, for posterity's sake.
Quote:
Originally Posted by phenryiv1 View Post
I have 3 sets of bumpstops.

It looks like the ones on the far left are for the front, but of the 2 sets on the right, I don't know which ones are for the rear. 1 pair came with my 2011 STi springs. The other pair came with my 09 WRX tophats.

Neither pair is large enough to go over the piston on the rear Konis, while the pair on the left fits on the fronts without an issue.

First, I don't even know for sure that the Konis require the re-use of the bumpstops, but without them in place, the dustboots seem to be just hanging out on the pistons.

Can anyone shed light on the proper bumpstops, any trimming that is required, and whether I need to drill out the center hole to make them fit over the piston in the rear?
The Konis DO require external bumpstops. The ones on the left are for the front. Of the 2 on the right, I still don't know which are the correct ones for the rear, but either set will do. Koni rep recommended either using the shorter set or cutting the longer ones by one "doughnut" ring.

In either case, using a drill to bore out the center to make it a little easier to press them over the topmount ledge is fine. Just don't drill out so much that they slide on the piston too easily.

Another option, for those of you reading this before undertaking the project: http://www.ground-control-store.com/...tion.php/II=10

Quote:
Originally Posted by phenryiv1 View Post
Koni ships the struts/inserts with plastic discs. Are they to protect the pistons and the top of the inserts/struts during assembly, or do they stay in place permanently?
The discs go on and stay on, even though he said that they don't do much.

Last edited by phenryiv1; 03-13-2012 at 09:21 AM.
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Old 03-13-2012, 01:55 AM   #19
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Great write up, ill be doing this install in a few days on my 2008 2.5I wagon with a set of h&r springs and this will help a lot. Only thing is I don't have a donor set for the front but I think ill be fine
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Old 03-13-2012, 09:20 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silver08Waggs View Post
Great write up, ill be doing this install in a few days on my 2008 2.5I wagon with a set of h&r springs and this will help a lot. Only thing is I don't have a donor set for the front but I think ill be fine
Just be sure that you have everything that you need before cutting up the old stuff- particularly if you don't have another car that you can drive to the store to buy something that you forgot.

The only things that I needed were the extended bolts, but there are a lot of tools needed for any suspension install that you'll want to have on hand. The oddball drill bit sizes and threadlocker come to mind as being slightly out of the ordinary, but you could really make do with a drill bit set that goes up to 1/2" if you had to.
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Old 03-13-2012, 09:28 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phenryiv1

Just be sure that you have everything that you need before cutting up the old stuff- particularly if you don't have another car that you can drive to the store to buy something that you forgot.

The only things that I needed were the extended bolts, but there are a lot of tools needed for any suspension install that you'll want to have on hand. The oddball drill bit sizes and threadlocker come to mind as being slightly out of the ordinary, but you could really make do with a drill bit set that goes up to 1/2" if you had to.
Thanks man, my friend has his own shop so I'm doing it there and ill have his car if I need any more stuff.
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Old 03-14-2012, 09:00 AM   #22
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Update on Post #4. Some progress made.

I got 1 of the 4 assemblies done. I also broke my spring compressors. Had to go buy another set and ran out of time last night.

Here is the spring compressor set after I broke them. That nut that you see in the lower right corner used to be pinned and welded to the end of the threaded rod (just like the compressor on the top).

FAIL. That was the first Harbor Freight tool that has broken.



Bought these as a replacement:



$40 @ Advance Auto (with a price match).
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Old 03-14-2012, 11:54 AM   #23
Mike 01Hawk
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You know you can rent those for free right? (refundable deposit)
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Old 03-14-2012, 12:05 PM   #24
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You know you can rent those for free right? (refundable deposit)
Yeah, but (and this is impossible to say without sounding like a snob) I bought them because I make more in an hour than they cost to buy but it takes me 30 minutes to drive to/from the auto place to rent them, then 30 minutes to take them back. With me having 2 kids to pick up after work (at specific times), that means that I have to take leave to pick up/drop off the tool set. Do that 2-3 times and it can be a real PITA.

I only have to buy it once and it is mine. It is easier to pay $40 and have them when I need them than it is to have to go rent them.

I did the same with the brake caliper tool kit (though I bought it on Amazon). Having it available is nice because if I am working on a car for a friend or family member (I have a lot of elderly relatives who just can't afford shop prices for things like brakes) I don't have to have them go rent it when they buy their parts, and I don't have to go rent it myself and take more of my time on top of doing the repair work.
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Old 03-14-2012, 09:56 PM   #25
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op, very nice and well done write up! its nice to see members take the time to take alot of pictures. i upgraded my 08 wrx with the racecomp gtworx setup with their yellow springs. what a difference this setup made from stock struts! ive read great reviews about the konis as well. they were my second choice if i didnt get a good deal on the racecomp package.
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