front strut assembly

[Alistair E]

Excellent find JohnB, Kalle's write up is exactly what I needed. Just need to check on the shouldered collar as this must be only be used with the solid topmounts. There isn't a slotted nut on the solid mounts. I believe the collar should sit on top of the upper spring seat, fitting slightly inside the topmount with a shouldered nut holding the shock in the mount.

I did do some searching about the Koni shocks and found a number of comments made about them being too short to allow the strut nut to hold them in place. There was talk of washers in the bottom of the strut housing, or the Koni supplied spacer collar being remade a bit bigger in stainless.

I measured the oem shock against the koni and collar and found them to be the same length. However the koni is a smaller diameter which I believe allows it to sit lower in the dish at the bottom of the strut. This appears to be the problem, although mine did sit far enough up to allow the strut nut to make contact and hold it in place. Just an observation.

Thanks for the help gents. Will hopefully be getting the car back together soon.

Alistair

[John B]

John are they the larger bilstines/koni`s if so where did you get the gaiters and foam stops?

I got Koni part number 86-2086 SPD2 for the front and 86-2433 SPORT for the rear from QST and set them up using the guide in the post earlier. These were mated to H&R springs 29939 (VA) for the front and 29939 (HA) for the rear, also from QST

As for the gaiters and foam stops I got them from Pete Reve at Quattro Corner.

Cheers

John

[jamie9048]

John are they the larger bilstines/koni`s if so where did you get the gaiters and foam stops?

[speeding-g60]

Loosely related....does anybody know the thread size of the top of the strut off the top of their head??

14mm x 1.5

[John B]

You should get something like these babies: -

tn_DSC01619.JPG

(excluding the Boddingtons!)

[John B]

Fellas,

I found this guide particularly useful when I did my front and rear struts with H&R / Koni.

http://www.s2forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34701

HTH

JB

[Mikes2]

Bump stop and sleeve go on first.

Put your spring on next with the spring compressed. Make sure the bottom of the spring is butted up against the lower perch. Now put the top spring perch on - again this should butt up against the end of the spring coil.

Sometimes there is a washer above the top spring perch. Now put the top mount on. This should go all the way down to the shoulder of the insert / top of the bump stop. If not, you'll need to compress the spring some more.

Fit the slotted nut inside the top mount and tighten to 50 Nm (if you can).

Release the spring compressor tension carefully - make sure it doesn't shift round as you undo it

[Alistair E]

I'll have a look at home later if I get chance. If not it will be tomorrow evening so there may be more questions.

Thanks

[Acidburn]

It might be as the first one was loaded to the forum.

[Alistair E]

Is this any better?

Sorry, can't see that one. In work and it seems a bit temperamental about which images it will display.

[Acidburn]

I have it open on that page in etka if you need anymore info or closeups

[Acidburn]

28 it says is a washer for models with heavy duty suspension

[Acidburn]

Is this any better?

[Alistair E]

That helps a bit. Not sure what 28 is. Is that the shouldered collar?

Can't remember if it would make a difference but I have the QRS solid top mounts.

My guess is that the upper spring mount, 29, sits directly on the shock. Then the shoulder collar is fitted. This shouldered collar partially sits inside the bearing in the topmount. Does that sound familiar to anyone?

Alistair

[re2500]

Loosely related....does anybody know the thread size of the top of the strut off the top of their head??