[FAQ] Koni Shock Install

[.RJ]

From this thread: http://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=891136 A write up with some pics here, in case you guys have not done this before. Difficulty: On a scale of 1-5, I give this project two suck-its. Time: 2-4 hrs, depending on how fast you work, if you have an impact or lift, how drunk you are. First, you pick up some busted ass used Konis. Then you call up CRX Lee (&lt;-- link there) and ask him to rebuild and revalve them stiffer. He'll send you some pimpy boxes like this Now put the car on stands and take your spinnerz off Assemble your tools And we'll start with the front suspension first. Remove the 12mm bolts holding the brake line to the shock Remove the brake line from the shock Then remove the 14mm pinch bolt at the top of the shock fork Now remove the bolt holding the shock fork to the lower control arm. Secure the bolt with a 17mm wrench, and remove the 17mm nut Use a BFH and a drift to tap the bolt out of the LCA Drop the shock fork off of the shock Remove the 14mm nuts on the shock tower, the shock will drop once they are removed (hold onto the shock body as you do this) Remove shock assembly towards front of the car That was easy, now onto the rear...... Disconnect the swaybar endlink from the LCA, 14mm bolt Remove the lower shock bolt, 14mm Remove the upper shock bolts, also 14mm The shock will then drop Remove the 14mm bolt holding the upper control arm to the trailing arm. This gives the suspension enough droop to get the shock assembly out Remove shock assembly towards rear of the car Ok, everything's out lets take them apart Get your spring compressors and compress the spring Using a 14mm wrench and a 5mm hex/allen key, remove the upper shock mount bolt, and the upper mount Take the spring off Label your springs if you are re-using them *** If not, and are just replacing springs on the stock shocks then you would just reassmble now in the reverse order of dissasembly. Spring compressor is usually not required with lowering springs*** Using a prybar and BFH or other suitable device, pound the brake line bracket off of the stock shock. Give it solid hits and work around the bracket until it slides off Separate the rubber bushings from the metal collar in the upper shock mount Replace the stock metal collar with the one supplied by Koni One ITR's the shock shaft is too large for the stock upper mount (stock is 10mm, Koni is 12mm). They're metal on top and bottom, so I took them to a machine shop where they bored out the holes on a drill press so that the shock shaft will fit through. I do not think this is a problem for civic and other integra mounts, they are supposedly 12mm. <FONT COLOR="red">Warning: Ghetto-Fab Ahead</FONT> The bumpstops didnt fit over the Koni shock shaft either. So I introduced them to Mike's dremel. Line up the brake line bracket with the divot on the shock as shown, and pound the bracket in place. I used a piece of steel tubing I had sitting around and light taps with the BFH until its all the way on. Install the circlip on the shock body Then the ring for the spring seat Now the spring seat Dust cover, bumpstop and washer Compress the spring, put the upper hat, washer, and pair of 20mm nuts on the shock shaft. Take the spring compressors off, and installation is the reverse of dissasembly. On the front, make sure the divot on the shock is lined up with the pinch bolt on the lower shock fork. The lower fork will not slide all the way on and the bolt will not thread freely in if they are not lined up. In the rear, jack up the lower control arm to get the upper control arm back onto the trailing arm once the shock is in. Torque specs for ITR on reassembly: Front Upper Hat 36 ft-lbs Pinch Bolt 32 ft-lbs Lower fork 47 ft-lbs Brake Line Brackets 16 ft-lbs Rear Upper Hat 36 ft-lbs Lower Shock Mount 40 ft-lbs Swaybar Endlink 29 ft-lbs UCA 40 ft-lbs

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[94eg!]

I'de like to add one thing to that:

The Civic shock shaft is IDENTICAL to the ITR shaft, so the install would be identical if your using ITR upper mount bushings. The stock upper mount bushings are different on the civic though. They allow you to use the Koni washers & collars w/o drilling anything. The ITR bushings have the washers built in, so if you use them they have to be bored out..

[John]

RicerJ, you forgot the first and most important step:

[1] Open a

[99hatch]

this would have been nice to have when i was doing mine but its all good, and great write up

[rochesterricer]

Sticky maybe?

[boostincoupe]

.RJ you are the man!!!!

Thanks for this thread!!!!

[DC2 to AP2]

nice job! how much was it to revalve? those look new... did koni replaced them for you or did they just repaint the busted used shocks?

[.RJ]

$540ish including shipping for rebuild, revalve and converting the rears to externally adjustable. Did not have them shortened.

[Ti3d in]

I'm getting Koni yellows real soon, and was wondering how many of you guys are not running the stock brake bracket? Anyone making dust boots, or using the bump stops? I'm asking this because I don't have these things for the install.

[Greenery18]

Sweet writeup. My koni yellows are coming this week.

[EGRhatch]

take off y0 spinnaz!!! (and remeber to use the rubber socket so not to scratch the chrome plating off!

good write up

[94eg!]

Originally Posted by Ti3d in

I'm getting Koni yellows real soon, and was wondering how many of you guys are not running the stock brake bracket? Anyone making dust boots, or using the bump stops? I'm asking this because I don't have these things for the install.

I suggest shortening the brake bracket rather than leaving it out. If you grind off the bottom part, you can still mount your brake lines & it's really easy to do (see pic below).

There is a DIY thread here that someone wrote about making dust boots for their konis. It had a lot of pics too. Do a search. They looked good, but involved zip ties, and I'm not a fan of zip ties (I found it, click HERE).

You must use bump stops. If you don't, your risking the destruction of your expensive shocks. Ground Control says never use less than 1" of bump stop.

Here is CRX lee's how too on mounting your koni's lower in the fork...

Originally Posted by CRX Lee

Yes, they are a twin tube so a new dent won't screw things up but I have never made a dent and certainly would never file on the shock body. Once I tried whacking a new dent in the body but found I was more likely to just oval out the bottom of the shocks before a real dent got in it.

You guys are making it much harder than it need to be, I have been doing it for years. Leave the brake line bracket off and install the shock, spring and wishbone just like normal with the top and bottom mount bolts and nuts. Using the dent to align and start the pinch bolt, start the pinch bolt by only two or three threads so it is solidly started but definately not being tightened. Now take a large straight blade screw driver tip or a chisel punch around to the split on the back side of the wishbone and use it as a wedge and hammer the end it to further spread the split and make it looser around the shock bottom. Now put a floor jack under the LCA (the car is up on jack stands BTW) and lift the LCA upward loading against the spring and the car. The mouth of the wishbone will slide right up higher on the shock body and the pinch bolt slips up out of the dent. It only uses the dent as a guidepath so the bolt threads properly across the gap. You may need to fiddle with the wedge a bit or knock the top of the wishbone lightly with a hammer but it will normally move pretty easily. Once it stops moving, note how much shock bottom sticks through the bottom of the wishbone and make the other side match. Any amount of extra travel you get at the shock means 1.5 times that amount of free travel at the wheel. The key is that you must first use the dent to start the pinch bolt into the threading, if you don't then the arc of the shock body will deflect the tip of the pinchbolt on a tangent and you risk cross threading the wishbone like Tyson did (and I did until I figured it out).

Couldn't be easier, no new dents, no grinding or filing, just free stroke but remember that you must raise your spring perch accordingly or otherwise the car will just be lower with no extra stroke.

BTW, I just use one zip tie normally to hold the braided brake line (older Earls normally) and have had no evidence or concern of it moving or wearing.

Modified by 94eg! at 10:19 AM 1/8/2005

[Greenery18]

This thread is invaluable. I installed my front konis yesterday, and kept running upstairs to look at this guide

As far as the brake lines, I just tucked them in a place I know won't bind the springs, although I like the modified bracket idea.

Will be puttin the rears on tonight most likely, we'll see how it goes. Does anybody happen to know the stock perch location on the koni sp3 5-perch shocks?

[94eg!]

Middle perch is stock. The upper grooves were desgned to be able to raise the car back up a little when using lowering springs.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by Greenery18

As far as the brake lines, I just tucked them in a place I know won't bind the springs, although I like the modified bracket idea.

Be careful.... wrap them in fuel line or spiral wrap and tie them so that they are not rubbing on anything.... tie one zip tie around the shock, then use another to secure that zip tie to the brake line - no rubbing.

[.RJ]

bump

[Tad]

so how much did it cost to have them revalved/rebuilt?

[.RJ]

$540 with shipping.

[CerealWars]

I got my Yellows about a week ago. Couple questions. When they package them do they wrap the shock in anything? Mine werent and ended up getting scratched. I know it dosnt matter sence the shock will perform just as well...just curious. And do you guys not reuse your dust covers? This is the second time ive seen a picture where you can see the bump stop. Although very nice write up .RJ...this did help with one question I had about a part.

[94eg!]

Originally Posted by CerealWars

I got my Yellows about a week ago. Couple questions. When they package them do they wrap the shock in anything? Mine weren't and ended up getting scratched. I know it doesn't matter since the shock will perform just as well...just curious. And do you guys not reuse your dust covers? This is the second time I've seen a picture where you can see the bump stop. Although very nice write up .RJ...this did help with one question I had about a part.

If your using coil-overs, or lowering springs, I wouldn't use the dust covers.

Koni's yellow paint is notorious for chipping easily. If you do a search, you will find a few threads about it. There is also a thread about making dust covers out of steering rack boots. As for the paint, I took maters into my own hands, and stripped all the yellow off, wire brushed and clear coated them. They turned out pretty nice. I just hope the clear holds up (it was a lot of work)...

[Tad]

Originally Posted by CerealWars

I got my Yellows about a week ago. Couple questions. When they package them do they wrap the shock in anything? Mine werent and ended up getting scratched. I know it dosnt matter sence the shock will perform just as well...just curious. And do you guys not reuse your dust covers? This is the second time ive seen a picture where you can see the bump stop. Although very nice write up .RJ...this did help with one question I had about a part.

was it just the yellow shock body that got scratched, or the actual piston rod???

No, they don't wrap them in anything,
my ots ones werent wrapped in anything either, but they are held in the boxes "pretty" secure.. I think.. hard to remember exactly.

but anyways, if the piston rods are scratched... i'd think about whether its bad enough to make a difference, if not, dont worry about it, if so, send them back.

[CerealWars]

That wire brushing looks really good. So is there a reason why you guys dont use your dust covers? Interference? Im guessing sence you arnt using them it shouldnt have any effect on the shock? Even if its a daily driver seeing every bit of wheather? And yes it was just the paint on the body of the shock that got scraped.

[Jdm Green Eg6]

hey .RJ off the topic i was wandering if you are going to sell your tow hooks anytime soon. because you posted that you had them and were going to sell them email me at de192004@yahoo.com

[deSigi]

People should know to be careful when compressing the coil springs. With that spring compressor or others similar to it, you have to make sure that the 2 compressors are perfectly opposite from one another and to slowly compressed them each a little at a time. The coil spring scared the crap out of me when I was doing it.

Really nice write up though. Clearly defined pictures are a must and you did a great job of doing that.

[ki3t]

good write up