What brand of street shocks do you have?

[Red]

Apolan-
"just cut those brake line brackets " Thanks, but cut is the same as tear for me, I don't want to cut apart the brackets either. I try to keep the little things in original condition, that makes it easier to keep the bigger things in original condition. The car is not in concourse condition but to a non-professional it can pass for almost new.

[Mux213]

Red,

auch, that sucks... yeah without a place to tinker, and with bad weather, its worthless.. For the rest its just a matter of taking it one step at a time.

Properly taking it appart so you will have to catch and later on fill and bleed the brake lines, that does make matters a little more complicated. Those lines often are tightly fitted and you should use some proper tools for them.

Great to hear you're trying to keep your car in such good shape though!

[assassin10000]

Red Wrote:Nohaci-
The Koni web site says to adjust them by compressing the shock and then rotating the body of the shock, which will engage an internal screw control.

Over the years though, I've found many replacement shocks to be disappointing. Either they ride hard without good control (sold as "sport" shocks mainly to kids) or they go soft quickly (cheap shocks).

Like mattresses, you can pretty much sleep on any of them for one or two nights, but a really good one is not easy to find.

Hey RED, Just an FYI as having owned driven on and having SEVERAL friends that use Koni Yellows, go with them. They ride very smooth/nice in the soft-med range and are only somewhat stiff from med-hard range. My friend and his father are courier's for a living and both LOVE the koni yellows on their civics as it has a very good valving setup - soft enough for daily driving until you crank up the stiffness. I think one of the sets they have been using could have had 300+k on it over the last few years with No leaks/problems as it has been the case for the 4-5 different sets they have had on different cars/models.

I put them on my cousins car who lives in sanfrancisco and set them just below medium and they're too soft a ride for me, but very nice on the crap roads there.

On the AE86 chassis only the rear shocks require disconnecting and spinning to adjust, if you put it at soft or medium and drive it you'll quickly find where you want it set, as it's only one 14mm and sliding the shock off to adjust it. The fronts are top adjustable. I'd also recommend contacting KONI directly, they may have a top adjustable option for stock ride height (IIRC you're at stock height).

I currently have KYB AGX (mr2 'rears' in the front of my car, and camaro rears) and I don't really like the way they're valved... But I've learned to live with them and make them work.

Andrew

[Mux213]

Andrew,

The AE92 koni shocks that are often used for short stroke conversion are top adjustable, the AE86 koni shocks that fit directly into the stock strut housing are compress and turn adjustment just like the rears. So getting those means taking the front struts apart to adjust. Don't mix them up. Most of us euro guys run KONI yellows as its the easiest shock to get here.

Other then that, have to agree, set them on soft, and they are ideal for street cars, turn them up and they stand their ground on the track. And they are excellent quality, they last and last.

[Apolan]

could one also use them for a coilover/short stroke conversion like you've done? or would you recomend some other shocks for that?

[jamiemirror]

Apolan Wrote:could one also use them for a coilover/short stroke conversion like you've done?

Punky use yellow AE92 Konis more than 2 years in his shortstroke coilover conversion.

[Mux213]

Apolan Wrote:could one also use them for a coilover/short stroke conversion like you've done? or would you recomend some other shocks for that?

Apolan, I originally planned to do my short stroke conversion with the AE92 shocks, I eventually decided to try the Tokico's, everyone here has KONIs so I wanted to try something different so I could compare them and because the Tokico HTS's are so recommended by AE86 drifters.

Basically its the same modification, the only thing to take into account is that the AE92 shocks are slightly different size so the spacer may need to be slightly different.

I don't know the ride with the AE92 shocks. Comparing when I had full AE86 KONI Yellow setup to my current Tokico front and KONI rear and Circuitfreaks full Tokico setup, I would say that Tokico's are much stiffer and have a wider setting range. I would say KONI gives a smoother ride. No idea how they compare in the long run offcourse.

If you're going for pure track or drift car, my gut feeling sais to go with Tokico allthough the KONI shocks will do you just fine aswell. My reasoning is simple because they are easy to adjust and have a wide adjustability range and stock can be setup much stiffer then KONI (you can get KONIs revalved). Out on the track you can fine tune them, yes you can do the same with the AE92 KONIs but rear you still need to go through some trouble. Not very handy at a track day where you're trying to setup your car.

If you're going for a dialy driver and occasional track car I would say KONI, on their softer settings I think they'll give a much more comfortable ride.

But thats just my opinion with far to little experience to form a definite opinion.

[Apolan]

Well i dont want a coazy ride, i want it firm and hard, but not race-like as our roads are fucked up bigtime.. so im just concerned how this would work on bumpy roads (such as touge if you want). My friend who does rallies says that progressive springs make the ride MUCh smoother on crappy roads.. i wont be doing track, perhaps occasionally.

[Mux213]

Apolan,

I would go with koni's then if I where you..

Or get one of these full systems like the one from D2 or the one from K that just turned up. Full set of Konis + full set of springs + camber plates + RCAs + all modification you need to do almost costs the same..
The thing that worries me most though is that these systems all feature 7kg or higher springs up front and something to match in the rear. Great for a track car but I wouldn't go higher then 5kg front if you drive bad roads regularly. Even with my 6.25kg up front I rattle my teeth out.

I'd try a 4 or 4.5kg/mm front and 2.5 to 3kg/mm rear setup, I think that would rock for a sporty daily driver. Really have to put that into practice some day.

Progressive springs would be an answer to that though..

(that all said, my APEX lowering springs in combination with KONIs (AE86 all round) set on soft setting was still a setup I would recommend to anyone looking for a daily driver with improved handling but retaining comfort and with that setup you don't need RCAs nor camber plates)

[assassin10000]

Mux213 Wrote:Andrew,

The AE92 koni shocks that are often used for short stroke conversion are top adjustable, the AE86 koni shocks that fit directly into the stock strut housing are compress and turn adjustment just like the rears. So getting those means taking the front struts apart to adjust. Don't mix them up. Most of us euro guys run KONI yellows as its the easiest shock to get here.

Other then that, have to agree, set them on soft, and they are ideal for street cars, turn them up and they stand their ground on the track. And they are excellent quality, they last and last.

That sucks, I did quite a bit of research with one of the guys @ koni on what to run for short stroke application on our cars. Here's what he recommended for spring rates ranging from 6-10k front and 4-8k rear:

Recommended by KONI (for front):
8610 1437RACE Works better with higher spring rates than MR-2 piece/better valved for ae86 weight

Recommended by KONI (for rear):

95+ Mustang (rear)
Koni 8041-1186S -sport Externally adjustable, and valved as an ae86 would need to be.

OR (even better dual adjustment!)

93+ Camaro (rear)
Koni 8242-1006SP1 dual adjustment (compression & rebound)

Unfortunately I dont know if the mustang/camaro rears are readily available on the other side of the atlantic.

Hope this helps,
Andrew