fristajlo

Hi!
My 944 85.5 N/A was retrofitted with koni struts by PO. One of the shocks is in very poor condition so I thought I could replace the inserts. But they are nothing like the stock ones with a screw cap to hold the insert. I've seen many threads about rebuilding stock struts with koni inserts, but can I rebuild my koni struts? Which inserts do I need in that case? And will only koni inserts fit my struts or are there other that might fit?
All help and info is very appreciated!

V2Rocket

Look underneath the bottom of the strut housing, just above the ball joint...is there a bolt threaded UP into the strut?

fristajlo

I can't check it at this moment, but I recall that there is something there. From memory I would say it looked like a grease nipple? My memory could play tricks on me though. But there is something there. I compared it to a stock one which just had the rounded surface.

Jason @ Paragon Products

An 85.5 should have a rebuildable strut. Although a later sealed strut could be adapted to the earlier spindle it would require some modification to the spindle to make that happen. Can you post a picture of the actual strut...that'll make it easy to figure out what's going on.

fristajlo

The konis were fitted at a later stage by PO so they're not stock. Sorry no pics, my car is a 4 hour drive away from where I live. But it's possible the spindle is modified as the stock struts I fitted just to be able to drive the car home wouldn't fit very well (the spindle seemed to be too thin where the strut attaches)

FRporscheman

Sounds like you have koni struts, not just koni inserts in porsche struts. So the entire thing is yellow, right?

I think for those, instead of using the thread-on cap on the top, you cut the top off and then drill a hole in the bottom of the housing. The insert attaches to the housing with a bolt through the bottom. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong - I've never actually done this to a koni strut.

Jason @ Paragon Products

Ok, that does sound like someone installed a later sealed strut on your early spindle as that is indeed what you have to do...machine down the flange that the strut bolts on to. Koni is really the only company making a special strut insert to go into the sealed struts:

http://www.paragon-products.com/Koni...-1414sport.htm

and here's our tutorial on doing the job:

https://www.paragon-products.com/kb_results.asp?ID=50

fristajlo

Thanks!
And that insert will work in my yellow koni strut?
I will check the numbers and markings on the strut when I have a chance.

Jason @ Paragon Products

Yes sir, the Koni 8641-1414 Sport will work on either original Sachs or Koni sealed strut housings.

Jfrahm

If your struts are rebuildable, why not rebuild them? If you want to hacksaw mod something, get some dead OEM struts to mod or some dead early-offset stock fronts (with the gland nuts) and put Koni inserts in them.

fristajlo

There are no one, that I know of, who does this in Sweden. At least not anyone nearby. And even if there were the cost would be about as much as the car cost to buy. Services like this isn't cheap in this country. So it's too expensive. I could use Sachs struts but then I would need to replace the spindles too.

fristajlo

So, finally I got a chance to check the struts more in detail. Looks like there is a cap that screws off. Are the inserts mentioned earlier the right ones for these struts?

FRporscheman

That's considered a sealed unit. The top might unscrew, but inside there isn't a cartridge, there's the guts of the damper. So it can either be rebuilt by Koni, or permanently modified to accept a cartridge/insert. Yes, the inserts mentioned before will work.

fristajlo

thank you! Still not decided how to go forward with this. Are the springs interchangeable between stock and koni struts?

FRporscheman

Yes, the springs are interchangeable. Just be careful not to mix with 968 or 944S2 struts, because those springs are smaller diameter.

I recently went to change some suspension parts and found out my 951 has 944S2/968 koni struts, so the springs are the smaller size, thanks to the previous owner. So I wasn't able to put on my aftermarket 951 springs. Measure your current springs' diameter, 968 springs have outer diameter of about 4", I can't remember the 944/951 but it's much bigger than than.