so i'm finally installing my koni strut inserts (yes, yes, the ones i bought like a year ago), i've removed the struts from the car, taken the springs off and such, and am now following the paragon "tech session" instructions to rebuild the struts with the koni kit. the first real step is to drill a drain hole at the bottom of the strut, to remove the strut oil. the tech session article says, i quote

"Some compressed air may escape as the hole runs through - not enough to cause alarm. "

so i'm drilling away with my little drill, my face merely inches from the strut, waiting for the telltale "compressed air" to escape letting me know that i've made it through. suddenly, to my total shock and amazement, let me in fact say ALARM, i find that SHOCK OIL IS BLASTING OUT INTO MY FACE at approximately THE SPEED OF SOUND. now you may think i exaggerate this, but in fact i kid you not. oil erupted in cataclysmic fashion from the shock, completely covering me and laying a gigantic blast radius of oil on my garage floor about 3' in diameter. on the "major axis" of the blast, the direction in which i shoved the shock to keep the oil somewhat out of my eye, it was recorded about 5' away. let me just say that if this is not enough to cause alarm, i do not want to see what is. thankfully i wear glasses, or i probably would have been blinded, as it was i was able to change clothes and take a shower (mostly to get the oil out of my hair) and things were right again, no real harm done.

now we begin the adventure of shock #2. not wanting a repeat performance of the vesuvian spectacle of shock #1, i decide to try to drill this one sideways, and keep my face as far away as physically possible. ladies and gentleman, vertical orientation does not matter. i've got the shock laying on the floor, and i'm sitting over it on a rolling stool. once again drilling my merry way through the (incidentially, outrageously thick) bottom of the strut. once again, still managing to scare the living #(*& out of me, oil BLASTS OUT OF THE SHOCK AND EIGHT FEET ACROSS THE FLOOR with a sound that i can only describe as "a sonic boom being shoved through the eye of a needle." despite my precautions, i am again covered in shock oil, though this time only really up to the elbows. due to my gross miscalculation of oil spray distance, even more of my tools were coated in a disgusting lubricating film. my drill has never run this smoothly.

anyway, thought i should give a little "heads up" to the rest of you out there, everyone be on guard for "compressed air." i guess this just proves that our friend Skip, author of said tech session, is not a man easily scared by high speed fluids. but i certainly am.

 

Good thing it didn't get in your eyes like you said! Hope you can get everything cleaned up.

Thanks for the warning(s)

 

OMG. i can barely see to type this thru the tears of laughter. i'm glad you're alright, but your writing style just slays me!

thats a good little project you have goin' there - documented with any oil-stained pictures??? or did the camera drown...

 

Sam

 

yeah, i'm fine, i actually got a pretty good laugh out of it myself after i was done being scared to death :-P must have looked ridiculous, too bad no one was around to see it (or video it or something) but myself, and, as i said, i was nearly blinded.

 

Lol, for being such a bad experience, you type it so funny. great post. were the shocks fully extended? like my used boge ones that i took out had to actually be pulled open a bit (they wouldnt fully extend on their own.

 

Okay, I think that was the most hilarious post I have ever read! Thanks for the heads up, and sorry for laughing.

 

LOLOL
omg, funniest post ever
Glad you aren't blind :P

 

Dude - Oil's well that ends well...

LOL

 

Think you're messy? I crapped myself laughing!!!

 

Paragon disclaimer..."Change of underwear not included"

Classic....and to think I was thinking about doing the same thing! With my temper I'd have thrown those %^$^&% struts through a window

I think I'll just buy the struts aready done. I'm still laughing.

 

i can't wait til skip weighs in on this!!!

 

Yeah, no poop!

Skip's ALWAYS got a comedic slant...even on things that aren't this funny to begin with ...sorry YoYoGuy2...just too damned funny!

 

Pics?

 

YOU'VE BEEN PUNKED!!!

As with all of my advice, you get what you pay for.

Honestly, let me guess - you had the strut rod completely compressed into the strut, right? Either that, or these were perfectly good struts, maybe even old Konis? That'll do it. I've been sprayed a few times as well - like the first time I opened up a relatively good condition Konis. Man, that stuff stinks almost as bad as gear oil.

To defend the article just a little bit, I previously drilled the struts with no pressure on the strut rod and very rarely experienced anything other than a little "psst" when the bit ran through - a great indicator that the struts were in fact DOA.

FYI, as I constantly refine my process through misery, I've stopped predrilling and just started using a manual pipe-cutter. Once the pipe-cutter gets down a bit I just rock it back and forth while increasing pressure on the head to pierce the tube and allow the gas/fluid to escape down toward my catch bucket. Barely miss a drop nowadays.

Another FYI - always compare our instructions to the Koni instructions. They have changed the design and procedure no less than 3 times so far. Now, you cut at 50mm from the top. The original 329mm is out (site is updated), and the 325mm will do - but, it leaves too much room to try and force the strut down past the tabs.