ckathens

I've tried doing some searching but haven't found concrete answers on this issue. I just purchased an '86 951 and would like to swap the Koni yellows from my '83 944 NA into the 951. On Paragon, the rears for the '83 944 and '86 951 have different parts numbers, but seem to otherwise be nearly identical. The fronts seem the same. Can I merely swap them out or do I need to purchase another set of konis for the front and rear of the 951? Thanks!

xsboost90

i think sh944 did that to his turbo- since you can only get Bilstein HD's for n/a struts, he put the n/a struts on- but i believe he had to do some customizing IIRC.

aribop

The n/a spindle where the strut bolts at is wider tha the turbo spindle. The struts will fit but they will be too loose and you will have to really tighten up the bolts to clamp it down good to the turbo spindle.

Also, the bolt holes in the strut will not match up perfectly with the holes in your turbo spindle. The holes in the spindle are spaced farther apart than the holes in the strut. You can line up the top holes. I cannot remember if you have enough meat on the strut to elongate the bottom hole out so it would fit the spindle.

Travis - sflraver

Yep, there is a two step process to make them fit. You have to mill out the gap in the strut about .080" wider. Then you have to slot the bottom hole upward a little more than a half a hole. I am running turbo struts on my early NA after doing this. If you have access to a bridgeport then you have it made. Otherwise you need to find a machine shop and bring them both the struts and an early spindle.

Legoland951

The simple answer is no. With modifications, you can make many things fit where it does not. If you mill the strut, it makes the metal thinner and I am not sure whether that is very safe if you are going to track the car. I would recommend getting the insert and converting them to be on the safe side.

ckathens

Thanks for the info guys. I'll probably just grab a new set of Konis for the rears on the 951, since the fronts are ok for the time being. The next owner of my '83 is going to get brand new konis all around with less than 1k miles on them.. Oh well..

aribop

Travis, your procedure is for installing late struts onto early spindles. Steve was asking for the opposite, early struts on '86 turbo spindles (late spindles).