Sour Kraut's 951

I am on the last steps of getting this on the road in time for the fest and have run into a wall with shocks.

I have a 86t so of course I get screwed with sealed strut housings.

I just purchased brand new Bilstein's front and rear and realized the fronts are replacement cartridges. They are beautifully that is for sure.

My main question is aimed at the sealed unit, has anyone ever modified a sealed strut to accept a Bilstein or Koni cartridge? I see it done all the time for the Koni insert with the bolt in the bottom, but I got what I got. Can the crimped cap be removed from the sealed strut, remove the factory cartridge and than have the strut tube threaded to accept the cartridge and G-Nut, or do I have to source out a early set of tubes and mod them with the upgrade mount? Or should I sell the B's and source some K's? I know you guys will have all the answers so TIA. By the way search has nothing on a sealed mod like I am asking about.

mikey_audiogeek

Yes apparently you can mod the sealed struts to take the cartridges. I prefer B's to K's!

Cheers,
Mike

Sour Kraut's 951

My thought was to cut off the cap, pull the old cart out and make all the measurements for the Bilsteins length and have the tubes cut and threaded. Question, only because I have only replaced entire struts and never just the carts, do all the replaceable carts have the same O.D. on the main housing? I know the strut shaft on the Bilsteins are more than twice the diameter. Also, the new struts came with everything but the bump stops, are they really necessary when using Bilsteins? I know the Konis say to replace them with the ones they make. And what color should I paint the tubes, green or yellow? The new Bilsteins are yellow like Konis.

mikey_audiogeek

You ABSOLUTELY need bump stops. Call Bilstein.

Cheers,
Mike

pettybird

It won't work. I ordered KYB's a couple of years ago for my late offset car (oops) and they just rattle around inside. The old tubes are smaller in diameter.

supes6

It's much easier to just find some early cartridge-style strut housings and modify them to fit.

Sour Kraut's 951

I called and left a message with technical today for the part number and where to get them.

User 52121

I don't really have anything to offer here but noticed the Shelby in your sig and thought I'd say hello In a former life I was pretty heavy into the Shelby Dodges... several Omni GLH Turbos and a Shelby Daytona.

Sour Kraut's 951

Hello back Omni. I bought it new in 87 and still have it. Now with the addition of the Cruze all 3 of my cars have turbos. I don't know if that is good or bad.

Sour Kraut's 951

Bilstein called today, they are shipping the bump stops FOC. I will attempt to cut off the caps this weekend and measure for proper diameter of the tube.

superloaf

everyone seems to prefer bilsteins to konis which i understand because in theory, so do i. i have bilstein sports on my scirocco and love them (konis just leak and go limp in my experience, both in vw's and my 951.) so i finally put rear bilsteins on the rear of the 951 when konis went bad yet again, but they are too soft even for the stock torsion bars. they definitely are more sensitive to small road imperfections and absorb more where konis just are stiff and don't seem to react until a bump is larger and this is separate from the konis simply being stiffer.

anyways, just don't understand why bilstein doesn't offer a sport shock for the 944. now i'm left to think if i should have the bilsteins revalved (bilstein only charges $60 each) or go back to konis?

any thoughts?

mikey_audiogeek

Revalve. One of the big advantages of Bilsteins!

Cheers,
Mike

pettybird

Do you have extra strut housings? I'm not kidding that it won't work.

Sour Kraut's 951

No I do not have extra housings. Why will it not work? Are the diameters different on sealed vs serviceable?