omniphil

I feel like a heel asking so many newbie questions, this car is really new to me (86' 951)
The suspension is pretty worn and it time to redo it. I have factory adjustable suspension in my other car and I would like the same "stiffness" for the 951. I like the stiff confident feel that a good suspension setup provides. ride quality is not a main concern.

I'm figuring on getting a set of 4 koni's, and a pair of front 250lbs springs. The car has 118,000 on the clock, what else would I need? How do I deal with the rear suspension torsion bar thingy? Do I replace bushings or something?

I was thinking of the yellow koni's, Do the seem to be about the best performance wise without going to a full coilover setup?

951carter

Unfortunately they do not make the yellow koni sports for the front anymore. They do however make a koni insert for your struts. i have not fitted them myself but i hear they are a real PITA. I know a guy who had a shop fit them for him and it cost more than koni yellows used to. you could find a set of used koni's and have them revalved if necessary or get some bilsteins. as for the rear, you can get the koni shocks, quite cheap too, but that does not address the spring issue. the torsion bars are the "springs" on these cars and if you stiffen the front and not the rear you will get a little understeer. you can fit stiffer torsion bars OR you can go to coilovers in the rear, which is my preffered method.
I may be selling a set of carrera coilovers for the rear, AND i may have a set of koni's for the front. They are all fitted with 450# springs 2.25" dia, which can be easily changed for different rates.

omniphil

[quote]Originally posted by 951carter:
<strong>Unfortunately they do not make the yellow koni sports for the front anymore. They do however make a koni insert for your struts. i have not fitted them myself but i hear they are a real PITA. I know a guy who had a shop fit them for him and it cost more than koni yellows used to. you could find a set of used koni's and have them revalved if necessary or get some bilsteins. as for the rear, you can get the koni shocks, quite cheap too, but that does not address the spring issue. the torsion bars are the "springs" on these cars and if you stiffen the front and not the rear you will get a little understeer. you can fit stiffer torsion bars OR you can go to coilovers in the rear, which is my preffered method.
I may be selling a set of carrera coilovers for the rear, AND i may have a set of koni's for the front. They are all fitted with 450# springs 2.25" dia, which can be easily changed for different rates.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Whats my best option for replacing the entire strut if the yellows are no longer

951and944S

omniphil, call around to several dealers, while Koni did in fact discontinue the production, some dealers have them on the shelf and were "in stock" items before they were cancelled.

Crescent City Motors in New Orleans called me back the next day after locating a right and left, although at two seperate dealers...
They are listed in a full page add in Excellence Magazine...

<img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Russ Murphy

[quote]Unfortunately they do not make the yellow koni sports for the front anymore. They do however make a koni insert for your struts. i have not fitted them myself but i hear they are a real PITA. <hr></blockquote>

I've installed the inserts in my old wasted Koni sport front struts and it was probably the easiest job I've ever done on my 951 aside from installing a LBE. The inserts are inexpensive. Call Paragon Products and order their coilover conversion for the fronts while you're at it and you'll be where you want too be- height and rebound damping adjustable.

951carter

Russ, you already HAD knoi's which makes it a different job. You can just unscrew the cap and pull out the old, slip in the new. If one does not already have koni's they have to cut the cap off of the old strut, measuring to get the correct spot first. They also have to drill a hole in the bottom to fasten them. A bit more work than installing an LBE, as can be seen here:

<a href="http://www.tech-session.com/Paragon/Tech/944_koni_1414S.htm." target="_blank">http://www.tech-session.com/Paragon/Tech/944_koni_1414S.htm.</a>

K27

There is a good article in the June 2002 issue of Excellence on this conversion.

Loki

Cutting up your Sachs struts for the koni inserts is a piece of cake. It takes more work to get the struts out. The inserts cost 300$ for the pair and the instructions are pretty straight forward.

Chris

Jason @ Paragon Products

Installation of the 8641-1414 Sport is the same for the Sachs or Koni sealed strut. All Turbo's had sealed struts, whether Sachs or Koni.