Cant order them in any color.
That new place that does the $7000 trans swaps prolly can make ya a similar one for twice as much.
Man, those postal workers been busy!
- Thread starter 98lincmk7lsc
- Start date
That new place that does the $7000 trans swaps prolly can make ya a similar one for twice as much.
98lincmk7lsc
Dedicated LVC Member
Marcus
Dedicated LVC Member
Jay,
I meant to get back to you, but I've had a family emergency and have been pretty busy.
A couple of things about the Koni front shock conversion...
The large cap screw supplied by Koni for the bottom is too long if you intend to weld it to the bottom. It will bottom out in the insert before the insert is fully drawn down into the Ford strut housing. This is because the lock washer they supply adds the extra depth, but we won't use it if we want to weld the bolt to the strut bottom. Koni must have gotten a deal on the cap screws because I couldn't find a match anywhere in that thread size. It's M12-1.5, and I can't find it in a button head at all. This is what I ordered: http://www.fastenal.com/web/products/detail.ex?sku=35761&ucst=t It needs to be 20mm length or less. The alternative is to cut or grind off the bottom of the Koni supplied bolt. Not something I wanted to bother with, given its 12.9 grade.
Regardless of what you use, be sure to have a pro weld it on. According to several sites I checked, getting an air tight weld is difficult. Pretty much everyone says that you need a TIG welder to get a good seal, and those are expensive. Don't try it yourself.
I'm going to use epoxy putty to seal the gap between the insert and the stock tube along the top, which may eliminate the need for welding the bolt, but I'm going to have it welded anyway just in case.
For the top, there is a problem with the O-rings that seal it up. The stock shock uses two O-rings to seal the top of the bag to the shock's chrome shaft, one inside the bag and another on top of the bag. See links below. The problem with the Koni is that the threads on the shaft go much further down, so the top O-ring will be surrounding thread instead of a smooth shaft. This makes the top O-ring useless. Jeremi says the lower O-ring will work by itself, but I'd feel much better if I can use both. I'm going to try filling the threads up to the height of the second O-ring with the same epoxy putty and then sand it down smooth. Not sure yet if that will work, but we'll see.
The O-rings sit in a 45 degree countersink and will probably be somewhat distorted. I ordered some new O-rings. I had to buy a bag of 100 to get the right size, so let me know and I'll send you a few. You need 4 to do both struts.
The countersink on mine has some rust in it and it will need to be cleaned up. The top one is not so hard to clean up with a Dremel wire brush, but the lower one is inside the bag at the opposite end from the opening and I ended up ordering a 18" drill extension to get to it. I don't know if it's absolutely critical but it sure seems like a clean surface will be required for a good seal.
Shaft comparison
OEM shaft
Koni shaft
I meant to get back to you, but I've had a family emergency and have been pretty busy.
A couple of things about the Koni front shock conversion...
The large cap screw supplied by Koni for the bottom is too long if you intend to weld it to the bottom. It will bottom out in the insert before the insert is fully drawn down into the Ford strut housing. This is because the lock washer they supply adds the extra depth, but we won't use it if we want to weld the bolt to the strut bottom. Koni must have gotten a deal on the cap screws because I couldn't find a match anywhere in that thread size. It's M12-1.5, and I can't find it in a button head at all. This is what I ordered: http://www.fastenal.com/web/products/detail.ex?sku=35761&ucst=t It needs to be 20mm length or less. The alternative is to cut or grind off the bottom of the Koni supplied bolt. Not something I wanted to bother with, given its 12.9 grade.
Regardless of what you use, be sure to have a pro weld it on. According to several sites I checked, getting an air tight weld is difficult. Pretty much everyone says that you need a TIG welder to get a good seal, and those are expensive. Don't try it yourself.
I'm going to use epoxy putty to seal the gap between the insert and the stock tube along the top, which may eliminate the need for welding the bolt, but I'm going to have it welded anyway just in case.
For the top, there is a problem with the O-rings that seal it up. The stock shock uses two O-rings to seal the top of the bag to the shock's chrome shaft, one inside the bag and another on top of the bag. See links below. The problem with the Koni is that the threads on the shaft go much further down, so the top O-ring will be surrounding thread instead of a smooth shaft. This makes the top O-ring useless. Jeremi says the lower O-ring will work by itself, but I'd feel much better if I can use both. I'm going to try filling the threads up to the height of the second O-ring with the same epoxy putty and then sand it down smooth. Not sure yet if that will work, but we'll see.
The O-rings sit in a 45 degree countersink and will probably be somewhat distorted. I ordered some new O-rings. I had to buy a bag of 100 to get the right size, so let me know and I'll send you a few. You need 4 to do both struts.
The countersink on mine has some rust in it and it will need to be cleaned up. The top one is not so hard to clean up with a Dremel wire brush, but the lower one is inside the bag at the opposite end from the opening and I ended up ordering a 18" drill extension to get to it. I don't know if it's absolutely critical but it sure seems like a clean surface will be required for a good seal.
Shaft comparison
OEM shaft
Koni shaft
DLF
Dedicated LVC Member
Very interesting info, Marcus! I wouldn't mind having a few of those o-rings myself.
98lincmk7lsc
Dedicated LVC Member
Jay,
I meant to get back to you, but I've had a family emergency and have been pretty busy.
A couple of things about the Koni front shock conversion...
The large cap screw supplied by Koni for the bottom is too long if you intend to weld it to the bottom. It will bottom out in the insert before the insert is fully drawn down into the Ford strut housing. This is because the lock washer they supply adds the extra depth, but we won't use it if we want to weld the bolt to the strut bottom. Koni must have gotten a deal on the cap screws because I couldn't find a match anywhere in that thread size. It's M12-1.5, and I can't find it in a button head at all. This is what I ordered: http://www.fastenal.com/web/products/detail.ex?sku=35761&ucst=t It needs to be 20mm length or less. The alternative is to cut or grind off the bottom of the Koni supplied bolt. Not something I wanted to bother with, given its 12.9 grade.
Shouldn't be a problem for me to cut it. I've got lots of equipment available to me at work. It's good to know that I need to do that before I start though.
Regardless of what you use, be sure to have a pro weld it on. According to several sites I checked, getting an air tight weld is difficult. Pretty much everyone says that you need a TIG welder to get a good seal, and those are expensive. Don't try it yourself.
I'm in the Navy and work with a couple nuclear-certified welders in my shop. I'm pretty decent with a TIG welder myself, but will still have one of them do it for me. Did you thread the bottom hole? That may help seal it also...
I'm going to use epoxy putty to seal the gap between the insert and the stock tube along the top, which may eliminate the need for welding the bolt, but I'm going to have it welded anyway just in case.
Yeah, I planned on sealing it around the top also, just in case. Why not, if you're already in there?
For the top, there is a problem with the O-rings that seal it up. The stock shock uses two O-rings to seal the top of the bag to the shock's chrome shaft, one inside the bag and another on top of the bag. See links below. The problem with the Koni is that the threads on the shaft go much further down, so the top O-ring will be surrounding thread instead of a smooth shaft. This makes the top O-ring useless. Jeremi says the lower O-ring will work by itself, but I'd feel much better if I can use both. I'm going to try filling the threads up to the height of the second O-ring with the same epoxy putty and then sand it down smooth. Not sure yet if that will work, but we'll see.
The O-rings sit in a 45 degree countersink and will probably be somewhat distorted. I ordered some new O-rings. I had to buy a bag of 100 to get the right size, so let me know and I'll send you a few. You need 4 to do both struts.
I've got lots of O-rings, but they're pretty generic sizes. I'd like it if you wouldn't mind sending me some.
The countersink on mine has some rust in it and it will need to be cleaned up. The top one is not so hard to clean up with a Dremel wire brush, but the lower one is inside the bag at the opposite end from the opening and I ended up ordering a 18" drill extension to get to it. I don't know if it's absolutely critical but it sure seems like a clean surface will be required for a good seal.
Not a bad idea.
Thanks for the tips! I can't wait to start on this. I've got a car show tomorrow that I'm entering. After that, the work starts!
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