Bilstein Front Strut Bumpstop Question
 

This week I replaced my front Bilstein shock inserts. When I took the old inserts out, I found NO rubber bumpstops on the rods of the shocks. This car, an '80SC came from the factory with Bilsteins all around. I bought the car in '83 from a South Texas ranchers wife, who bought it new, and I don't think anything was ever done between new and my purchase. Question is, why no bump stops?
When I turned the empty struts upside down, the only thing that fell out was a convex washer that I assume was meant to guide the shaft into the hole in the bottom of the strut. The car also had the big 10mm washers on top of the strut, which I left out on reinstall. I also used the 3 section rubber bump stops that came with the inserts. I plan on running a Euro front height of 25.5". Was I correct to install all 3 sections of the bumpstop assy? Also any ideas why they had no bumpstops from the factory?

That 'spacer' was placed there, if original, by the factory for U.S. spec. cars. Someone might have removed it in an attempt to lower it to Euro specs. It's ok if it is not there.

I know why the 10mm spacers were there, that's why I left them out. My question is why it came from the factory with the rubber bumpstops missing!

it was Friday? (at the factory) if your going to lower it than you need to remove those spacers.

New Bilsteins have the bump stops internal. I don't know about that era.

New Bilsteins for Boge struts have internal bumpstops. New inserts for Bilstein struts still have external rubber bumpstops. Just got a new set of Bilstein inserts for Bilstein struts, and came with a set of three section bumpstops!

Thanks for the correction.

Check on the Elephant racing site they show you which portion of the bumpers to cut off when lowering.

Lorne M.

Hmm, I could not find it at Elephant Racing. Can you explain where you found this info? I'm about ready to put together the front end. Thanks.

It's not Elephant, it's on Smart Racing Products (SRP).

http://www.smartracingproducts.com/pdfdocs/bilstein_rubbershock_front.pdf

Thanks for the link!

Sorry old timer disease kicked in , yes It is Smartracing.

Lorne M.