Is this worth it?

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

Hey guys! My suspension is shot, completely gone. I have an 87 951 with 95K on it and the original Boge setup. Right now its a real kidney puncher!

Here is what I want to do. All of my eforts to replace my suspension with Koni componets have been unsuccessfull. I just can't find new stuff anywhere, and I don't want to to do the hacksaw insert kit.

Here is what I can get: My mechanic has a take off set of Koni's, they have 2 track events on them. The set consists of an 89 Turbo S M030 setup. Rear Koni's, front Koni's with coil over. He wants around 700 for the set with strut mounts and all. Is this too much?

Blackfoot · Blackfoot's Garage

don't know why you had trouble finding konis...went to the local speed shop here in world-famous renton, wa and they had them. can't your local shop order them? anyways, if those components really had just two track events and nothing else, they are almost new and you should get maybe a 25% price break from new cost, imho.

AFJuvat · 09-26-2002, 09:14 AM

I would say it's worth it, but I can't believe that there is no new stuff available.

AFJuvat

Blackfoot · Blackfoot's Garage

also, can tell you that after the adj. konis & momo wheel went in, my car is MUCH more fun to drive! do it as soon as possible...snows coming to you soon and fun driving will soon come to a seasonal end.

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

I am looking for the "more fun to drive" part espically. What happened was that everytime I went try and order the Koni fonts I would get a "superceeded" part number for the cartridge kit. Which involves hacking the tops of your Boge struts up and dropping the Koni cart in and drilling holes and such. It sounded a bit to "Mac Guyver" for me.

The rears we still available new. Maybe its a local supply issue. Anyway I figured that the coilover setup would be worth it in the end.

951carter · 09-26-2002, 02:59 PM

I would say that is a fair price. $600 for the fronts, $100 for the rears.

Now your problem is that your front spring rate is too high for your rear spring rate, due to the torsion bars in the rear. You will get a bit of understeer with this setup. The only way arund it is to change the T-bars or add rear coilovers w/helper springs.

You can get the rear Koni coilovers from Paragon for $1295.00.

I just so happen to have a rear set of Carrera coilovers laying around i will part with for $400.

The reason he is having trouble locating the Koni's is because they stopped making them awhile ago in favor of the hack-job inserts.

I also have a set of front Koni's I will part with for $300. They are the sports with a fixed perch but i also have a coilover kit i can sell to go on them to make them heigth adjustable.

Edit: I just did the math and realized that i can give you 4 corner coilovers for the same price as his front only......hmmmmm

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

Well I purchased the set-up last night, and it is front and rear coilovers.

The install went great, around two hours start to finish. I just love the direct bolt in stuff. Although I did have to use a VERY large breaker bar on the lower rear shock bolts.

Question now is this, I checked my factory service manuals and they stated that the 89 and on M030 package was 0 deg camber +/- 1 deg. I set them as close to zero as I could, anyone have better information than this? It seems correct when I was driving it.

BTW on another note, if you have the means to get this setup, NA or turbo, do it! It was the single most effective upgrade I have ever done to my 951, it's like a whole new car!

951carter · 09-27-2002, 06:16 AM

Are you sure? The rears have springs over the shocks?

If so you got one incredible deal!!!!!!!

The F+R koni coilovers + perches + springs were $2800 new!!

If they are in fact F+R coilovers, i would be interested to know what the spring rates are and did you leave the T-bars in?

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

Yes they have springs over the rear shocks, with koni shocks in the centers.

I did leave the torsion bars in, mainly because I did not know any better. Like I was saying I just put it up on the rack last night and dropped all of this stuff in, then I shifted it over to my alignment rack and adjusted it up. Well I also replaced the camber blocks as well with the upgraded solid mounts that came with the kit.

Should I remove the torsion bars? Or maybe index them at a lower rate? As for the rear spring rates I am not sure. The guy that removed this kit went with a brand new Bilstein setup, then he hit the road again for a few weeks on the race circut. I will have to ask him about the spring rates when he gets back.

951carter · 09-27-2002, 06:31 AM

You can leave them in, but if he did not have them in his car your rear spring rate will be too high. If you adhust them so there is no preload you can retain your ride heigth.
With the rear Koni's you will have to do something to keep the "hat" on if they are addjusted with no preload. You can drill and safety wire them.

Man, you got an AWESOME deal on that setup. I bet you could get at least $1500 for it!

I wouldn't advise taking any corners too hot until you find out what the F+R spring rates are though........unless you don't mind looking at the rear of the car =0

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

The whole problem with me is that I do not know how take a corner to begin with. Now that I have all of this equipment I am going to have to get to one of these DE events to learn to drive it.

Carter, if I post a PIC of the rears can show me where to drill and saftey wire the hat correctly? I really don't want to remove the torsion bars unless I have to.

951carter · 09-27-2002, 06:50 AM

Really all you have to do is make a hole in it and tie it to the spring. They are made so you can pop them out, but you don't want them to pop out by themself.