Sectioning struts without flares and wide 17's. (rear mostly)

[LamboZ]

I searched but wasn't coming up with answers that might help me out.

 

I'm doing the rear suspension on my 280Z right now.

 

Parts i have:   GC coilover sleaves, 300lb 8in springs, Koni 8610-1437 race strut inserts, 280z front top hats, new spring perches, all the bushings and what not.

 

Now these koni inserts are very short compared to the Tokicio's i'm replacing.

I know ill have to make a spacer to the bottom of the insert but what i'm concerned about is how much to take out of the strut housing.

car has custom 17x9.5in wheels and im not running flares. i don't want to take too much out and have the car sitting on the tires with the spring adjusted all the way up.

 

Im looking at removing 2in's out of the housings now and just running a bigger spacer on the bottom of the insert.

 

 

stock 280z ID of housings is roughly 18 1/4in

these koni inserts are 13in tall.

so removing 2in should net me with a 3 1/8 spacer.

 

 

all this just to do a burn out....... crazy

 

thanks for any help.

Edited May 3, 2015 by LamboZ

[LamboZ]

Anybody have just alittle input on this?

 

Right now my fronts have the tokico mr2 insert, with the strut housings sectioned to fit them. I don't have any problems with the front wheels which are also 17x9.5.

But with these KONI inserts being so short for the rear I don't want to cut too much.

 

Seems like not many section there struts when running no flares and bigger wheels.

[NewZed]

Nobody can give you measurements unless they know all of the numbers.  And then they'd have to do the math.  Too risky.  I do notice though, that you've left out a critical number - actual wheel diameter.  The rubber.  You give rim dimensions, but if you run low profile tires, it's a whole different thing than "normal" profile.  17x9.5 isn't enough information.

 

Ride height and shock travel are the two things to focus on.  Set ride height, determine how much shock travel you want above and below that, and that will determine the distance from the hub to the top shaft mount (edit 5 11 - actually ride height determines spring perch, and travel above and below set point of shock shaft determines strut tube and spacer length).

 

Might be worthwhile to mock everything up on the car and cut your way down to where you want to be.  You could even cut the top off of the tube, leave it off. and use a spacer under the Koni to get shock travel right, then cut the section out to make the strut tube fit the Koni body.

 

Lots of paths to get there but all fraught with peril.  Full disclosure - I've never sectioned a strut.

Edited May 11, 2015 by NewZed

[LamboZ]

Car har 235-40-17's.

Everything fits, car had coilovers and these wheels and everything else besides these koni race struts.

With tokico struts before but with the full spacer so no sectioned strut everything fit. Coil was kinda spun very low and I just didn't care for how it handled.

 

If I could have gotten another set of tokicos I would have and just sectioned the housings the way johnc and a few others said to do it.

But i don't see much info on these koni's and even less talk about sectioning struts on non flared cars.

 

Thanks

[LamboZ]

Figured I'd atleast update this.

Decided to take out 1.5in out of the housing. I had a hard time doing measurements on the car for a few reasons, but that's what I came up with. This is taking the front strut hats being using on the rear. Overall diameter of my tires seems to be 24.25" tall. I like my cars alittle lower then most.

 

One thing that scares me is these koni struts. Bought them new but they are very easy to push down and then don't come up on their own. I dunno if they are good or not.

[RebekahsZ]

That's how the konis are-there is no gas charge in them. They are great-run 'em. Much easier to deal with than the gas-filled Tokicos.

[LamboZ]

Whew thanks for putting my mind at ease.

Welding up the spring perches now.

Guess I'll see if I took too much off or not soon.