Koni BoltStrut? Anyone investigated?

D

deacoes

Banned User
Koni BoltStrut? Anyone investigated?

1. Drill hole on bottom of strut body, this is for a bolt that retains the replacement strut

2. Hack off the top of strut body, replacement strut slides in and you cap it of with a rubber sleeve.

If there are Koni boltstrut replacements that fit later OEM or KYB replacements, this is tempting.

http://www.koni-na.com/pdf/boltstrut.pdf

http://www.eshocks.com/Kon_CutB.asp

For the more visiually inclined (myslef included) - pics vs. diagrams:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1766586
 
The video on youtube was uploaded by Koni in October of 2014. I would guess that this is a new product rather than an old product. Lets just hope that they make an insert of the right size for an X 1/9. I have probably 2-3 full sets of original X 1/9 struts I have collected over the years. I couldn't see throwing them away. Now I might actually have a good use for them.
 
I found a few sites selling them. Most ridiculously over priced. Others reasonable when compared to the regular single adjustable 8610's.

The thing that really attracts me to this approach is that you can with a bit more effort cut off the stock perch and weld in a ring to retain coil over sleeves while you have the original oil and cartridges out.

We better start to hoard old spent struts before the run on them starts :)

A reference $167 fro an e36 : http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-211152-koni-sport-adjustable-shock-front-e36-m3-cut-a-strut.aspx

Given what a new KYB goes for $167 isn't bad considering what you're getting instead.

Nothing listed for X1/9 on the Koni site that I could find, so we may well be left reverse engineering from part numbers and matching up to OEMs.

This is the part # for an e36. Seems a trip to the local "you pick it" yard with hack saw in hand is in order. Just need to find a popular make/model that gets lots of 'tuner' attention and find an OEM strut tube that matches the ID, depth, roughly the extension and stroke of the X1/9 OEM strut. Must of the top dimensions are pretty standard. Could forgo all of this if Koni listed real drawings online for each they sell.

Part #: 8641 1342SPORT

8641- twin tube low pressure gas from a Koni spec sheet.
 
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Well... here is my response from KONI...

grammar and punctuation errors and all... Hopefully he was "texting while driving" when he sent this or KONI is in a world of hurt when it comes to reasonably literate employees. HA!

Tony,
Thank you for your interest in KONI shocks. Unfortunately no longer offer any offer any applications for the X1/9's. As they have been discontinued for many years.

Mason O’Hara
KONI North America
1961A International Way
Hebron, Ky. 41048
859 488-0324
www.koni-na.com
www.koniracing.com
www.konirv.com

I fear that in order for anyone here to capitalize on this process that it will indeed need to be to reverse engineered as you stated... and then looked into what KONI currently has available to see what "Cut-A-Strut" "cartridge would work.

Additionally... WAY BACK in the OLD DAYS the X1/9 had "rebuildable" struts. You simply removed the top NUT on top where the strut rod went though and replaced the oil and innards. They were NOT gas charged.

Several folks out there manufactured gas-charged "cartridges" that simply dropped in and the nut was slid over the new strut rod and the entire cartridge was held in place. I rebuilt mine using a set of these and they seemed to be much stiffer that the current KYB's available to today.

I am pretty sure they are no longer available and unfortunately I tossed MY rebuildable struts over a decade ago before I knew of their value. I thought all of them were rebuildable because when I went to buy new ones... my local suppliers only offered up the cartridge insert at the time.

ANYWAY... this might HELP anyone wanting to go through the trouble of re-engineering some struts. Maybe NOS can be found or even some dimensions, I'm fairly sure none are produced anymore. Here is a list of OLD cartridges I posted many years ago:

[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Tahoma, Arial][FONT=Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Tahoma, Arial]Strut Cartridge Numbers by make:


1. Gabriel G 44733 $29 - 39 DOLLARS
2. KYB 363017 $61 - 170 Dollars
3. Monroe MR844 ?
4. Pedders Comfort 8772 $129 Dollars (OZ?)


LASTLY...


New KYB's all around will be $300 bucks no matter how you massage it. One guy here offers them for 45 bucks and then wants 20 bucks apiece to ship. That might be only $260 for a set then if taxes are not a factor.


http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...RS0&_nkw=fiat+x1/9+struts&ghostText=&_sacat=0


That's all I got... HTH...





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The X strut tube is thin.

As in small diameter.
A lot has been writen about substitute inserts. If my memory serves the Rabbit strut insert was close?

BTW Neat product!
 
I lied... More bad news...

Neither Ebay or Google can find any Gabriel Cartridges (G44733) and Gabe's 2014-2015 catalog lists them, but OBS... which is "obsolete".
 
MWB and C Obert "offers applications for the X1/9" :)

That is some interesting grammar. :)

While these are obviously the opposite direction from a DIY project, Matt and crew carry Koni specific strut tubes and complete coil overs with double or single adjustable inserts.

Chris O has the Mark Plaia designed tubes on offer occasionally. IIRC, Mark used Tokico inserts and the tubes also accept Rabbit inserts.

So there are some X specific options, albeit not as cheap as reusing an existing strut.

The Cut-A-Strut is an interesting option. Since the video is so new, it could be that availability is lagging the marketing. Not that a company would ever let that happen!!! :devil:
 
Mason strikes again... strikes out - it seems.

Thank you for contacting us here at KONI NA. Unfortunately they is no available list showing all sizes and dimension of the available cut-a-strut inserts as each model number is specific to its application.
 
Meaning a short koni bolt a strut so you could lower over all and still have the stock OEM travel? This would also eliminate needing to tied down the spring for those so inclined.

I've been digging around and have see some models that are appreciatively shorten then orders.

Koni marketing is horrible. They should have specs online for their entire bolt-a-strut line so you can match up which model you need. Imagine all the cars models and their owners from the 70's and 80's that are chomping at the bit to replace worn out struts with quality performance units using a low effort, low tech approach. McPherson struts were awfully popular, dagnabbit!
 
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