Found some Konis in my parts pile

Apparantly I've had these babies a couple of years now without me even knowing lol. They are front Konis and were between a bunch of useless parts I got with the old lude when I bought that a few years back. Oddly enough the last time these were installed was when they were on a blue accord that I was later to own lol. Now I'm hitting myself for not noticing if the rear shocks on that accord was konis before I sold it hehe.

Well here they are, they are quite rusty as you can tell.. But pistons look good, no leaking and they feel like they should.

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/7497/imgp2622.jpg

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/3493/imgp2623.jpg

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/2492/imgp2624.jpg

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/7894/imgp2626p.jpg


I think I'm going to sandblast them and give them some new paint. Then either keep them or sell them?

.

Well with how rusty the shafts are, I don't think you're ever going to get a good seal. As soon as those run down past the seals, they're going to shred. I don't know how you'd clean all that off without any scratching or gouging. Or are they fully compressed right now, and the shafts look good when you pull them out?

Those look pretty bad bro...

what do you take me for lol. yea the pistons are of course fully compressed in the pics and look absolutely fine. The top part always rusts. As i said in the first post, the pistons look good and no leaking ;)

Yea they do look pretty bad. Hopefully I will make them shine again.

I'll buy them if you decide not to keep them.

oic my koni's compress completely in the body, so I assumed they were all like that. :D

i love you. can i have them?

rock em. Should be fine

Sweet!

Too bad you got rid of the rears.

They should be good with a sandblasting session.

sell em.

TO ME LOL...once they nice and pretty

I may end up selling them if they turn out decent.
A18A, no you cannot. Only in exhange of money. :D

I disassembled the struts today. Everything inside looks fine. I'll probably blast them next week and if there are no signs of rust having penetrated the shock housings after a pressure test I might get them powdercoated if the price is reasonable and they have a color that's not too far off.
When and if I put them back together again I'll put in some fresh fork oil and replace the o-ring that you see in the pics.

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/6896/imgp2649ale.jpg

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/5297/imgp2648.jpg

Sell them to me Marthin ;)

:)

huh i didnt know you could dissassemble them like that. I will have to do that to mine someday :-)

Yea and if you are able to obtain the rebuild parts from Koni you could save lots of cash if you need a rebuild or even a revalve. I dont know if they are willing to sell rebuild parts without doing the service though.

Blasted them today. I didnt detect any leaks from rust penetration so hopefully it stays that way.
I'm going to repair the brake line holder tabs on the right shock before thinking about getting them powdercoated. One is broken off completely and the other has been bent around alot and has a snapped bolt in it.

Looks much better already:

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/7163/imgp2653.jpg

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/8721/imgp2650.jpg

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/471/imgp2652b.jpg

There's only 1 groove for the spring perch?

Yea these are the model that has the welded on spring perch. I've seen several members on here with that model too. I think these are an older model and the ones with loose springs perches are the newer models.
But as far as I recall only the rear konis have an adjustable/moveable spring perch?? I dont remember the fronts on my sedan having more than one groove.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thegreatdane

Yea these are the model that has the welded on spring perch. I've seen several members on here with that model too. I think these are an older model and the ones with loose springs perches are the newer models.
But as far as I recall only the rear konis have an adjustable/moveable spring perch?? I dont remember the fronts on my sedan having more than one groove.

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yeah i have the welded ones also and on my coupe the i have ones with the spring perch...they must of had a just basic model

WOW THOSE BEAUTIFUL AFTER U Blast them. also word of advice if u hVNT YET BLAST THE PISTON ROD WITH GLASS ITS MUCH SMOOTHER. AND WONT DAMGAE IT BUT THE SAND WILL

how in the holy hell did you get that top cap off? I thought Koni had welded them on.

I think what they were saying is that the old version of the konis werent welded on. I could be wrong though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 2drSE-i

I think what they were saying is that the old version of the konis werent welded on. I could be wrong though.

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no no, that welded/not-welded talk was about the spring perch so far. not the cap.

Oooh ok. Told ya i might be wrong. Btw, the parts for sale link in your sig doesnt work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by b20a86lude

WOW THOSE BEAUTIFUL AFTER U Blast them. also word of advice if u hVNT YET BLAST THE PISTON ROD WITH GLASS ITS MUCH SMOOTHER. AND WONT DAMGAE IT BUT THE SAND WILL

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Hey thanks, the piston rod is fine though so only the threaded part of the rod is getting blasted.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by markmdz89hatch

how in the holy hell did you get that top cap off? I thought Koni had welded them on.

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The top cap is a threaded piece that screws into the strut housing. But it's in there real tight.
I used an angle grinder tool, you know the funny wrench sort of thing you use to change the grinding disc.




Since last time I've repaired the strut housings with new brake line brackets and the rusted area you see in the first picture has also been repaired.
All they need now is paint.

pics Marthin, pics

I'm loving this project.

Have you looked into getting new shim stacks from Koni?

alright alright lol. Shim stacks, what are they? I plan on dropping the guts back in without touching anything except replacing the o-ring and oil.

this thread makes me want to take out my spare konis...but they want too much to rebuild...like 115usd each

If you were down this way I could powdercoat em for ya lol.

well thanks anyway lol.

Here's the repaired housings:

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/5181/imgp2976.jpg

This is a picture of the same area thats in the first picture in this thread:

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/6270/imgp2977.jpg

I repeat, very cool project here. What's all that bluing on under the spring perch?

thanks! I had to stress relieve the strut after welding the rust attacked area so I had the strut glowing red hot thats why it's turned blue.

great write up on internal workings of a shock.

This link specifically shows the function of the shim stack, which is located to the top and bottom of the piston.

http://www.off-roadweb.com/tech/0906.../photo_02.html

Now I'm off to go figure out where I can get shims, and might just try my hand at rebuilding my Koni's on my own. ....or for that matter, any of my spare shocks.

mAN Y DIDNT U TAKE A PIC OF THAT GLOWING RED HOTT THAT WOULD OF BEEN AWSOME PIC

ok so today i went to go take out my konis....so i could rebuild them? what oil do i use?

Use fork oil.
If you can get the parts from Koni that you wish to replace, then you'll be able to rebuild them.

i love/hate you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MessyHonda

this thread makes me want to take out my spare konis...but they want too much to rebuild...like 115usd each

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:violin:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thegreatdane

Use fork oil.
If you can get the parts from Koni that you wish to replace, then you'll be able to rebuild them.

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Yeah, once I used engine oil for shocks and it went spongy after 500miles:nuts:
The parts supply from KONI seems to be the key doesn't it. You made me want to OH my KONI myself! Let us know if you manage to get parts from them.

About the perch, mine has removable hat for both front and rear. The rear has 25mm high second groove for towing but front has one. As I wanted to raise the front to use OEM Aredam, I asked machine shop to make extra groove for the front KONI and it worked pretty well. The picture is without extra groove on the front.

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...0217_large.jpg

Great project!

So what happened to these?

I recently found some rear konis I might buy, so I would be pretty interested in these if you want to sell them.

rear konis!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frantik

rear konis!!!

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Yup, they're brand new too.:D
Called the guy who had them today, gonna call him again tonight and work out the details. He wants 150€+shipping (~250usd), figured that's an ok price.

Just need to find something for the front to put my lowering springs on and I might finally get around to dropping the car a bit in the summer.

Hey guys. I am new but I have to ask. Are the Koni reds really thet good. I am thinking about revalved bills and H&R springs. But if the Konis are really thet much better I might try to find a set.

They're adjustable, which is pretty cool, but they're really difficult to find and you would more than likely want to rebuild them anyway since they've been out of production so long. Revalved Bilsteins will be a headache, but not as much. And they're just fine, only seen one car use them in person but they were strong as hell. For the price of rebuilding struts IMO you should at least consider coilovers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hammer3rd

But if the Konis are really thet much better I might try to find a set.

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they are virtually impossible to find

they are adjustable... but to adjust them you have remove them from the car and take the shocks of them, etc :( to get them changed to externally adjustable is super expensive, so if you want the pimp suspension, look into full bodied coil overs k2, etc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Naf's Asdf

So what happened to these?

I recently found some rear konis I might buy, so I would be pretty interested in these if you want to sell them.

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Nice find! I haven't had them powdercoated yet unfortunately. Maybe you should sell the rear ones to me instead :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Naf's Asdf

So what happened to these?

I recently found some rear konis I might buy, so I would be pretty interested in these if you want to sell them.

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Might buy, give me the info and I'd buy them now!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thegreatdane

Nice find! I haven't had them powdercoated yet unfortunately. Maybe you should sell the rear ones to me instead :D

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I'll sell them for... one million dollars! *moves pinky finger to mouth* bwahahaha.

But would you be willing to sell the fronts to me when you get them done, and what kind of price would we be talking about if that were the case?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nswst8

Might buy, give me the info and I'd buy them now!

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Hehe, well I went from 'might buy' to 'am buying', should have them maybe next week some time.

good job...i love my konis on my coupe....best shock....and the 3gee and handle good with good lowering springs and swaybars

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MessyHonda

good job...i love my konis on my coupe....best shock....and the 3gee and handle good with good lowering springs and swaybars

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had to quote for truth. these cars handle like fucking go karts with fat sway bars and proper spring/strut combination.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Naf's Asdf

I'll sell them for... one million dollars! *moves pinky finger to mouth* bwahahaha.

But would you be willing to sell the fronts to me when you get them done, and what kind of price would we be talking about if that were the case?

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I cant say for sure if I'll sell or keep them. And the price would depend on how well they turn out and the price of powdercoating.
Thing is I don't know when I will get around to get them coated and until then theres no point in selling them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 2drSE-i

had to quote for truth. these cars handle like fucking go karts with fat sway bars and proper spring/strut combination.

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yea I doubt any shock setup for the 3g beats the konis perfect compromise between comfortable daily driving and more sportier driving abilities.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thegreatdane

I cant say for sure if I'll sell or keep them. And the price would depend on how well they turn out and the price of powdercoating.
Thing is I don't know when I will get around to get them coated and until then theres no point in selling them.

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ok, makes sense. Let me know if you end up wanting to sell them. :)

Will do.

Ok I get it. Koni reds are best. But are the bill really bad. I am new to thr import world but have had good luck with them on other applications. And all the coil overs I have used have been too stiff for daily driving. And thanks for all the input. I only want to builg this thing one time.

Now with powdercoat and new stickers.

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/501/imgp3143.jpg

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/6584/imgp3151.jpg

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/1328/imgp3150.jpg

sex1!1!

mmmmm konis

those would look good in my car!

mmm, sell them to me, now! :D

Oh, they look new!

The powdercoat is probably a lot stronger than the OEM paint they put on it. You might have to sand it a bit so it fits in the strut fork but it's the least of your worries!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 2drSE-i

had to quote for truth. these cars handle like fucking go karts with fat sway bars and proper spring/strut combination.

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amen :rockon: i love being able to jerk the wheel and change lanes hella fast with no body roll or loss of control..

wish i had a car that had konis :P