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By Tom Burick (64.12.102.28) on Thursday, March 08, 2001 - 08:09 pm:

Hey Guys, does anyone know anything about the Koni's for sale on classicgarage.com? Has anyone ordered these? I seen Koni yellows and Koni reds being discussed here. What is the difference? Which ones are being sold on classicgarage.com? Finally, the ones on their site are wet shocks. What's better, wet or dry?
I have also read that I may have to find strut casings from a '73-'74 or early '75's if I want to change shocks. Do I have to do this with these Koni's? If so how can I tell if the casings are "openable" on my car?
Thanks,
Tom

By mariusz (203.134.17.8) on Thursday, March 08, 2001 - 09:46 pm:

I asked the same Q's a few days ago, however no one answered my Q's, they were more interested in discussing whether or not my 75 civic was the heavies of all the model 73-79.

So I just ordered a set of the koni wet kits from classicgarage a couple of days ago. Should be were in 3-6 weeks.

Those Konis are reds. With the wets you can easily shorten them and they can be rebuilt, so they will last you a lifetime.

From what I read there should be a large hex nut at the base, where the rod enters the strut.

73-74 struts are preferable as they will pretty much fall straight in, however any of the casting can be used with a degree of modification.

I have no idea what those mods are.

By Charles (137.219.117.127) on Thursday, March 08, 2001 - 09:49 pm:

Yellows are gas filled and adjustable on car, reds are oil filled and adjustable when out of the car.

For wet kits this is just the guts of the shock and you require the CVCC struts, the inserts (or dry as you've called them require the 75ish 1200 struts with a big nut on the top. Just undo the nut pull out the guts and replace with the koni job.

I like the wet kits but the cvcc was never available in Aus so I modify sealed strut units to take them. The main reason I like the wet kits is thay can be easily modified or rebuilt if and when they wear out.

Charles

By Brian Wilborn (24.4.254.107) on Friday, March 09, 2001 - 12:08 am:

So, question:

I am totally rebuilding the front-end of my '79 CVCC. Can I get a set of the Koni Reds/Yellows and insert them into the strut body without modification? I figure I'll have the whole front end torn apart, so I'll do it right the first time and the $$ is not an issue.

What is the performance differences between gas filled and oil filled shocks? Or is it just a durability/longevity thing?

By ROotUS (203.34.130.176) on Friday, March 09, 2001 - 08:46 am:

so in australia, what are all our options on shocks? which good, which bad?

ta

By david (208.130.245.99) on Friday, March 09, 2001 - 12:30 pm:

i have a '73. classic garage has front 73-74 koni shocks. are these the yellow or red?
i'm still not quite getting this whole strut/shock/rebuildable/wet kit/cetain year thing. the wet kit is just the inerds of the shocks (or are they struts?). are all koni reds just the inerds or are they a whole shock too? koni yellows are not rebuildable, but coveinent and a good shock.

what do i do about the rears? would putting a different brand on the back be a dumb idea?

i'm planning to redo my entire suspention before any engine mods and what to do it right.

By david (208.130.246.95) on Friday, March 09, 2001 - 10:23 pm:

nevermind, charles already explained it in the other thread.

By david (208.130.245.169) on Thursday, March 22, 2001 - 02:51 pm:

i'm going to pick up the yellow koni fronts. my problem is what to use for the rear. matching koni rears are $138ap thru classicgarage. i found some kyb gas-a-just struts for the rears for $40ap at a local import parts store. would it be a good idea to have the kyb's on the rear and the konis on the front? i am going to be lowering about an inch with dobi springs.
also what are coil overs?

By Charles (137.219.16.107) on Thursday, March 22, 2001 - 04:18 pm:

Are you sure they are yellows? I have never even seen a part number for yellows to suit civic fronts. The only yellows I have seen on civics have been custom jobs.

If they are inserts and you are using insert struts then you can actually fit a set of the koni front inserts in the rear struts with a few minor mods.

By david (208.130.245.155) on Thursday, March 22, 2001 - 04:56 pm:

what about tension diffs? what kind of of mods?
your probably right, but i'll email classic garage anyway.

By Charles (137.219.16.107) on Thursday, March 22, 2001 - 06:00 pm:

They are valved the same, you can adjust the damping on either end of the car to be stronger or softer. The front inserts are shorter in total length so you need to put a spacer in the bottom of your rear struts to stop them wobbling around and you have to play around with the top a little as the front mounts are slightly different to the rears. The fronts are slightly shorter than the rears and you can take out the same amount out of the front shaft (any competant machine shop can do this). This way you will be able to lower up to 2.5 inches and the springs will still be held captive on full droop. Your extended travel will decrease by about 1 inch only. Your compressed length will be the same

Charles

By david (208.130.246.67) on Thursday, March 22, 2001 - 07:42 pm:

youre talking like a poly eurethane spacer, right?
so, i need to cut the shaft and weld the top braket back on (on the rears) and if i want to lower alot i can cut the front ones to suit. about how much should i cut off? like i said the springs i'm getting are an inch lower. thats all i want.
what about puting the kyb's on the back? most people i talk to say its a bad idea. koni is a superior strut, correct?

By John S. (209.176.166.227) on Friday, March 23, 2001 - 12:38 am:

The reason there are now fronts and no rears is because the rear is where you need the superior damping the most. Many people felt the Konis up front were too stiff thus they tended to use Konis in the rear, and lessor struts up front, ergo almost no rear Konis available, and the price gouging for those still around. I would follow Charles' educated advice, as he has been through it many times.

By tedshred (63.224.195.169) on Friday, March 23, 2001 - 09:51 am:

Let me see if I get this right.

If I want to stick the Koni Red front inserts into my rear struts, I need to build up the bottom of my rear strut so the insert will bottom out and not wobble and stress out the threads.

Now here is where I get lost. The threaded top of the shock is different in that the front are notched on one side, and the rear are notched on two sides.

Is this right so far?

This is the first time I have heard that the rears need the better dampning, so I too would like to stick the cheaper Koni fronts from Classic Garage into the rear.

By david (208.130.245.244) on Friday, March 23, 2001 - 11:04 pm:

charles, you were right. they are the inserts. i asked them what was up with the major price diff between the fronts and the rears and i guess koni just wanted to get rid of all their fronts, so classicgarage bought 300 of them for a really really good price. they just didn't get that many rears.