Ground control & strut housing modifications

[dirtyEthirtyIX]

Can anyone give me an idea of how much needs to sectioned out of the strut housing. I'm running koni sports and just spent a fortune on a new strut housings since mine were rusted through essentially. I only have one shot at this and want to give my fabricator as much info as possible. Also any measurements that pertain to the new location of the sway bar mounts would be greatly appreciated

[Kershaw]

I hope you didnt throw away your old struts. You can cut the rusted tubes off, buy rwd struts and cut the tubes off, then weld on the rwd tubes onto your ix struts. It probably would have been half the price of a good set of struts.

How much you section out depends on what shock you're running. Put the shock in the tube, measure it, and go from there. If you're running the ix koni sport then you don't need to shorten it at all.

[dirtyEthirtyIX]

No I saved them. So I can just have the perches and sway bar welded on and at the stock height and I'm good to go? Awesome! At least I have a set to fall back on now in case something happens.

[AWDBOB]

IMO I would not section your new housings. Those things are so expensive and it'll kill the value. I want to say I shortened my housings 2.1" but I'm not certain on that. I was using the race insert. Grab some rwd housings and hack the sleeves off and have your fabricator weld those onto your knuckles at the desired height. And yes I'm pretty sure you can just use the "M3 style swaybar mounts" that garagsitic sells so it's less cutting. They're slightly different but I'm pretty sure they'll work one in the same.

If you're using regular iX Konis you don't have to section anything and can just hack the perch off and weld the new GC speech/ring on.

Edit:

The Konis I used are 2.1" shorter than standard iX struts, so that is the length you'd need to shorten your housings.

P/N: 8610-1436race

Also, when ordering these struts you need to order special Koni gland nuts with them too, as they don't come with them since they're not actually iX struts.

P/N for gland nuts:

73.25.01.003.1 (M48 x 1.50)

[nando]

yeah, keep the new housings - use the rusty ones to build your new struts.

My original housings were mint, and I regret cutting them up. My second set used the rusty housings from my parts car, definitely the way to go.

[dirtyEthirtyIX]

Couldn't I buy some chromoly tube and have one end threaded to 48x1.50?

[ForcedFirebird]

Couldn't I buy some chromoly tube and have one end threaded to 48x1.50?

Doesn't even need to be chomoly. I have repaired many strut tubes and just use 2"x1.20" wall tubing. The tap I bought (48mm x 1.50) was about three hundred bucks, not exactly a one time use item, though.

[dirtyEthirtyIX]

I sourced some strut housings to cut up locally!

[dirtyEthirtyIX]

IMO I would not section your new housings. Those things are so expensive and it'll kill the value. I want to say I shortened my housings 2.1" but I'm not certain on that. I was using the race insert. Grab some rwd housings and hack the sleeves off and have your fabricator weld those onto your knuckles at the desired height. And yes I'm pretty sure you can just use the "M3 style swaybar mounts" that garagsitic sells so it's less cutting. They're slightly different but I'm pretty sure they'll work one in the same.

If you're using regular iX Konis you don't have to section anything and can just hack the perch off and weld the new GC speech/ring on.

Edit:

The Konis I used are 2.1" shorter than standard iX struts, so that is the length you'd need to shorten your housings.

P/N: 8610-1436race

Also, when ordering these struts you need to order special Koni gland nuts with them too, as they don't come with them since they're not actually iX struts.

P/N for gland nuts:

73.25.01.003.1 (M48 x 1.50)

What rear struts did you use?

[Chrisbike]

What rear struts did you use?

This is what I got from ground control, Koni SA's. Just in case they cross reference or whatever.

8641-1547SPGC Ground Control Custom Valved Koni Strut Insert, Top Adjust
8041-1289SPGC Ground Control Custom Valved Koni Rear Shock, Top Adjust

[dirtyEthirtyIX]

Doesn't even need to be chomoly. I have repaired many strut tubes and just use 2"x1.20" wall tubing. The tap I bought (48mm x 1.50) was about three hundred bucks, not exactly a one time use item, though.

What do you charge for a service like that? I found a tap for 80$ but figured I'd need 2 just get one strut threaded. I also have some question about my 2.8l build as far as the crank bolt and washer are concerned, I already have a crank spacer you made. But a recent post on r3v fb mention the washer needing to be shaved down to 1.25mm

[dirtyEthirtyIX]

This is what I got from ground control, Koni SA's. Just in case they cross reference or whatever.

8641-1547SPGC Ground Control Custom Valved Koni Strut Insert, Top Adjust
8041-1289SPGC Ground Control Custom Valved Koni Rear Shock, Top Adjust

Since I'm not going super low I should be fine with the sports right?

[Chrisbike]

Since I'm not going super low I should be fine with the sports right?

If your talking rear yeah most likely. I'm not certain but I think the rears are the same between sport and race besides valving

[dirtyEthirtyIX]

Sports on all for corners.

[nando]

there's no travel up front unless you shorten the housings. I mean, you basically can't really lower the car at all and have acceptable ride quality. I don't think the race inserts even cost all that much more.