Where are you buying short Konis?

[Roysneon]

I currently have stock length Bilstein Sports with my German Engineering coilovers and I'm really thinking of getting shorter Konis and sectioning my housings. Right now I'm maxed out for how low I can go in the front without flipping my collars or getting camber plates (I probably will get camber plates for the lower stack height).

I'm going to call Ground Control later today to see if they will sell the Konis they use, but I'm sure some of you guys are building your own systems and getting the shorter Konis elsewhere. I'm thinking a 2" housing chop would let me go as low as I want with a bit of adjustment left. I want something valved properly at the right length.

[Roysneon]

So I did some more internet searching and found a p/n 8641-1198 SpGC, that being the p/n for what is in the E30 Ground Control kit. I called GC and was told over the phone that those are not able to be purchased outside the full kit...

The search continues.

[frankenbeemer]

Does this mean if you want replacement Koni's for your GC kit you have to buy another full kit?

[nando]

ix inserts are like 3-4" shorter and are readily available. you could use them and just make a 1-2" spacer.

[Roysneon]

Does this mean if you want replacement Koni's for your GC kit you have to buy another full kit?

Or have the car down while you have them rebuilt? I'm wondering the same thing. Hopefully Mark will chime in on this one.

ix inserts are like 3-4" shorter and are readily available. you could use them and just make a 1-2" spacer.

That's the next place I was going to go. I'm wondering if it would be terrible to chop the housings 3" and add spacer if needed. Worst case I could raise the coils up.

[nando]

no that's fine to do. Koni even recommends using a spacer if the insert is shorter than the housing.

[Roysneon]

Nice. So long as I stick with 17" wheels I should be able to use roll center adjusters to keep the front end from doing too many bad things to the geometry when under compression.

[frankie591]

I believe gc will sell you replacement parts for a kit you have purchased from them in the past, but they don't sell half kits or pieces to new customers. The reasoning is if somebody buys shocks from them and pairs them with some jacked-up ebay coilovers with random spring rates, they don't want their name to be associated with the performance results of that setup.

[frankenbeemer]

Or have the car down while you have them rebuilt?

That takes ground control off my list.

[nando]

Nice. So long as I stick with 17" wheels I should be able to use roll center adjusters to keep the front end from doing too many bad things to the geometry when under compression.

honestly unless you are laying frame all the time I don't think roll center adjusters will be necessary.

[frankenbeemer]

I believe gc will sell you replacement parts for a kit you have purchased from them in the past, but they don't sell half kits or pieces to new customers. The reasoning is if somebody buys shocks from them and pairs them with some jacked-up ebay coilovers with random spring rates, they don't want their name to be associated with the performance results of that setup.

That seems reasonable. I would verify with GC before purchasing.

[Roysneon]

honestly unless you are laying frame all the time I don't think roll center adjusters will be necessary.

Well I trust your advice over most others, so what is it that people get on about lowering cars ruining the handling? I do want my car to be very low, and I do have stretched tires on one set of wheels, but I also have other wheels I can put different tires on...

Hoping Mark from GC chimes in. I'm not trying to trash Ground Control at all, just want to know where I can buy properly valved but shorter struts. I'm sure the valving of the iX Konis are no worse than that of my off the shelf, full length Blistein Sports.

[ak-]

Or have the car down while you have them rebuilt? I'm wondering the same thing. Hopefully Mark will chime in on this one.



That's the next place I was going to go. I'm wondering if it would be terrible to chop the housings 3" and add spacer if needed. Worst case I could raise the coils up.

IX inserts are 3" shorter. If you do indeed cut exactly 3" inches, no spacer is needed.
The cons of doing this is that you will be foreverlow. Yes, the ride is great, but not ideal if you drive the car daily for obvious reasons.
Even raised maxed out height, you will have no fender gap. This is with less stack height from camber plates, and the use of a 1" taller spring. Getting an even taller spring is still not a solution because you have now topped out the shock.


example:
IX inserts
3" chopped
7" coil
Short stacked camber plates
Collar adjusted is height pictured in the following photo.



What I'm saying is to cut 2" to 2.5" at most.

[nando]

yeah, I'd do 2" with a 1" spacer.

my new inserts are 2 1/8" shorter than the ix ones. :D

[Roysneon]

Yeah, 2 sounds good. I'm going to contact Blunt about some ix Konis.