KONI Sports for Classic Z's

[Zed Head]

On 2/7/2019 at 8:46 PM, Joseph@TheZStore said:

On the bottom right is their "washer" to go on top of the Gland Nut. It is designed with channels and waves, the purpose being an added layer of protection for the seal underneath, as it will direct away any air pressure when bottoming, or road junk that bounces up there, so it doesn't end up crammed on top of the seal.

 

[KONI Lee]

Very nice work, lapriser! 

As mentioned above, the only thing that I saw was that the upper image didn't have the white plastic "bump plate" but I see it on the angleD view.  As Joseph mentioned, it is a surface for the bump rubber to impact into and allow any road grit or puffs of air from the fast moving bump stop to be blown out to the side and not into and possibly passed the piston rod seal.  It is simply an extra layer of protection for the rod seal to have a nice long life in the sometimes harsh and dirty environment of a roadgoing fender well. 

Also if your car is lowered and has oversized wheels and tires such that the tire may hit a fender lip occasionally during deep suspension compression, you can stack a few extra bump plates on each other (called "packers" by the racing community) as a fine tuning to make the bump rubber impact happen a little sooner and keep the fender off your tires.  Just for fine tuning though, if you need a lot of added strut length to keep the fender off the tire, you really should consider a higher spring rate, a higher ride height, or less wheel or tire width to keep the fender away. 

[dutchzcarguy]

13 hours ago, lapriser said:

Can anyone confirm this is the stack up for the fronts?

If these are the fronts.. why is there not a bearing in the top that can let the top rotate?  (these bearings are bearings that are not like the wheelbearings but rotate top and lower part ..  (i don't know how to say this on an other way..) 

Nice picture drawn but the topbearing shoud be drawn in an other way.. there should be a top and lower half with ballbearings in between. Again, nice drawn.. you'll figure it out i'm sure!  😉 

Edited April 10, 2021 by dutchzcarguy

[dutchzcarguy]

Example of a top bearing that's on top of the strut (lower and top half can turn independently.

 

This is the other side..

[Zed Head]

[adivin]

On 4/7/2021 at 1:13 PM, lapriser said:

Hey guys,

I'm wondering if anyone has had any issues with the top nut stripping out or crossthreading?

I installed the strut with no issue which involved hand threading the supplied nylock nut until it hit the plastic locking section, then tightening by hand with a socket wrench. I realized I forgot to put the bump stop into the assembly and began unthreading the top not and it eventually froze up and would not move. After some creative clamping and a lot of force I was able to remove the top hat assembly but the threads and adjustment knob on the strut are destroyed. The adjustment knob does not move and the strut seems to have lost its dampening resistance.

I am a little baffled about how this could have happened so aggressively. I don't use nylock nuts usually and this one seemed very aggressive. Is this a common issue with nylocks?

I did not have this issue.

[adivin]

On 4/6/2021 at 1:04 PM, Neb said:

Just wanted to chime in after installing these on my '75 280Z.  I definitely researched this thread, and very much appreciate all of the great feedback and information here.

Nothing but a good experience for me.  I replaced the stock springs paired with KYBs with the full eibach lowering kit (23-4042 on MSA) and koni shocks (2x 23-1033, and 2x 23-1034 on MSA).  I also did the MSA sway bars at the same time. 

Everything bolted up fine.  I had the usual issues with the rears when trying to get enough clearance without pulling the spindle bolts. I ended up dropping the rear subframe; pita, but there was no way those spindles were coming out and I wasn't ready to tackle that monster just yet.  I did not have any issues fitting the gland nuts, or with seating the shocks into the strut tubes.  The fronts were done in about 1/4 the time of the rears, mostly due to having to drop the subframe.

Once installed, the drop in ride height was definitely noticeable.  I didn't measure, but I'll include a picture or two of the before/after.  I set the shocks to 1/2 rotation from full soft for starters, and haven't felt the need to adjust them further yet.

I've been out on 2 short twisty drives so far.  The car feels firm, but in a sporty confident way.  Bumps are felt but not harsh.  Far less dive and roll.  I'm sure the sways are helping there as well.  The shocks and springs seem very well paired.  A definitely improvement over the floaty feeling of the stock springs/sways + KYBs.  Looking forward to pushing it a little harder this summer!

 

What is your tire and wheel combo?  My front fender gap is much greater than what your picture shows with the same springs and konis.  I have 205 55 15 on 15s.  I have not driven the car so maybe it will settle once it hits the road?

[SoCalJim]

adivin, I think your tires have a smaller diameter than stock, which probably accounts for the larger fender gap you see as compared to the blue Z in the pictures.  I have 205/55s also, but they’re on 16” wheels.  I think the overall diameter of my current tires is close to the original tires that came on my Z.

[Neb]

18 hours ago, adivin said:

What is your tire and wheel combo?  My front fender gap is much greater than what your picture shows with the same springs and konis.  I have 205 55 15 on 15s.  I have not driven the car so maybe it will settle once it hits the road?

My fronts are 205/55R16.  So yours would be an inch less in overall diameter.  Mine did settle some after a couple drives.  

[Zed Head]

On 4/9/2021 at 1:05 PM, lapriser said:

Hey guys,

I was thinking about drawing up some Datsun Specific instructions for these. Is that something anyone would be interested in? I started modeling some reference 3D files for my own sake. Can anyone confirm this is the stack up for the fronts?

 

This is much clearer than the Nissan drawing.  I posted that snip from the FSM mainly to show the ball bearings in the races.  And the "bound bumper rubber" that I think nobody has ever actually seen.

[Namerow]

23 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

This is much clearer than the Nissan drawing.  I posted that snip from the FSM mainly to show the ball bearings in the races.  And the "bound bumper rubber" that I think nobody has ever actually seen.

Actually, I have seen those Nissan OE snubbers. I bought them from MSA back in the mid-1980's.  They were installed on struts that got stored and I didn't get around to using them until 30 years later.  When I checked them out, they looked perfect but crumbled to the touch.  So much for open-cell, natural rubber suspension bushings.  The sad part is that today's no-cell neoprene bushings are not the answer for a lot of owners (unless you are dedicated to track days, autocrosses, or live in a part of the world were roads aren't exposed to frost-heave).

[lapriser]

 

I was able to redo install of the front strut with the one I have remaining. I also completed the rear strut on the driver side so half the car is now done. Install went perfectly and no issues at all with the supplied top nut. I am installing a few other adjustable suspension components so I won't have it back on the ground for another week or so but I am very excited.

Here is an updated Cross Section with the edited bearing for clarity. I've also created a file for a longer strut adjustment knob that I am looking for a place where it can be readily downloaded and 3D printed if you wish. I will post when it is live.