I thought I would share my experience installing the Koni Yellows today and thought I would pass some tips along to anyone else doing it themselves. By the way, it took me 4 hours and I installed the passenger side front twice (this was the first one I did and I screwed up the first time)

First, the driver rear is the worst one to do. Do it last. You will know what you are doing by the time you get to it. This means you will only do it once. The reason for it being the so bad is because the gas fill line runs right across the top of the shock. This also makes it very hard to adjust. This is not taking into account that you have to remove the lining and the spare tire just to get to them.

First tip:
Do both the fronts and the backs at the same time. When you do a side at a time, which I did, the front sway bar gets in the way of the brake line bracket.

Second tip:
When the instructions say to reuse the spring perch, it DOES NOT mean to reuse the whole thing. The spring perch comes off of the (what I call a "dust cover") that it is mounted to. Yes, I did this and didn't realize that it was wrong until everything was back together. This might sound trival, but I did it.

Third tip:
The stock rear bottom bolts (the ones that hold the shock on the lower a-arm) do not have the same threads as the Koni's. Either get new bolts or rethread the Koni's.

Forth Tip:
You only have to unbolt the top a-arm from the frame to get the shocks out. You DO NOT have to break the ball joints loose. I also disconnected the swaybar. You might not have to when doing both fronts at the sametime, but I had to.

Fifth Tip:
Have someone help you with the rear shocks when reinstalling them. You have to get them to push down on the a-arms to align the shocks to the lower hole.

Sixth Tip:
Before installing the shock assembly back on the car, put the 2 nuts on top of the shock on about 3-4 threads to hold the shocks in place.

Seventh Tip:
When taking the 2 top nuts off of the rear shocks, don't let them drop off the bolt. There is a nice place for them to hide right next to it. If you have fat fingers like me, you will cuss a storm when this happens. I ended up taking the strut brace off to help get my hands in there.

Eighth Tip:
Adjust the rear shocks before putting them on. Read the problem section.

Problems that I have with the Koni's:
1. The bolts on the rear were not correctly threaded.
2. It is a PITA to adjust the rear shocks once mounted. The passenger side isn't that bad...but that driver side!!!!
3. The adjuster is cheap....I am glad I have 4, cause I know that I will break one, two, or three.
4. The instructions have pretty pictures and that is about it. I had to study them for a little while (and screw up once) to figure out what they mean.

Thoughts after the first test drive:
I set all of them to the hardest setting. It seemed a little stiffer then stock, but not much. I only drove about 4 miles down the road to get a drink. On the way back, I set the front to full soft. It seemed smoother then stock. I have not set the back to soft yet, but will in the next day or two.

If you see something that I may have done wrong, please tell me. Make someone elses life easier. I installed AGX's on my Miata and they were about the same amount of work as the S2000. I did like the adjusters better on the AGX's though.

Next step....Comptech adjustable swaybar....coming soon!!!

 

[QUOTE]Third tip:

 

I ruined the bolts like you did. I have not figured out what the bolt was suppose to be. I will end up doing the same thing you did. I used an impact wrench to get the stock ones on. I got a good bite, but if I take them off, they are no good.

How do you like the shocks so far?

 

So were you sure they were the wrong thread? I just figured that you had to be real careful getting the thread engagement started considering the force from the spring and the alignment. Like I said, the second one seemed to go in OK on mine with just hand tightening. However, I will give it another look to make sure.

I've done about 10 runs with the shocks so far, but with a tire setup that I'm unfamiliar with. My very general conclusion so far is that the car does seem a bit more controllable at the limit than with the stock shocks. However, with the San Diego Tour coming up in a few weeks, I'll be sure to blame the shocks if things don't go well.

-Andy

 

Now Andy... I know you're not thinking of running those 215 Hooisers in San Diego. You'll be the only one using 5th gear.

-jason

 

I tried on the second one to get it to thread right...I thought it was going to, but it didn't.

 

[QUOTE] Now Andy... I know you're not thinking of running those 215 Hooisers in San Diego. You'll be the only one using 5th gear.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by s2k2fast4me
[B]

 

The rear's are a bitch to get the suspension low enough to thread the lower bolt. I unbolted the rear swaybar, then loosened the lower control arm bolts to get the lower bolt in the rear shocks. I was able to get both rear bolts in without excessive torque, so I had no indication that the bolt threads were different.

My impression of the Koni's: Bump/compression is significantly softer than stock and is non-adjustable. I plowed the nose of the car into the ground several times without expecting it. I think the shocks will work better at auto-X than the OEM's because it is easier to power out of corners, and the handling is more predictable.

 

RandyP,

Would you elaborate on the above quote?

I have the Koni's on order and am concerned that handling will somehow be degraded.

Thanks in advance for your response.