Thanks to the tire rack and the guy in the big brown truck I know have my front Konis. Hope to see the rears in the next two weeks. :D

I got mine today too!!! (Through Strano Performance). The rears are in the country now... they just need to unload them from the pallet... I'm trying to get them shipped to Atlanta by this weekend so I can put them all on Friday or Saturday.

Are yours Red too? ;)

--KC
(I kid)

Goodluck this weekend KC.

I got mine today too!!! (Through Strano Performance). The rears are in the country now... they just need to unload them from the pallet... I'm trying to get them shipped to Atlanta by this weekend so I can put them all on Friday or Saturday.

Are yours Red too? ;)

--KC
(I kid)


No, black with threaded bodies. I thought that was standard. :D

So we got the fronts at the same time. We will see if Strano or Tirerack has more pull with the rears. What did you pay for your fronts? $163.00 ea from TR.

In total all 4 are $644. I put $300 down for the fronts and the order and the balance was $344 a few days ago. They quoted me on the price so they stuck with it, but they said they went up just a couple weeks ago so could be more expenisve now to those that didn't pre-order.

After Strano sent out the email announcing an ETA for the shocks and their pricing they sent another email saying pricing on all Koni products was going to be changing soon and if you ordered by whatever date it was they would give you the old (better) pricing on the RX-8 shocks.

Or something like that.

yeah, that delivery boat uses a lot of fuel crossing the Atlantic ocean :eek:

I put the fronts on today. Happy to report all the dimensions are cool for stock class solo2.

Come on.... where is that damn boat with my rears. :mad:

In total all 4 are $644. I put $300 down for the fronts and the order and the balance was $344 a few days ago. They quoted me on the price so they stuck with it, but they said they went up just a couple weeks ago so could be more expenisve now to those that didn't pre-order.Shox has them for 616 IIRC. I really want to hear how they ride for daily use. Also, how do you adjust the rears? Must you remove them to adjust rebound damping? What settings are you using?

Shox has them for 616 IIRC. I really want to hear how they ride for daily use. Also, how do you adjust the rears? Must you remove them to adjust rebound damping? What settings are you using?

Have not driven more than a few miles so far. Have not gotten the rears yet. :mad: Hope to see them soon. Yes, the rears do have to be taken out of the car and the spring removed to adjust them. :eek:

you can have them converted by Koni to externally adjustable, you only have to unbolt and drop them down some to make the adjustment then, that's how clyde's are

might as well have them go all the way and do DA too though :p

Rear Koni's just came in.

Rear Koni's just came in.

Damn you.... Wont have mine till Monday. :mad: I order the rears from shox.com after tirerack still could not give me a date.

Rear Koni's just came in.

Well, I know what I'm doing Saturday if mine come in. :)

Santa and his little brown sleigh left me some presents yesterday. woohoo! :)

I guess I better figure out how to swap shocks this weekend...

^^haha good luck with that.....take some pics if you have the means:D

Yeah, mine came in yesterday. :)

mine have been on since Jan '04 http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/images/smilies/icon9.gif

Too bad I didn't know what to do with them last year...and barely know what I'm doing with them this year.

mine have been on since Jan '04 http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/images/smilies/icon9.gif



:D :cool:

My Koni fronts came with their own bump stops. I wanted to make sure they are legal in BStock, so I re-read the solo II rules, section 13.5.D (the wording of which initially seemed to be a bit contradictory).

Can anyone clarify or confirm if the Koni shock & bump stop combination complies with the solo II requirement, i.e., together they do not exceed the required measurements? (I do not want to have to modify the stock bump stop.)

Thanks.

1) the compressed length at the point when the bumpstop touches cannot be greater than the same dimension on the OE shock and bumpstop (this is to prevent you from running a long progressive bumpstop to artificially raise the spring rate)

2) the overall length between the mounting points must be within +/- 1" the same dimension on the OE shock

however, Koni almost always makes their std shocks SCCA Stock solo2 legal, I say almost as CMA but I haven't ever seen one that didn't make the grade, Koni was one of the shock companies the SCCA conferred with prior to rewriting that rule several years back

My Koni fronts came with their own bump stops. I wanted to make sure they are legal in BStock, so I re-read the solo II rules, section 13.5.D (the wording of which initially seemed to be a bit contradictory).

Can anyone clarify or confirm if the Koni shock & bump stop combination complies with the solo II requirement, i.e., together they do not exceed the required measurements? (I do not want to have to modify the stock bump stop.)

Thanks.

That is strange.... I had to use the OE bumpstop... My Konis only came with hardware and the small plastic disc that protects the seal.

Can you post a pic?

1) the compressed length at the point when the bumpstop touches cannot be greater than the same dimension on the OE shock and bumpstop (this is to prevent you from running a long progressive bumpstop to artificially raise the spring rate)

2) the overall length between the mounting points must be within +/- 1" the same dimension on the OE shock

however, Koni almost always makes their std shocks SCCA Stock solo2 legal, I say almost as CMA but I haven't ever seen one that didn't make the grade, Koni was one of the shock companies the SCCA conferred with prior to rewriting that rule several years back

94-97 Miata R was not right... Koni had the right dimension for the standard Miata but not the R package. Only one I know of.

That is strange.... I had to use the OE bumpstop... My Konis only came with hardware and the small plastic disc that protects the seal.

Can you post a pic?Sorry - I just rechecked with the head mechanic, and he said it wasn't a bump stop replacement -- the packaging came with some extra washers and rubber grommets which he used, when he pulled out the OE bump stops. Argh! Now he has to pull it all back out, to reinstall the OE bumpstop. Sorry for the false alarm. :o

What springs is everyone running with the Koni's? Or better yet, what would you suggest for street use, with autox a few times a year with 1 track day a year max?

Most of us are on the stock springs as you can't change them out in stock.

Am I reading your post right? You cant use aftermarket springs with the Koni's?

What Imp said was that the rules that apply to us (in SCCA Stock classes) prevent us from using anything other than the OE springs.

Ah, makes sense. Sorry, forgot what forum I was in. I was in the "suspension" forum frame of mind, not the "comp/racing".

Let me rephase, if you werent worried about the SCCA rules which springs would you run?

If you'd rather I start a new thread in the suspension forum, let me know...I just figured this one is already going.

Holy crap, just got done with the rears..... It is a BIZZACH. in 14 years of setting up my own autox cars the rear of the RX8 has got to be the worst I have ever done. The first side took 1 1/2 hrs, second side was 45min. I am sure with practice I will get quicker. btw do not plan on doing quick adjustments, you must take them all the way apart and out of the car to adjust.

Waiting to hear impressions of these shocks. How is driveability compared to stock? Do they make the car ride uncomfortably firm etc?

They are way stiffer than stock. They are not uncomfortable, just stiff. I would say only buy these shocks if you are going to autox or do track days. For the street guy looking for an upgrade go with the Mazda Speed shocks.


Do you foresee needing to adjust the rears for track use compared to daily driving?

You might see the need to do it, but you WONT do it, way to much work to change for no reason. My guess once we have tested and got the rears where we like them they will not change. Much like we did on our AS vette, once the rears were set they stayed that way for years. Just changed the fronts depending on the course.

As mr. Sipe, AKA team RX8 said, you can get koni to convert the rear to external adjustable, This would cut the work of adjusting the rears in half. You would still have to unbolt the shock from the car, but you would not have to take it out or pull the spring. I think they charge like $150.00 ea to do this.

Ah, makes sense. Sorry, forgot what forum I was in. I was in the "suspension" forum frame of mind, not the "comp/racing".

Let me rephase, if you werent worried about the SCCA rules which springs would you run?

If you'd rather I start a new thread in the suspension forum, let me know...I just figured this one is already going.

If I was not worried about stock class rules, I would call Ground Control and get a coilover setup to work with the konis. I could not even guess at a rate, but I am sure they could help you with that.

Thanks!

I know that Koni's/GC are a popular set up for the 7 guys.

They are way stiffer than stock. They are not uncomfortable, just stiff. I would say only buy these shocks if you are going to autox or do track days. For the street guy looking for an upgrade go with the Mazda Speed shocks.


wuss :p

Holy crap, just got done with the rears..... It is a BIZZACH. in 14 years of setting up my own autox cars the rear of the RX8 has got to be the worst I have ever done. The first side took 1 1/2 hrs, second side was 45min. I am sure with practice I will get quicker. btw do not plan on doing quick adjustments, you must take them all the way apart and out of the car to adjust.

I haven't done it in a while, but with the external adjustment, it takes me about 45 minutes (with a helper) to adjust both sides from the time I get the jack under the car to the time I let the car off the jack. I'm sure that a number of people could cut time from that too. Still a pain, but not so much that it would prevent me from changing it after Day 1's runs if it was really, really wrong.

You might see the need to do it, but you WONT do it, way to much work to change for no reason. My guess once we have tested and got the rears where we like them they will not change. Much like we did on our AS vette, once the rears were set they stayed that way for years. Just changed the fronts depending on the course.

It's still a bit of work and, like I said, I haven't changed it in a while. :D

As mr. Sipe, AKA team RX8 said, you can get koni to convert the rear to external adjustable, This would cut the work of adjusting the rears in half. You would still have to unbolt the shock from the car, but you would not have to take it out or pull the spring. I think they charge like $150.00 ea to do this.

What we've kind of been wondering about is whether there might be holes on each side of the rear bulkhead that would let us access the top of the shock while it's mounted in place. If there are, we could put holes in the trim that would let us get in there and reach the tabs on the shocks with some kind of tool (might be a PITA without being able to see, though). There's a fair amount of interior dissasembly that needs to be done to get to the point where you can take the plastic shelf trim pieces off and look, though. I started one day last summer, but didn't have time to get all the way there. The drawings that I've seen in the service manual don't give me a lot of hope, but they are far from conclusive. Maybe there might be pics in the audio forum? :confused:

What we've kind of been wondering about is whether there might be holes on each side of the rear bulkhead that would let us access the top of the shock while it's mounted in place. If there are, we could put holes in the trim that would let us get in there and reach the tabs on the shocks with some kind of tool (might be a PITA without being able to see, though). There's a fair amount of interior dissasembly that needs to be done to get to the point where you can take the plastic shelf trim pieces off and look, though. I started one day last summer, but didn't have time to get all the way there. The drawings that I've seen in the service manual don't give me a lot of hope, but they are far from conclusive. Maybe there might be pics in the audio forum? :confused:

I think this would work if you did a nascar job, holes in the back window and a very long adjustment tool..... "Look at Clyde over there, putting a round of wedge in". :D

It would be nice if the rules would let us put a hole/slot in the side of the shock bulkhead. :( Make things easy.

No big deal, full stiff and forget em. ;)

They are way stiffer than stock. They are not uncomfortable, just stiff. I would say only buy these shocks if you are going to autox or do track days. For the street guy looking for an upgrade go with the Mazda Speed shocks. Bouncy is how I would describe my ride feel now. But from having driven a car with coilovers, I think this is the way its supposed to feel (where others are describing it as stiff). At least this is what we were all waiting months for so I can't complain.

If I ever go back to the stock shocks its going to feel like a limo ride. :)

No big deal, full stiff and forget em. ;)


:cool:

OK, so half of my box of yellow goodness showed up today. rears only, SANS instructions. Figuring out the installation will be a joy (NOT) but do-able.

So, how the fsck do you adjust the rears? Suggestions on an initial starting place?

2nd procedure:

http://www.koni-na.com/adjustment.cfm

be aware that you have to take the springs off to adjust the standard Koni rear RX-8 shocks

see the factory manual for installation particulars, you have to align the top spring perches properly on all four corners

This is the way the car should have felt from the factory, IMHO. :)

Just put them in today. Found 2 nice little faux pax from the factory... the camber washer on the rear right control arm was upside down, and the in trunk shock brakets on the drivers side, the 2 that weren't attached to the strut (the ones that secure the shock to the mount... were hand tight/loose.

And a couple things about the front Konis, the spacer that goes inside the bottom bushing (cylindrical thing about 1.5" long), didn't fit over the upper part of one of the shafts, but fit over the other. Had to put it on a drill press and bore it out a hair so it would fit over. Also, the stock bump stop brassish holder (that rests on the shelf) had to be drilled out on both fronts for them to fit over the 1/2 part of the shafts.

Anyone else discover any issues with theirs?

--kC

the sleeves can be a tight fit, I had to use a deep socket to knock one on, it wouldn't go by hand, but once I knocked it on it would come on and off by hand,

yeah, you have to drill the front bushing washers because the Koni's are a larger diameter shaft, this is because the shaft is tubular for the adjuster to go down the center, so it has to be a larger diameter to accomodate this

On a side note, does anybody else have a problem with their Koni's making "klunking"
noises? Yes, I've tightened everything down but I still get a noise on rebound. Would
this be something that I can have Koni fix under warranty or am I stuck with it for life? :(

I don't have a clunking, yet. Check to see how close the top bushing washer (the silver one that came with the shocks) are to the tower. I assembled mine wrong the 1st time around and they clunked pretty severely until I put them back together properly.. like started backing up and heard a 'clunk' and said.. 'ohh that's not right'.

Had to take the back off the car and reasemble them realizing I had left a part off on both sides. DOH!

--kC

Noises? :eek:

I have noises that are audible at low speeds (<35 mostly) most of the time, but from what I've been able to gather (through phone calls to Koni, discussions with other people that have/had DA Konis and making compression adjustments) the noises are from the discs used for the adjustable compression on the DAs. With each adjustment, the pitch of the noises changes. Sometimes after making a compression adjustment, the noises go away almost entirely, sometimes they get lounder or more frequent.

I don't know what, if anything, that might have to do with the regular SAs though.

Ed,

it shouldn't be klunking, mine don't and never have on any other car except if something else was loose or hitting somewhere

is there any oil dripping or running down the strut? Unfortunately about the only thing you can do tofully assess it is to disassemble the strut and play with it by hand.

please send me an email: TeamMazdaRX8@aol.com

edit: BTW, the suspension has to loaded to it's normal position before tightening down the control arm bolts,etc.

edit: BTW, the suspension has to loaded to it's normal position before tightening down the control arm bolts,etc.

A great way to do this by the way (ie: IMHO simulates a loaded/normal position) is while the car is still on jack stands, put the jack under the control arm and jack it up to where the car just comes off the jack stand. Then tighten them down while the wheel is still off the car. Makes access easier.

The points in the front to be loaded are: the 2 upper control arm bushings and the shock bushing/mount.
In the rear, the shock bushing/mount and on the control arm that was removed. The bushing in the rear control arm that you do the camber adjustment should not be tightened until the car is on the ground... that's really the only one that the car has to have both wheels on the ground before tightening (since you need to reset camber to where it originally was afterwards... when the car is on the ground and on a level surface)

Any issue with doing them that way Mark?

--KC

Thanks for the info guys!

I tightened the front control arms under load but I did not do that for the rear
control arm, and most of the noises are coming from the rear...duh. :/

I'll go back and redo the rear under load and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks for the info guys!

I tightened the front control arms under load but I did not do that for the rear
control arm, and most of the noises are coming from the rear...duh. :/

I'll go back and redo the rear under load and see if that makes a difference.

10:1 odds that's the problem. They were preloaded and they're resisting their natural movement.

I don't think you'd have to jack up the car/remove the wheel for that. You should be able to just loosen them on the ground I would think. Loosen everything before tighetning a single one tho. I'm not 100% sure on that... so someone might be able to chime in on the above.

--KC

http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=63075

Quick question. Searched and found nothing. Do the Koni Sports come with lower spring perches on both front and rear, or do you have to reuse the stock ones?

Thanks!

Randy

I believe the lower spring perch is at stock height. Otherwise they could not use them in auto-x stock classes.

Yeah, but do the koni sports already have a spring perch on them when you get them? I've heard the fronts are welded onto the konis, from koni, but the rears you need to pull the spring perches off the stock shocks and put them on the konis?

Yeah, but do the koni sports already have a spring perch on them when you get them? I've heard the fronts are welded onto the konis, from koni, but the rears you need to pull the spring perches off the stock shocks and put them on the konis?

Nope, all had spring perches already there when I installed mine.

--KC

perfect. thanks!

What's up Randy, are you buying a car now too.....????

Ron

What's up Randy, are you buying a car now too.....????

Ron

No, they are getting the 2812 konis rebuilt before natls... When tripoint built the shocks they used parts off the OE ones so Barbara had to buy another set of shocks.

I have a set of OE shocks listed in the FS area if you'd rather go that route

In total all 4 are $644. I put $300 down for the fronts and the order and the balance was $344 a few days ago. They quoted me on the price so they stuck with it, but they said they went up just a couple weeks ago so could be more expenisve now to those that didn't pre-order.

FWIW,

I sell the Koni's for the RX8 for $616 plus shipping. The $644 in Keith's case was the shocks plus shipping (in this case two shipments because it was early and the fronts came in first and he opted to get the fronts before the rears). So the $28 difference was due to two separate orders shipping to Keith......

The price did not go up with the blanket Koni pricing change, presumably due to the fact they were so new to begin with.

I thank Keith, Mark, Debbie and the others who bought their Koni's from us, and hope to help in the future (despite me running a Toyota). :)

And I thank Sam for getting them! :)

Decals will go on the car this week. :D

And just an FYI to those shopping for Konis, we sell them for $550 shipped and have 5 sets in stock. We're also a registered vendor on RX8club.com, so we can say that :).

Thanks for everyone's offer to supply shocks. We needed some that day (and found them local), otherwise, Sammy, your phone woulda been ringin'.

Should have the rebuilt shocks on tomorrow. Gonna go dust the cobwebs off, I haven't been in the car since Wendover. Looking forward to seeing everyone and meeting some new folks in Topeka!

And just an FYI to those shopping for Konis, we sell them for $550 shipped and have 5 sets in stock. We're also a registered vendor on RX8club.com, so we can say that :).

4 now :D if people want to suggest settings for my soon to be coming shocks please... dont be shy :D