re:Koni's in an E36/46, the whole truth

[jkerouac@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

re: Koni's in an E36/46

How to install and adjust:

Front:
Get several carbide tip hacksaw blades, a 10mm very high quality drill
bit, ans several smaller sizes to drill pilot holes.
Wear heavy leather work gloves.  I have a scar on my right thumb to show
what happens if you don't.
Wear Safety Glasses since there will be lots of sawwing and drilling and
spring compressing going on.

     Remove strut assembly from car.
Remove spring and upper strut mount.
Locate the area on the strut tube that is
     Above the spring perch and
     Just below the pressed on retaining cap at the top of the strut
tube.
At that area, saw through the metal of the tube.
Keep some rags handy since all that high pressure oil will pee out at
you the instant you saw through the tube wall.

When the hacksaw blade starts sawing into the inner strut assemble,
rotate the strut tube.
About ten of the little cuts will loberate the inner strut assembly from
the outer tube.

Remove the inner assembly and hang from garage wall as souvenir.

At bottom of strut tube center punch and drill a 1mm or 1/16" pilot
hole.  Spare drill bits highly recommended.  Drill two intermediate
sizes up to the 10mm hole you will need for the retaining bolt.
     The centering of the hole is essential.  Within .5mm of center will
guarantee an easy fit.  More than 1mm of center could requires some
milling to get the retaining bolt to fit.

Insert the insert into the strut tube.
Following the torque spec given in the instructions that come with the
strut insert, torque down the big retaining bolt to that torque.

     Reinstall the spring and upper strut mount.

Now for that $2.00 one degree increase in negative camber.
Buy two of those stock legal one dollar factory alternate bolts to mount
the strut assemble to the axle carrier.
These thinner bolts give allow a degree more negative camber the the
thicker shafted original bolts.

Front struts do adjust from the top, however the
Koni knob/handle does not fit on the adjusting stub when the //M3 offset
upper strut mount in installed do to insufficient clearance between the
strut hole and the rearward position of the strut shaft.

Rear shock:
Whoever said you need to remove the rear shock to adjust them is
misinformed.
When installing the rear shock for the first time,
remove the inner rubber bump stop ring.
Now you never have to bother with this again.

To adjust the rear Koni as installed on the car, here's what I do:
Drive the car up on a ramp to get clearance to lay on my back.
Unbolt the lower mounting bolt from the shock.
     Compress the shock fully using an easy one armed bench press
motion.  Since you have already discarded that bump stop you don't have
to worry about hassling with it anymore.
     Rotate the shock to adjust as desired.

Recommended settings:
Street:  Front 3/4 turn back from full firm.
            Rear  1/2 turn from full soft.

These come with a nice valving as is.  Those who crank them down real
tight thinking that for autocross or track that makes then faster are
actually defeating the purpose of their springs by the shock resisting
the cornering force rather than the spring getting to store it and
release it as the suspension unloads.
Enjoy,
'jk

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