HELP - Those who have adjusted stock Koni's!!!

[DEVILDOG]

Re: HELP - Those who have adjusted stock Koni\'s!!!

"First of all, each of my OEM Konis were set different from the factory. Won't detail each one, however, I'm pissed they were not the same and am glad I set them myself today "

They were set different so they would be equal, setting them the same will make them uneven. I don't know why no one will spend the 25 bucks a shock to dyno to have a better ride. And to give you an example, I had to set one at 3/4 turn and the other just over 1-1/8 turn to have them equal. The adjustments get progressively bigger as you turn in. It wasn't much to have them dynoed ($100 for all 4)

Jeff, I explained previously that I did not dyno mine because I did not have the time during the install of my Eibachs to go take them somewhere to do it. The decimal dust cost is not an issue. Also, as far as I'm concerned, Koni's production process should have them equal anyway and they indicate that they dyno all their shocks as a quality control to assure consistency. As stated by another, I doubt seriously that Koni shipped shocks to DC in sets of 4 with each one dyno adjusted to an equal setting for application to one Viper. Do you think that Koni or any other shock manufacturer takes their non-adjustable shocks and dynos each one and ships balanced sets of 4 to each car company for installation to each individual vehicle? I also doubt that DC took 4 separate shocks out of the parts bin and dynoed each one and adjusted them prior to installation on each Viper. Therefor, assuming consistency during production of the shocks I set mine exactly the same for the fronts and exactly the same for the rears(firmer in front than rear). My point in posting is only to relate to others some detail of what I discovered on my car and what I did to help them should they undertake this mod as both you and Tom did. I'm not trying to say what I did is any better or worse than what you or Tom did. Hopefully, the next owner that does this can read all the information we have all provided and make an educated decision on what they want to do and have an easier time doing it.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

Re: HELP - Those who have adjusted stock Koni\'s!!!

For part number look-up folks, this will help:

Koni'94 Front 8240 1109 (17" eye to eye)
'94 Rear 8240 1110 (18" eye to eye)
'96 Front 8240 1150 (16" eye to eye)
'96 Rear 8240 1151 (21" eye to eye)

They are different in front because the Gen 2 lower ball joint moved from being in the steering knuckle to in the lower control arm. The rears are different because Gen 1 shocks mounted next to the half shaft, while Gen 2 straddles the half shaft. They are obviously all the same 8240 model, but different lengths and ends.

 

[BoeingMan]

Re: HELP - Those who have adjusted stock Koni\'s!!!

Well...here is my detailed experience regarding the adjustment of my Konis in conjunction with the Eibach install completed today. First of all, each of my OEM Konis were set different from the factory. Won't detail each one, however, I'm pissed they were not the same and am glad I set them myself today and now know they are balanced. My Konis are 8240s as Tom indicated above. On the Koni link Tom provided above it states that the adjustment range is about 5 half(180 degrees) turns. However, each one of my 4 Konis had exactly 3.75 half turns of adjustment from 0(zero)full minimum to 3.75 full firm. I set my fronts to 3 half turns and the rears to 2.5 half turns. It rained today in Dallas for the first time in about 50 days(figures since my Viper was out) and the roads were pretty slick due to the release of oils/grease/dirt from the roads mixed with the water so I could not put the hammer down or take turns as fast as I would have liked to to test my setup. However, it feels really good, firmer but not too firm(rear end danced a little bit more over a couple of highway woopdedoos at speed but did not break loose. Tracks great on a couple of 90 degree turns I managed to get in during a break in the rain at about 35 mph with the rear end following nicely without breaking traction. Felt neutral at both ends and no body roll at all. Like being on rails! I like it and wish I had done it a long time ago considering the F'd up original factory settings I've been driving with since '98(only 10K miles though). Regarding the Eibachs I love the lower stance and smaller wheel well gap. Did the 4-wheel alignment also which is an absolute requirement as the settings were definitely changed due to the spring change. Can't wait for my new Forgeline SX3s from JonB!

Can you please define a "woopdedoo". Is this a pronounced speed bump, a dip in the road, uneven surface, gravel on the road, wet surface....?

Also when you say the "rear end danced a bit more" do you mean like as in "bumpstear", or more like a back and forth swaying motion without skiping over the road?

Thanks in advance

 

[snampro]

Re: HELP - Those who have adjusted stock Koni\'s!!!

when you have your shocks "dynoed", how do they set them up? do you tell them what type of ride you want and they match everything up? can you provide more detail on this process, its news to me!

I plan to have my stock shock rebuilt by Koni this winter and would like to get this done after the rebuild and before I install them.