Strip old strut of internal parts and clean thoroughly with soap and water. Allow to dry.
Using die grinder, remove original spring perch without damaging the strut housing.
Take strut housings to local fab shop to have Ground Control Weld Kit (giant steel washer) welded to strut housing.
Clean and paint exterior of strut housing if you so choose.
Slide 1 of 2 Ground Control supplied o-rings onto strut housing approximately 1/2 between perch and top. Lube up the inside of the sleeve with a small amount of bearing grease. Drop the large end of the sleeve over the housing. It will sit on the o-ring preventing further movement. Quickly slide the sleeve down until it bottoms out against the perch. Theoretically the quick motion caused the o-ring to become lodged between sleeve and the housing rather than simply sliding the o-ring down to the base. If this happens, pull it off and try again.
Slide the top o-ring over the housing and using a two screw drivers, carefully manipulate the o-ring into the space between the housing and the sleeve. Use one screw driver to increase the space at the location you are working and carefully press the o-ring into place with the second screw driver. Be careful not to distort the sleeve by pressing the first screw driver too far.
As noted in the Koni instruction set, fill strut housing with your choice of cooling medium for the strut insert. I chose anti-freeze. You will only need a little bit. Add enough for the liquid level to reach approximately 3/4 of strut insert height when strut insert is fully lowered into housing. Insert the strut noting that the base of the damper housing should sit flush or slightly higher than the top of the strut housing.
Making sure both sets of threads are clean of grease and grime, apply small amount of removable thread-lock fluid (blue Loctite) to threads of Koni gland nut. Thread nut into housing noting that the flange of the nut should NOT bottom out against the housing as shown in the KONI supplied instruction set. Tighten gland nut with gland nut wrench and make it as tight as you can given the fact that it's only a 6 inch lever arm on the wrench.
Slide Koni supplied white plastic washer onto damper shaft to sit on gland nut. Slide bump stop into place. Install coil spring and upper spring mount. Now slide the 2 Ground Control Supplied washers onto damper shaft as noted in Ground Control instruction set. At this time you will also want install your bearing adapter sleeve if you are using Koni 8610 or 8611 model dampers. This can be made out of a sheet of tin.
Slide upper strut mount into place and install 3 9/16" washers and 1 9/16" split washer over the threaded shaft of the damper to act as a spacer for the upper strut nut. Install supplied nut and tighten securely as shown in Koni supplied instructions.
Strut is complete
Rear
Using a small drill bit and a plastic bottle cap as a splatter shield, drill two small holes in the bottom of the strut and drain all fluid.
Using die grinder, remove original spring perch front donor front struts without damaging the strut housing. Disassemble front strut as noted above.
Measure and cut, using a high quality pipe cutter, the rear strut and the donor strut just below the original spring perch weld. Make it a point to measure the cuts out such that the bottom of the rear strut and top of the front strut, when mated, will have the same height as an OE rear strut.
Strip old strut of internal parts and clean thoroughly with soap and water. Allow to dry.
Take strut housings to local fab shop to have Ground Control Weld Kit (giant steel washer) welded to strut housing and to have strut ends mated to each other. Also have drilled holes welded shut. Clean and paint exterior of strut housing if you so choose.
Slide 1 of 2 Ground Control supplied o-rings onto strut housing approximately 1/2 between perch and top. Lube up the inside of the sleeve with a small amount of bearing grease. Drop the large end of the sleeve over the housing. It will sit on the o-ring preventing further movement. Quickly slide the sleeve down until it bottoms out against the perch. Theoretically the quick motion caused the o-ring to become lodged between sleeve and the housing rather than simply sliding the o-ring down to the base. If this happens, pull it off and try again.
Slide the top o-ring over the housing and using a two screw drivers, carefully manipulate the o-ring into the space between the housing and the sleeve. Use one screw driver to increase the space at the location you are working and carefully press the o-ring into place with the second screw driver. Be careful not to distort the sleeve by pressing the first screw driver too far.
Drop 15-20 3/4” washers into the bottom of the strut as a spacer. Add enough such that the base of the damper housing should sit flush or slightly higher than the top of the strut housing.
Fill strut housing with your choice of cooling medium for strut insert. I chose anti-freeze. You will only need a little bit. Fill enough for liquid level to reach approximately 3/4 of strut insert height when strut insert is fully lowered into housing. Insert the strut.
Making sure both sets of threads are clean of grease and grime, apply small amount of removable thread-lock fluid (blue Loctite) to threads of Koni gland nut. Thread nut into housing noting that the flange of the nut should NOT bottom out against the housing as shown in the KONI supplied instruction set. Tighten gland nut with gland nut wrench and making it as tight as you can given the fact that it's only a 6 inch lever arm on the wrench.
Slide Koni supplied white plastic washer onto damper shaft to sit on gland nut. Slide bump stop into place. Install coil spring and upper spring mount. If you have an 8610 or 8611 strut insert remove the key in the upper strut mount with a grinding bit on your rotary tool, or a file.
Slide upper strut mount into place and install 3 9/16" washers and 2 9/16" split washer over the threaded shaft of the damper to act as a spacer for the upper strut nut. One split washer will sit against strut mount, the other will sit against the nut. Install supplied nut and tighten securely as shown in Koni supplied instructions.
Strut is complete
Submitted by xxx@******.com
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Article submitted on 30 Mar 2010
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