Having bought a set of Koni Dampers with a leaking front strut for a bargain price both front struts have been sent away for a rebuild and the strut housings are being shot blasted and powder coated black in readiness for refitting.

I have 2 questions;

1. I'm sure I've read somewhere in the past that something has to be modified / drilled for the front struts to fit a 20VT. Can anyone shed any light on this procedure?

2. The Koni's are the yellow "Sport" variant; can anyone confirm if the rears are adjustable as well?

These are part of a full suspension refresh / rebuild that I'm working towards so new top mounts will be fitted along with an almost new condition set of standard springs (thanks Nigel!)

There used to be a How To for fitting the koni's but it's no longer there?

You basically have to cut the top off the original dampers, drill a hole in the bottom of the damper body and feed the screw thread of the new koni insert through this hole. The insert then gets bolted up inside the original damper body.

Make sure everything is nice and tight and the insert is a snug fit as there was a case of the insert knocking inside the damper body if I remember correctly.

Seriously?

That seems a little "Heath Robinson" to say the least!

Thanks for the clarification Jimbo but it has left me feeling a little underwhelmed to be honest; thought a company of Koni's standards could have developed a better system than that.

Ah well, onwards and upwards; I'm stuck with them now so let's hope the performance is better than the fitting method.

i have mine built with no problems

Make sure you don't cut the strut too short, the cast lugs on the insert need to sit inside the original strut and not protrude.
Measure twice, measure again, then cut

Thanks for all the clarification, tips and advice guys.

As I live at least 100 miles from a reputable coupe "specialist" I will be entrusting this work to a local Rally Sport Specialist (who'll also be carrying out the full suspension refresh for the same reason) so any tips / info will be passed directly onto them in the hope that it makes the overall job easier.

Is anyone able to confirm if the rear units are adjustable or not?

Here is the "How to" on Koni

Brilliant; thank you!

Just a quick update;

Front inserts have arrived at refurbishers and should be back within the week.

Front struts have just come back from being shot blasted and powder coated black and they look

The Brucie Bonus is that they've already been modified as per the How To guide above. When they originally arrived with me, I literally sent everything off to be worked on and didn't think to check how it all fitted together.

Only thing I need to find out now is if the rears are adjustable but I'll contact Koni direct for that.

Thanks again for all the info guys; Forum Power at its best!

the rears are adjustable but you have to do it while there off the car

Yep; confirmed by Koni.

If they are the yellow koni sport dampers then they certainly do not need to be removed from the car.
Just undo the lower suspension damper nut (19mm if I remember) and then slide the bolt through the damper, no need to fully remove the bolt.

You then push up on the damper to compress is fully until it engages in the internal key way. You then turn the damper with it compressed to select the rebound setting you require.

I think if you set them to 3/4 before you fit them then it should be about perfect.

All that Koni confirmed is that they are adjustable.

@ Jimbo; can the adjustment be done before they're fitted? How do I know which way to twist and is it just one full turn from soft to hard?

If I remember there are markings on them. Plus you will feel how they are set by trying to compress them. Seriously, it is easy and as Jimbo said can be done while on the car.