Here is a neat little modification for increasing available front shock travel on Koni Sport Yellow shocks. As many of you may or may not know shock travel is very limited on the front suspension when lowered with stock length Koni dampers. and many of you are riding the bump stops. What I did was disassemble the front damper fork assembly. Remove the front brake line brackets and reduce the thickness of the brackets lowering the shock in the front forks, gaining the amount lowered in travel at the top of the shock. The first picture is the stock shock location in the damper fork with the brake line bracket unmodified; notice the distance the shock protrudes through the damper fork.
The second and third picture is a side-by-side and top view of the brake line bracket modified and unmodified. I used a side grinder, hacksaw, file and sand paper to modify the bracket, yes I lost another few oz’s.
The forth picture is where I modified the Koni damper to allow the damper fork clap bolt to pass by the damper in the fork, I used a round rat-tail file for the job.
And the fifth picture is the end result assembled gaining almost an inch of additional shock travel, notice the distance the shock protrudes through the damper fork, this is the amount I increased my suspension travel.
To finish the job I cleaned and painted every thing up before it went back on the car.
Hey Marc, Im thinkin…wouldnt all this do is lower the front an inch? I cant see it in my mind yet…would that mean u have to raise ur coilovers an inch also to make up for the drop?So if u have springs…its not worth it?enlighten me…
Originally posted by asian buddha Hey Marc, Im thinkin…wouldnt all this do is lower the front an inch? I cant see it in my mind yet…would that mean u have to raise ur coilovers an inch also to make up for the drop?So if u have springs…its not worth it?enlighten me…
Hey Asian Buddha, am not marc but i’ll try to explain…
Yes this would lower the fronts more. BUT it would not compress the shocks as much. Have you seen the ST drop forks? It’s the same concept. Well, when you lower your car, you actually push the suspension up right? That includes the shocks. What this mod does is push your suspension up but not the shocks. Which gives you more travel after adjusting the ride height.
Since you have Koni yellows, you can move the perch to the highest setting up front if it’s not there already and do this mod. Not sure how low this would put you though.
Originally posted by G2guru What about axle clearance…still plenty of room?
I was just gonna ask that. I would assume so though, since the drop forks essentially do the same thing??
Plenty of axel clearance there is still a good 3" between the bottom of the shock and axel.
Hey Asian buddha,
If you want to maintain the same ride height you will need to raise your spring collars the same amount you lower the shock in the fork. You will end up with additional clearance between the top of the shock body and the under surface of shock tower. at the same ride height.
Hey JonsteR,
No problem filing the shock in this area. The shock body is quite thick in this location to support the clamping of the fork and weight of the car. Just stay with the same depth of the original bolt clearance depression. Yes the rear does have a bit more travel, clearance at an equal ride height with the front. How long have I been using this? I can tell you it has been long enough to know it works, if I told you all my secrets at one time you guys would be going faster than me!
Difficult to do on a suspension that did not have the ability to adjust your ride height, or spring height settings. With the stock shocks, or non-adjustable spring perch shock you would need to find just the right length spring or use spacer shim under your present springs. It’s not imposable and could be done but would require some careful measurements and testing. If you used the stock springs and shocks it would be an inexpensive way to lower the front suspension with out purchasing anything.
It can also be done with the stock struts. I banged the brake line braket off of one of my old ones yesterday just to see. I used a dremmel and about 4 reinforced cutoff wheels to cut down the brackets. I will be using a round grinding disc? to make the indentation for the pinch bolt. Looks like it will work with my tockico struts as well. I will be doing this mod sometime this week, I would love to get some travel back in the front sus. As for doing it to the stockers, it might not be worth the the effort for sucu a smapll drop. Thanks Marc for the tip!
Very nice, Marc. I just might have to do that eventually. I would like to find some of the ST stuff but that looks like a good cheap way around spending some money…
I know what you are saying; if corporations can screw you for anything they usually will take advantage of the loopholes. Mine will be going back to True Choice, Koni authorized repair facility shortly to be revalved for stiffer springs and made into double adjustables. I will let you know if they have any thing to say but cutting the bolt clearance grove higher in no way that I can comprehend affects the integrity of the dampener or it’s performance.
