Thanks folks...
for all your input. Please keep it coming.
Bernice: Thanks again. I guess I'll consider the KYB housings as "strike one" , at least as far as the Tokico or Sachs are concerned. A google search seemed to indicate the VW Rabbit Bilsteins are about 38.3mm O.D., so I reckon they would fit the KYB housings. I find it strange that the Bilstein inserts are so much smaller than the I.D. of the VW housings (42mm). It would seem to me that the bigger the shock, the better (more piston area, more fluid capacity).
Pete: Please note that Bernice gave us the dimensions of the KYB housings, NOT of the Fiat O.E. rebuilable housings. Nobody yet has come forward with these dimensions, so I aquired a pair to see for myself. Unlike the KYB housings, they are expanded for a couple of inches at the top, so I had to saw one apart. They are about 40.3mm I.D., 44.7mm O.D.. Pretty much the same as the KYB housings. Alas, also too small for the Tokico or Sachs VW inserts. "Strike two". But of course the Bilstein VW inserts can be made to fit. This does require, however, as Paul and others have found out, some lathe work on the top nuts and some spacers made.
Apparantly, the KYB inserts for a VW Rabbit will also fit in the Fiat housings. Again, lathe work also required. An archives search revealed that someone here (I think it was Ulix) found out - from KYB - that the Rabbit KYB inserts are actually valved far weaker than the X1/9 KYB complete struts (that are still available), so this would certainly seem to be a useless alternative ! I think KYB used to make an AGX adjustable insert for the Rabbit, but I do not know the size and from what I can gather they seem to be NLA.
Direct bolt-in replacement cartridges for the early X housings seem to be pretty much non-existant. There were, back in the day, some stock-type cartridges available from Gabriel, Munroe, and such, but even if you could still find some, they would probably be inferior to the current KYB assemblies.
A company called Carrera used to - many years ago - make a performance insert for the X housings, but good luck finding some now.
Koni used to make a cartridge for the X1/9, but these have been discontinued for at least 20 years. Even if you are lucky enough to find some NOS ones, I wouldn't bother. From my experience, new Koni's that have been sittig on a shelf for years suffer from dried-out seals and they fail within a few miles of use.
So to conclude - direct fit performance cartridges for the early X1/9 housings - ZILCH.
Performance cartridges that can (with a bunch of machining) be persuaded to fit in the early X housings - so far - just the VW Rabbit Bilsteins - available in regular, sport, and HD flavours - or can (at considerable expense) be re-valved by Bilstein to suit your needs. To repeat, the Tokico or Sachs inserts for the same VW Rabbit are TOO BIG for the X1/9 housings. The only unknown here is the VW Koni's (availble in HD or Sport Yellows), but I highly suspect that they as well are too large in diameter to fit the X housings. If someone out there knows, kindly let us know.
Bernice seems to have checked out possibilities as well, with little success.
For the majority of X1/9 owners out there, the answer is simple. Buy the complete KYB struts. They are still readily available from many places on the net, are reasonably priced (about $80 each), are gas filled, seem to offer better performance than the stock shocks, and still maintain a decent ride. Unless you are running really stiff springs, they work just fine. As Bernice has shown us, they do come apart easily, so if you want to move the mounting tabs or convert them to coilovers, it can be done. Or add a set of performance springs from IAP or Vicks or Obert or Midwest or cut down some stock springs, and you will probably be very happy.
But... there are those among us who feel that this is not good enough. And want something better. And not only that, want it cheap too !!
Several here have gone for the KSport complete assemblies. Also seem to sold under the the names of D2 and XYZ, etc.. While reasonably priced, to me they have a number of drawbacks. Out of respect for those who have bought them, I will not list them, but...
By all accounts, GForce make an excellent set-up for the X, but I think they are more suitable for track use than for street, and at close to $3k are a little much for many owners pockets.
Obliviously having faced the same problem of available inserts to fit the stock X housings, Mark Plaia, in conjunction with Chris Obert, designed, and built - from scratch - new housings that would accept VW Rabbit Tokicos or Koni's, and came with threaded seats to accept standard 2 1/2" racing springs. Now I can tell you that designing and having built anything from scratch in very small quantities is a very expensive proposition and is invariably reflected in the price. They are a thing of beauty, but from what I can gather, none of these are currently available for sale and a pre-order of minimum 10 complete sets is required before another batch will be made. Strangely enough, the listing on Obert's website says that these are designed to accept VW Rabbit REAR inserts, not front. I think this is a typo - I dont think Rabbits even used a rear insert. Now none of the above is meant to be a knock against this excellent product. If Mark or Chris is reading this and take it that way, then I apologize. But if a product is not currently available, then at least I think exploring other options is in order. Okay guys ?
Now most of this rambling would be of little point if I didn't have a solution. I have done a lot of searching and have given this a great deal of thought. I have concluded, like Mark, that the best solution is to devise a housing that will accept ANY VW Rabbit insert - Bilstein, Koni red or yellow, Tokico, Sachs, etc.. All readily available. But I know that each of the above shocks have slightly different sizes and shapes on the tops of the inserts, so a housing and top nut designed for one will not neccessarily fit other. But... what they all do have in common is that they all come with hardware to fit the VW O.E. housing.
So, I figured, the oblivious solution is.... to use the stock VW housing. Ah, but you you say, the VW housing does NOT bolt onto the X1/9 hub, and the spring perch is the wrong size and in the wrong position. You are, of course, correct. So this looked like another dead end ... until I got to thinking some more.
Now my original intention was to use the Tokico inserts in the early Fiat housings ... until I discovered it was too large to fit !! I was planning to remove the spring perch (to convert to coilovers) and remove and re-position the mounting bracket higher up (to lower the car and still retain suspension travel).
So I bought a pair of good used VW Rabbit strut housings and figured it would be the same amount of work to strip them of their spring perch and mounting brackets, but...
1) I had to buy the VW housings. An added expense.
2) The mounting bracket is a sleeve type arrangement just like the Fiat, except where Fiat just weld it around it the bottom of the the sleeve only, those darned Germans welded it everywhere - top and bottom. And the VW spring perch has at least twice as much weld - top and bottom again, as the FIat.
3) The mounting bracket/sleeve is totally different and cannot be modified to use on the X.
My solutions:
1) Luckily the VW housings seem to be quite easily gotten. Over on the VW forums the going price seems to be $10-20 each for good ones. So no big deal
2) This was of course the major concern. My buddy Bruce the machinist figured if I could somehow hack off most of protuding bits he could - like Bernice did - chuck it in his lathe and remove everything else. He would first have had to machine an end plug for the bottom end of the strut to be able to put it on the lathe. He said, for a price, it was do-able.
But this seemed too easy for me. I really wanted to be able to do it myself. And besides, I'm cheap ! Although I am amazed at the amount of members here who have lathes in their basements, I began to think of a solution that ANYONE here could duplicate. I first imagined hacksaws and dremels. Nope. Bench grinder? Nope. Hmm... And then, with a hint from Bruce, I arrived at the solution. And I'm happy to report - it works. Easily. About 1/2 hour per strut. The end result was proper and beautiful. Something anyone out there can do easily in your garage. And how you ask ? Well... that will all be revealed in another post. Stay tuned. I'd post it now but I don't have a digital camera at this time.
3) Well this too was a problem. Easy solution - just use the original X1/9 bracket. It was simple - I will show you how later. This means sacrificing an old old X1/9 strut, but even an old dead/leaking sealed strut can be used here. If you don't have any dead struts lying around, I'm sure other members here do - just post a wanted ad here. At worst, Midwest sells dead early struts or housings for like $20 each, so no big deal.
I have found some coilover sleeves and kits just that right size and length. Uses standard 2 1/2" racing springs. Pick your own rate.
Another benefit of using the VW housings is that they are quite strong and sturdy. About 3mm thickness of good German steel. The original Fiat housings are only about 2mm thick, and according to one search are quite prone to bending. Sure enough, when we chucked one of my used Fiat O.E. housings in the lathe as an experiment, it was clearly bent !! There is no way one of the VW housings would ever bend.
So far, my costs are quite minimal. I scored 2 new Tokico Illuminas and 2 good used VW housings for $120 total over on one of the VW forums. A couple of dead X1/9 housings for $20 each. About $20 in supplies from Home Depot. The coilover kits are about $35 each. Springs will be about $40 each. You do the math.And an evenings worth of toil - well maybe two after priming and painting.
Interested ? Should I bother to post methods and pics ? Or have I ruffled too many feathers already ? Up to you folks. Any interest out there ?
I at least hope that some of my findings are of some use to someone out there, and perhaps leads to further discussions and sharing of info and ideas. I think we all like to learn stuff. I know I do.
Cheers, Doug
