Bilstein shock installation

PaulD

PaulD

Paul Davock
In past posts folks have discussed installing Bilstein early rabbit strut inserts into early X struts which are set for inserts.

I have just installed them into inserts, they are being used with stock springs and the fronts have had the mount for the pillar raised 15/16 of an inch.

Here are photos and a brief description of what I did:

I machined the top of the Bilstein shock shaft where the mount is for the dust boot to match the diameter of the fiat shock shaft. This also shows the delron pivot mentioned below.




To fit them effectively, I used front shock mounts front and rear. The Bilstein has internal bumpers, I cut off the existing ones. In the front I used Mark P.'s roller bearing pivots. I did not trust the plastic ones for the back and machined duplicates out of delron.

springretainer.jpg



I opened the top caps up to 14mm. They are very hard, and I used a die grinder to rough them and finished with a drill. I machined a washer for the fronts as the bilstein lock nut would not clear the cap.

capum.jpg



I reduced the height of the spacer by 100 thou to get enough thread length for the lock nut.

spacero.jpg



I bored the gland nuts to fit the OD of the bilstein shock, and increased the opening for the shaft to clear the bilstein shaft. I needed to increase the depth of the tines for the wrench. I made spacers, as the nuts were bottoming out in the strut tube.

glandnuts.jpg



I made a wrench to tighten them. It needs to fit over the shock shaft.

strutnuttool.jpg



I wanted to retain the dust seals on the originals, so I made seal holders that also would support the dust boot. I had to cut the lip off the top of the dust boot, as the grove for it was removed in machining the shaft.


Here it is, done deal:

completedstrut.jpg



It will be several weeks until I have it on the road. I will report then.

Paul Davock
 
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Nice job.

I have the same thing on my X, mine are gas filled version. I am pleased overall as a nice road crusing car however they are overpowered by the spring rate on the X. They also sell a heavy duty oil filled version I was going to try as well.

Realize, for the standard driver, this would be a very nice setup.

For someone who goes to the track and autocrosses once in awhile, they will notice some issues.

For anyone with higher than stock spring rates, this will not work. The rebound on them is not strong enough.

Eric.
 
Street and occasional track days

is my planned usage.

These are the sport series, gas shocks and Bilstein's hype is:

"An excellent match for vehicles with lowering springs or upgraded anti-roll bars, the Sport Series shocks and struts perform under demanding conditions."

From your experience it sounds like this might be a step in the right direction, but not necessarily the best set up. I shall see, it is fun doing it and finding out.

I am trying to decide whether to use Steve Hoelscher alignment specs or Mark Plaia's allignment. See http://xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/5364/

I see that you use Steve's. I suspect that I will try one and then mess around with it.

Paul
 
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Wow, very nice job. We have had excellent luck with Bilstein dampers on both the street and the track. They hold up well. I intend to use them in my own car once I decide on spring rates so that I can have them valved appropriately. You might want to consider that for your own setup if you don't like the damping characteristics.

I'm curious as to why you did not use the same Delrin pivots up front. I got a set of MarkP's bearings for the front of my car but chose not to install them once I realized how vulnerable they are to dirt and how little bearing surface actually exists. I wound up having some made out of UHMW that look pretty much identical to yours. Haven't tried them yet but from previous experience with similar parts it should be a most excellent and robust solution.

Looking forward to hearing more after you have some time on the new setup.
 
Hi Mike, query on Plaia Pivots.....

Quote: but chose not to install them once I realized how vulnerable they are to dirt and how little bearing surface actually exists.

I am curious about your reasoning on this. To the question of dirt, here are items 2,3 and 5 of the instructions supplied with the parts:

2. Carefully clean the large steel washer, the rubber ring and the top of the upper spring mount. THIS IS IMPORTANT, AS GRIT IN THIS AREA WILL DESTROY THE BEARING.
3. Prepare the roller bearing by coating with heavy grease, such as wheel bearing grease. This will lubricate the bearing and help keep it clean by excluding water and dirt. THE BEARING MUST BE LUBRICATED PRIOR TO USE.

5. Install on the upper spring mount. Be sure to put the rubber ring around the bearing. Put a light coat of grease on the rubber ring to help seal off the area of the bearing.

And, regarding the bearing surface area, the load ratings for an NTA-1625 Torrington thrust bearing (the one I designed the assembly around) are 2420 lbf dynamic (at 11000 RPM) and 9870 lbf static. That is per side. Since the front corner weight of a more or less stock X1/9 is roughly 460 lbs. I think we have enough excess load capacity to feel comfortable.

Plus, in over 9 years of being out there in use, I have only ever heard of one unit damaged. And that was the aluminum housing, not the bearing. That was on Chris Obert's FIAT 128 Autocross car with full Delrin mounted front suspension and high torque motor.

I suspect your polyethylene bushings will creep before you have issues with the thrust bearings.

Ciao,
 
Mark Plaia said:
Plus, in over 9 years of being out there in use, I have only ever heard of one unit damaged. And that was the aluminum housing, not the bearing. That was on Chris Obert's FIAT 128 Autocross car with full Delrin mounted front suspension and high torque motor.
Click to expand...

Hi Mark,

That's great to know. Thanks for posting.

And just to clarify, I probably could have asked the question differently. I've heard nothing but good things about those pivots and I certainly meant no disrespect. As you know, I'm a big fan of your designs and I think I've bought at least one of everything you've offered. Mainly I was just curious about Paul's reasoning to use the Delrin pieces out back and thrust washers in the front.

Regards,
 
Delrin in the back

No steering and hence minimal rotation in the back so I used the delrin. In front I want the smooth steering from Mark's pivots.

Paul
 
A Clarification!

Paul, I went and checked on the ones I am using. I did not use the sports special version so I am excited to hear how it goes for you.

I could really use a stiffer rebound in the rear (God, that sounds terrible)...

Keep us up to date!

Eric
 
Paul, a couple of questions:

1. Is the Bilstein part number you are using W0133-1604944?

2. What are your spring rates? Stock or something higher?

3. Are those gas or hydraulic strut inserts?

Thanks,
Pete
 
answers to shock questions:

Part number: Sport Series Front (P30-0032-M1) This is linked to the Canadian distributor, there is a US distributor as well.

They are a gas pressure shock, I am using them with stock springs, with the spring perch raised 15/16 on the front, with a front sway bar. The lowering and sway bar were part of the shock installation, so this is not a direct comparison of the bilsteins to stock shocks.

My initial driving impressions are very positive. The car feels much stiffer, and has less body roll. It turns in quickly, yet does not feel like it has lost its balance. It still soaks up bumps and has a very comfortable ride. This is an early assessment, and I have not pushed its limits. I only have a string alignment on it and have not set the camber yet.

The car will be for the street, autocross and track days.

It may be a bit before I get a chance to push it, it appears that I have a fluid leak inside the tunnel, it looks like it is in one of the heating pipes. That is another post when I fully assess it.

Paul Davock
 
That's a great post Paul

Too bad we don't have a best of section. If we did, this should go there. :thumbsup:
 
That's a great job, looks like you did some good planning to make that all work out.
I used a set of Golf II Bilsteins on another mid engined car a few years ago, and noticed that the internal bumpstops don't do all that much, and if you ever "bump" them, you'll get a loud, nasty clunk, pull over and inspect...
Also, don't worry about dust boots so much, unless you drive in salty, harsh environments; the Bilsteins are very resilient, have really good seals, believe it or not.
 
Nice job!

If someone( hint hint) were to make a kit for the parts that you machined to make this work, I'm sure there would be much interest here. There is very little choice for struts for our cars and these sport Bilsteins seem like just the ticket.
 
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Possible these Bilstien dampers can be re-valved for different spring rates than as delivered.

This could be something worth inquiring about with the local Bilstien performance/race support shop.


Bernice
 
Rupunzell said:
Possible these Bilstien dampers can be re-valved for different spring rates than as delivered.

This could be something worth inquiring about with the local Bilstien performance/race support shop.


Bernice
Click to expand...

I had a set of these and yes Bilstein will re-valve. I also had a dyno plot of the dampening as delivered and believe I posted it on Xweb before. The only downside to re-valving these is that Bilstein does not offer any digressive options for this diameter strut.

Found the post http://www.xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/5001&highlight=bilstein
 
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Curious, how have these re-valved Bilstiens worked out on your exxe.


Bernice

spiggs said:
I had a set of these and yes Bilstein will re-valve. I also had a dyno plot of the dampening as delivered and believe I posted it on Xweb before. The only downside to re-valving these is that Bilstein does not offer any digressive options for this diameter strut.

Found the post http://xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/5001/
Click to expand...
 
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Rupunzell said:
Curious, how have these re-valved Bilstiens worked out on your exxe.


Bernice
Click to expand...

I ended up going with the G-Force units over the Bilstein inserts. After researching what options I had for new valving it became clear that the Bilsteins would be marginal at the spring rates I wanted to use (700F, 550R) so I ponied up for the Koni setup.
 
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