Steering Rack Issue

[Steve Hoelscher]

I just sold a set of Koni reds. The X1/9 Koni reds are rebuildable, the inserts are not. The motorsport marketing manager at Koni is a good friend of mine. If you want to see about having them rebuilt I can send you his contact info.

If none of the components are bent I would check the radius arm mounts and its body mount to ensure they aren't bent. That's not uncommon. There are measurements in the FSM that can help you check that the chassis is true.

 

[JTBernhardt]

I just sold a set of Koni reds. The X1/9 Koni reds are rebuildable, the inserts are not. The motorsport marketing manager at Koni is a good friend of mine. If you want to see about having them rebuilt I can send you his contact info.

If none of the components are bent I would check the radius arm mounts and its body mount to ensure they aren't bent. That's not uncommon. There are measurements in the FSM that can help you check that the chassis is true.

The inner tie rod on the driver's (left) side is definitely bent. The passenger side also looks to be bent, but less severely. The radius arm mounts are not bent, the radius arms could be. They aren't terribly expensive to replace and since stripping and painting parts isn't going to be easy in SF I'll likely buy refurbished ones.

As for the Koni's I think I'd rather go for the full set of coil overs. Depending on the cost of the rebuilds, it may actually be cheaper in the long run. I would also like to raise the ride height in the front a bit more, which I can do easily with coil overs. Since this is my only drivable car at the moment time is also a factor in why the ready-to-go coil overs are seeming like a good option. It's expensive, but I don't plan on selling this car anytime soon. I'll have two sets of Koni reds that need rebuilds, perhaps I can try to sell a set and recoup some of the money I'm spending on the new coil overs. Either way I'll have to sell off some of my personal rare parts stash to help offset the cost.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

The ones I have for the X application are the "rebuildable" type (as should be the ones in this discussion). Meaning they were designed to be easily rebuilt. Therefore the cost to have it done is nowhere near the amount Huss cited. But I can see how it would cost a lot more if they were not the type designed to be rebuilt. Also it is not necessary to have Koni do the rebuilding. There are other facilities that can do it, at perhaps a lower cost as well.

Usually it is MUCH less expensive to rebuild them than replace them. And if you wish, while they are being rebuilt the valving, fluid viscosity, and settings can be tuned to accommodate any performance changes desired.

 

[Rupunzell]

Koni cannot "rebuild" those old dampers any more. Parts are no longer available.
http://www.truechoicekoniracingservices.com/services.php

Koni is NOT the only high quality damper available today. Do a search and look at what the current real race cars are using.

The obsession with "Dream" parts from decades ago is often not a good thing as there are far superior parts available today. Difficult is proper performance parts are expensive and require extensive modification-fabrication to allow fitment to the exxe. Beyond this, there is significant tuning and adjustment involved with known qualified expertise making the entire endeavor complex and expensive. This very often exceeds the market value of an exxe, which is why truly high performance chassis-suspension modifications to the exxe are not common.


Bernice

The "blown" Koni should be rebuildable. Not exactly cheap but much less expensive than a replacement (especially a coil-over one). Might look at having both fronts rebuilt, perhaps a little tuning in the process?

If I understand correctly, the control/radius arms just need new bushings. You can do that. Like you said, pretty much a complete front end redo.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

Koni cannot "rebuild" those old dampers any more. Parts are no longer available.

According to my inside contact at Koni, they are still rebuildable. But perhaps you have information that he does not. I'd suggest that anyone interested in having their Koni's rebuilt go directly to any of the available sources (Koni and otherwise) and ask. Frankly mine do not require rebuilding, but if/when that time comes I will follow up on it then. Thanks.

 

[Rupunzell]

Called Truesports (Koni) a few years ago about getting the Koni dampers for the exxe rebuilt. The service guy said parts are NLA for these 43mm dampers. This might have changed since then.

Regardless, solution here is to apply four Koni 8611 dampers (about $370 times four) to the exxe in housings built (more $) as needed.

The alternative, apply four modified Bilstien dampers in the appropriate housings. Difficulty with Bilstiens, they need to be set up by a Bilstien specialist on a shock dyno to the specific need. Koni 8611 give a bit more ability to tune and can be re-valved if needed.

Then we have Penske dampers, Öhlins, Tein and others... which are essentially special for the exxe. Once there is deviation from stock, the entire can-O-worms opens up.



Bernice

 

[Dr.Jeff]

Although the Koni insider I spoke to said they could be rebuilt, it is possible he was mistaken. I met with him in person last November to discuss some product development (he is an engineer there). We decided to hold off on that project (non-Fiat) until after the first of the year. In Feb we exchanged emails. Then in March he mailed me some materials, followed by more emails and finally the product was shipped to me in April. Somewhere in all of that I mentioned having recently purchased a NOS set of struts for the later X's, and asked if they could be rebuilt/retuned still. He said yes. But who knows if he was 100% correct, as I wasn't actually looking to do anything with them at that time (they were still new). That's why I said you might know something he doesn't. But I have the understanding they can be done. If that's true, in the current situation it would seem worth it to rebuild what already exists rather than spend a whole lot more for new units. New Koni's, Bilstein's, Ohlin's, Penske's, Tein's, etc are all VERY expensive.

In another example, I took some Bilstein's to their 'North American factory service facility' in San Diego for custom valving work. Despite being told over the phone they would do it, and the units being the "rebuildable" type, and having their "million mile warranty", they said they could not do anything with them (with no real explanation). Not great customer service, and with 'attitude'. So you never know what can and can't be done until you try. Who knows, it might all depend on who you deal with or even what mood they are in.

In the past I've also heard from yet another source that any "rebuildable" shock can be rebuilt, no matter how old or what it is. Apparently they can either modify or recreate whatever parts aren't currently available to do it. It is often done for vintage racing cars that don't have other alternatives. So I suppose anything is possible, but I'm sure for a price. However rebuilding standard Koni's like these isn't unreasonably expensive.