Wandering Shock Tower Mounts

JTBernhardt

JTBernhardt

True Classic
Hello!

My X1/9 fitted with the Midwest Bayless single adjustable Koni coilover kit appears to have some sort of issue with the shock tower mounts. They seem to be moving around as I drive and are getting stuck under the shock towers. Any ideas on what is causing this and how to fix it?

F713432B-1E3A-46AE-8729-94B6D434EAF4.jpeg
 
Sounds like your upper strut mounts (rubber cushion) are shot. There have been reports that the majority of replacements are not holding up well. If your coil-overs have stiffer springs then this will be exasperated even further. You may want to look into the heavy duty aftermarket strut mounts or the Ford Focus strut mount mod.
 
JTBernhardt said:
Hello!

My X1/9 fitted with the Midwest Bayless single adjustable Koni coilover kit appears to have some sort of issue with the shock tower mounts. They seem to be moving around as I drive and are getting stuck under the shock towers. Any ideas on what is causing this and how to fix it?

View attachment 24527
Click to expand...

It's been posted before on XWeb that several years ago there was a run of these strut mounts made by third-party-suppliers that were just awful, mostly due to the wrong grade of rubber, resulting in early rubber fatigue. They were being sold by many vendors and unfortunately just by looking at product arriving from previously reliable sources, at first glance there was no way for the vendors to know it was a bad batch.

Jack the car up and support it safely, remove the tire, eat your Wheaties, and then grasp the spring towards the top and try to displace it. Or insert a good pry bar between the spring and the sheet metal of the shock tower and try to lever it around. If you can create movement in the spring, you'll see the center cone section moving around in the "donut hole" of the strut mount. Movement means that (a) the cone section is not sufficiently tightened and therefore not self-centering in the donut hole, or (b) the rubber ring that creates the donut hole is fatigued, deteriorated, or separated from the metal of the strut mount.

The typical symptoms of failure are the lateral movement yours are showing, and/or the "bulge" where the rubber is actually stretched vertically, allowing the top cone to rise above the sheet metal of the strut tower.

If (a), tighten the big nut at the top with an impact gun and monitor for movement

If (b), the parts are worn and will need to be replaced. Chris Obert sells an improved product: http://www.fiatplus.com/HEAVY-DUTY-UPPER-STRUT-MOUNT.html

I have the full Plaia treatment (the uprated strut mounts & the BigFoot doublers all around, and Mark's thrust bearings [Plaia Pivots] on the front, and it's well worth the cost.
 
Last edited:
Did you check with Matt at MWB? His customer support for products he sells is amazing.
 
I installed a set from a different vendor about 6 months ago that were so soft the cones contacted the body the moment I lowered the car. Returned and fully refunded but yeah. The duro of the rubber on mine was way under rated for that application.

The torque spec for the strut assembly center bolt is 43 ft-lb. If it's under torqued it could cause a loose condition. But if you know you have it torqued correctly it's probably from that bad batch of parts.
 
Last edited:
Cratecruncher said:
I installed a set from a different vendor about 6 months ago that were so soft the cones contacted the body the moment I lowered the car. Returned and fully refunded but yeah. The duro of the rubber on mine was way under rated for that application.
Click to expand...

Where did you get yours from? Feel free to PM me the answer. Greatly appreciated as I have had a similar issue and wanted to verify. I assumed I had assembled them wrong and took it apart three times to try to alleviate the issue. Ended up with the same issue after each attempt. Grrr.
 
I'm very tempted to do the Ford Focus mount mod to get away from all of these issues. Yes there are some heavy duty aftermarket stock style mounts available, and they are great. But I'd like to see how the Ford items work out as an alternative. I don't recall, has anyone given any long term feedback with them yet?
 
Vick also offer a 124 (correction: Model 128) upper mount that I think is genuine Fiat for a very reasonable price. The part is the same as the X1/9 except it has a symmetrical mount pattern for the tower so you will have to drill an extra hole in your body (ouch).
 
Last edited:
Cratecruncher said:
Vick also offer a 124 upper mount
Click to expand...
I believe you mean "128"? If they are the 128 items it saw on the site, I kind of doubt they are original Fiat parts based on the price.

Someone once noted the 3 hole 128 mounts might be good on the X because you can rotate their position to extend the service life. I'm not sure how much that will help or not.
 
Dr.Jeff said:
I'm very tempted to do the Ford Focus mount mod to get away from all of these issues. Yes there are some heavy duty aftermarket stock style mounts available, and they are great. But I'd like to see how the Ford items work out as an alternative. I don't recall, has anyone given any long term feedback with them yet?
Click to expand...

Mine have only been in since May, so I only have 1,000 miles or so on them.
 
Cratecruncher said:
Vick also offer a 128 upper mount... The part is the same as the X1/9 except it has a symmetrical mount pattern for the tower so you will have to drill an extra hole in your body (ouch).
Click to expand...

Actually to get the top of the strut in the centre of the hole in the bodywork, you need to drill two holes in your bodywork...OR... with a combination of a doubler plate and a 128 top mount you can do the job without drilling any holes in the body at all. And yes 128/127 mounts are quite readily available and real genuine or OEM Pirelli mounts are quite reasonably priced, and do not require any modifications or fabrication to get the job done.

Andrea Vencl in Eastern Europe has some pretty cool replacement top mounts that are solid / bushed (like the adjustable ones) but these are fixed / non adjustable,

SteveC
 
fiatfactory said:
Actually to get the top of the strut in the centre of the hole in the bodywork, you need to drill two holes in your bodywork...OR... with a combination of a doubler plate and a 128 top mount you can do the job without drilling any holes in the body at all. And yes 128/127 mounts are quite readily available and real genuine or OEM Pirelli mounts are quite reasonably priced, and do not require any modifications or fabrication to get the job done.

Andrea Vencl in Eastern Europe has some pretty cool replacement top mounts that are solid / bushed (like the adjustable ones) but these are fixed / non adjustable,

SteveC
Click to expand...

My apologies Steve, could you elucidate a bit on the doubler with a 128/127 mount?

I suspect you are suggesting taking a doubler plate with holes drilled for both the 128/7 strut mount and the X body holes and then use two PEM studs facing down into the 128/7 position at two points and two PEM studs at two of the X points facing up. Then drive out two of the existing studs from the 128/7 mount leaving the one to go up through both the doubler plate and the X body hole nearest the engine/trans?

I have contemplated this for both the 128 mount and the Ford mount.

Or were you thinking something else?

Thank you in advance for your answer

Karl
 
Pretty well got it in one Karl... easy job too...requires a very small notch to be ground into the edge of the 128 mount for a clearance hole for a stud. I've done this a heap of times, if the top of the tower is bowed and the top mount is U/S, then it makes sense to me to do both jobs at once. I haven't got any pictures but planning to do a set soon for my track day car (RPFCC) as I want to put it thru registration inspection with stock struts and springs.

The studs in the mounts are simply pressed in, so a swift tap with a hammer drives them out easy.

makes me laugh when people try to adapt parts from all sort of other cars... I mean 40 years later a 128 or an X19 mount is still available... will a ford focus mount be available in 40 years? and remember it's thinking like that which puts the Fiat parts vendors out of business.

SteveC
 
Thanks, I was hoping it was that “simple”.

I have some doubler plates which I can modify using a press at work.

Thank you I am glad I asked as it has been something I have been toying with in my mind.

Karl
 
JTBernhardt said:
Hello!

My X1/9 fitted with the Midwest Bayless single adjustable Koni coilover kit appears to have some sort of issue with the shock tower mounts. They seem to be moving around as I drive and are getting stuck under the shock towers. Any ideas on what is causing this and how to fix it?

View attachment 24527
Click to expand...

Had that problem years ago so turned some polyurethane stock to fit into the top of the tower and a slight mod to the watchamacllit that goes on the strut and have had it that way close to ten years.
IMG_0744.JPG
this is the front but did all four corners.
yellow.jpg
This is kind of the way it looks on the inside.
I forgot to draw the plate that bolts to the tower.
A bit of work but they stay centered.
 
fiatfactory said:
Pretty.

makes me laugh when people try to adapt parts from all sort of other cars... I mean 40 years later a 128 or an X19 mount is still available... will a ford focus mount be available in 40 years? and remember it's thinking like that which puts the Fiat parts vendors out of business.

SteveC
Click to expand...

I changed from the Fiat mounts because they were not strong enough for the 350lb springs in my rear coilovers. I had new (last couple years) mounts that I put in with the coilovers conversion. They were fine with lower rate spring set, no good at all with the 350. Died within a couple weeks driving, had the struts pushed into the tower all over again
 
fiatfactory said:
will a ford focus mount be available in 40 years?
Click to expand...
I can say that I will not be around in 40 years. o_O I'll be lucky if I can still drive in 10 years. And I won't be getting in and out of little sports cars before then. But unfortunately the stock replacement mounts currently available won't last even that long.
 
I think I'm gonna try that 128 mount with an adapter plate. Some 1/8" steel plate from Home Depot, some serrated studs from Austin Bolt, fire up the old jigsaw, make some parts!

If the X1/9 designers had just carried over the hole mount pattern from the 128 we wouldn't even be having this conversation. The nerve of those guys, lol.
 
Last edited:
lookforjoe said:
I changed from the Fiat mounts because they were not strong enough for the 350lb springs in my rear coilovers. I had new (last couple years) mounts that I put in with the coilovers conversion. They were fine with lower rate spring set, no good at all with the 350. Died within a couple weeks driving, had the struts pushed into the tower all over again
Click to expand...

Well technically not the spring rate; rather the damper settings, eh?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top