Koni FSD shock, strut, damper install

[FreeFlyFreak]

UNFORTUNATLY MOST OF THE PICS WERE LOST IN THE INFAMOUS MSF SITE CRASH. THEY ARE GONE FOREVER. WHEN I PULLED THE MS COILS AND INSTALLED THE FSD 4045's I TOOK SOME MORE PICS SO THOSE ARE WHAT YOU SEE HERE.

EDIT: Put at the start so it is not skipped over:
I HIGHLY recommend you cut the Front bump and rear bump stops down when doing this install. (4040's only, Leave the rears alone for the 4045's)

After 18K miles approx 13K on the FSD's the bottom third of the front bump stops were starting to come apart. I ended up cutting them down. The ride over large bumps/dips at speed was much improved after doing this. Pic: of the parts removed:


The rear stop cutting applies ONLY to the 4040's NOT the 4045's
After a while I decided to risk cutting the rear stops also. I trimmed the rear stops a lot.

I removed 2.75" it maybe possible to get away with removing less, but I am not sure how much less.
The rears made an even greater improvement than cutting the fronts.
Absolutely fantastic! you can read details, and see pics of what I did to the rears here:
http://www.mazdaspeedforum.org/forum/foru...mp-stop-45695/

If you dont want to cut your bumpstops (new rear stops are hard to come by) a MUCH BETTER WAY is to buy some short aftermarket stops like the fatcatmotorsports ones or the ones from Ground Control, and switch them out during install. That way you have the stock stops whole in case you ever want to stock out or change back.
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I installed my Koni FSD shocks/struts today, with the stock springs.

Thanks to Ken @ protege garage for a great deal on the FSD's

Here is my write up:

Disclaimer: If you are not sure what you are doing seek a professional install. If you mess it up following this how to, sorry, you should have paid to have it done.

My Koni FSD's 2100-4040 were drop shipped from Koni and arrived in a damaged box, both rear shocks had punched through the multiple layers of box, approx 1" thick in total. I'm not sure, the shocks must have been held somewhat compressed because they are longer than the box, what ever was holding them came off and bam they punched right through.
Fortunately the threads were undamaged and there appeared to be no damage to the shock so I said Fk'it and pushed ahead with the install.

PICS LOST IN MSF CRASH



Firstly it helps if you donate $$ to www.mazdaspeedforum.org/forum and get access to the VIP section which has a manual you can download to help you. It is useful for Torque numbers for reinstall.

FIRST THE FRONT

Loosen the front lug nuts.
I recommend you drive the front wheels onto blocks/wood first so you have enough room to work the jack handle in a minute.

Chock rear wheels, set parking brake.

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Open the hood, draw around the 3 nuts that hold the strut in place with a sharpie/pencil/whatever, so you can install in exactly the same position, there is a lot of potential play in this area.
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Jack up the vehicle using some wood between the jack and the metal cross brace, front jack point is just to the left of the rear engine mount, as you look from the front.

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Install jack stands.

Remove wheels. This is what you will see

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Remove ABS sensor wire.
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Remove Clip that holds brake hose to strut.
Remove brake hose from strut
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Remove stabilizer control link upper nut
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Remove shock absorber lower bolt. I didn't take a pic (sorry). but here is a pic of the bolt reversed for the spread trick.
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At this point the Mazda manual tells to remove the Tie-rod end ball joint and the Front lower arm ball joint, however the other write up's I have read and from talking to other members I found that if you are careful about not forcing anything, these steps are not necessary, and so I skipped those 2 steps.

Remove 3 shock absorber upper bolts around stiffener. (not the center one)
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At this point the strut is free it is up to you to get it out.
I found the best method with the OEM front struts was to use the standard jack from the trunk and jack it out.

Once you have it up a little, you can use the bolt you took out from the lower mount and put it in reverse, use a piece of metal/washer/quarter, as a stop to spread open the mount and make the job easy.
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Once out you can either take your strut to the likes of pep boys and have them switch out the spring to the new strut, or if like me you don't have somewhere nearby or don't have other transportation you can borrow/rent a spring compressor from a similar store and take the spring off yourself.
The spring must be compressed using the spring compressor, follow the directions that came with the compressor, don't cut corners, and don't use a cheap ass spring compressor, unless you want problems/slippage/danger. Power tools are your friend with the compressor, it takes forever to do this with hand tools, I did it once a long time ago when I was young and more stupid. I would not recommend it.
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Once the spring is compressed unlatch the bottom of the dust boot, this will prevent you from opening the upper strut mount bearing, and spilling all the balls everywhere.
Remove the piston rod nut. The nut is 17mm and you will need to hold the center of the piston with an allen wrench, 6mm IIRC (no pics)
Carefully remove the top mount/bearing/bumper/dust boot as one unit.
Here is a comparison of the OEM and Koni FSD struts, Konis have much more travel.


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Place the Koni provided plastic bump ring on the strut, you shouldn't use the yellow stop from the stock struts, you will lose travel and the FSD's will not work properly Ploppity Drown found out the hard way.
Transfer the compressed spring to the new strut. Making sure it remains seated correctly in the perch.
Transfer the top mount/bearing/bumper/dust boot to the new strut.
Align the nubs on the top and bottom of the bearing with the end of the spring and guide on the back side of the strut.
Attach the new piston rod nut.
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IMPORTANT: the new nut for the Koni is 19mm and is way more recessed when installed than the OEM you MUST have a 19mm box end deep offset wrench or similar to torque this up, remember you need to hold the piston steady with an allen wrench as you tighten the nut.

The Koni struts are longer than the OEM and you will wonder how the hell you will make it fit, it can be done.
Use the reverse bolt and washer trick to open the mount, put the top in place, push the bottom mount down and rotate it a quarter turn to the rear (that is the key), and it will slide right in, I recommend some lubricant here, grease, anti seize, whatever to aid the install. Once mostly in, remove the nut/washer trick and use the car jack if needed to jack the mount up all the way onto the base of the strut.

Install from here is the reverse of removal.

Now do the other side.

Reinstall and re torque wheels/lugs.
Remove jack stands and take off jacks

THINGS THAT WENT WRONG, FRONT.

Broke a cheap socket I was using to hold the allen head when trying to take the top nut off. (had to bike to the store to get another)
Didnt have a 19mm box end deep offset wrench to install the new nut. (got everything off with the tools I had, but different size nut and much more recessed meant another store trip for me)
On the second (right side) I had a hell of a time getting the base of the strut back into the mount, The first side went in easy, so I was surprised.
I think the paint was a lot thicker on the right Koni strut. There was a ridge on the first strut that was barely visible on the second due to thicker paint. I struggled for a looong time. Eventually grease, scraping some paint off and cranking the hole open with the bolt/washer as far as I could, got it in.
That created my next problem, I had bent the mount open so much to get the strut in I could not reengage the threads with the bolt (too much offset angle).
That meant yet another bike trip to the store for a C clamp to bend the mount back in to get the bolt to catch.

By the time I finished the fronts, with all those bicycle trips to the store, I was done for the day.


Day 2.

NOW FOR THE REAR......

The rear shocks are a LOT easier.

Chock front wheels, put car in gear.

Loosen the rear Lug Nuts.
Jack the rear of the car up, again some wood between the jack point (you cant miss it, middle of rear crossmember)
Intall jack stands for safety
Remove wheels this is what you will see:
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Remove 2 upper shock mount nuts. 12mm(IIRC)
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Remove lower Bolt 17mm
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The strut will drop down and you will think huh? how the hell do I get this out.
Move the top of the shock toward you a little so it clears the top mounting point.
Compress the strut so it is short enough to get out.
Move the bottom of the strut out of the mount and in toward the center of the car.
The the shock can then be removed.

Remove the top nut (13mm) holding the mount to the strut.
Again you need to hold the piston so it doesnt turn this time a pair of locking pliers will do the job.

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Remove the mount/bumper/dust shield as one unit.

Here is a pic comparing the rear OEM and Koni FSD again the Koni Piston is longer.
I saw no signs of bump stop contact on the rears, it was VERY obvious on the fronts.

PIC LOST IN MSF CRASH

Place the Koni provided plastic ring on the strut.
Place mount/bumper/dust shield on new shock.
Reinstall the 2 koni provided nuts to the top of the shock, holding the piston with locking pliers so it doesn't turn.

Reinstall the strut, again you will need to compress it to get it in.

Reinstall upper 2 nuts,

When reinstalling the lower bolt both the koni instructions and the mazda manual call for the axle to be supported in driving position, I was told I could skip this step but did it anyway for piece of mind. I jacked up the axle into normal driving position before torquing down the lower bolt
Reinstall lower bolt, the Koni bushing is slightly narrower than stock so use a washer if you can find one to fit, I couldn't, so I just tightened it enough to bend the mount and make it snug.

Repeat for other side

Remount wheels, re torque lugs, remove jack stands, let the car down and you are good to go.

THINGS THAT WENT WRONG, REAR:
Forgot to put the plastic ring on the first shock, didn't realize till I was doing the second one , so I had to pull it out again and take it apart to put the ring on.
Put that ring on NOW, not later.

The rears are a lot easier than the front.


INITIAL DRIVING IMPRESSIONS:

After a short drive these are my initial impressions.

The car is a lot smoother over the speed bumps in my neighborhood.
The fronts no longer hit the bump stops going over the speed bumps, I used to feel them bottom out everytime. (when I took the OEM fronts apart it was obvious there had been quite a bit of contact with the bumpers and the top of the strut)
There is a large reduction in road noise, from surface noise, to cracks, expansion joints, and reflectors. It is more of a thunk than a BAM.
The ride is definitely smoother all around, in town and on highway.

The bouncing is mostly cured, but not 100% unfortunately.
There are still some situations where I still get some rock and roll, but it is tamed, less bounce, and over in one cycle instead of repeated 2 or 3 times..

I would say 75% of the bouncing is gone completely, the worst 25% that remains is tamed, in that it has less amplitude. Im guessing 40% reduced amplitude (60% remains), and the big improvement is, it is over in one cycle, instead of being repeated 2 or 3 times.
There may be a small amount of added front end movement at lower speeds around town, accelerating/braking but I am not 100% sure, could be my imagination.

I certainly felt more relaxed pushing it at speed in corners. The edgy unstable feeling was gone.

Summary, it is not as good as I had hoped, but it is way better than stock.

Maybe Stretch and CP-e can cure the remaining 25%, I hope so, but I will be waiting to hear positive user impressions before ripping those front struts out again.

But I want to clarify something, having read what I just wrote.
If I was still stock and had just driven a car with the FSD's on, I am not sure I would rush out and buy them.

If that makes sense.

I am glad I have them, because they are much better than stock, but they don't entirely cure the problem that I was trying to cure.
The bouncy/floaty at high speed, it is much better but not altogether gone.
The FSD's may be part of the solution, but they are not a total solution.

Thanks to MAZDASTEVE3 for his assistance and advice for the install, and thanks also to SACRILICIOUS for his Cobb spring install write up on 24/7. Both those resources saved me much headache.

UPDATE:
Went for a longer test drive today, just driving and getting a feel for the Konis.

The route I took was this:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sadd...2&ie=UTF8&z=10

My impression after my longer drive today is this:
I would consider this setup perfect except for one thing, there are still some road surfaces that bother the car.
I felt it yesterday but couldn't quite put my finger on it, or describe it.
Hard to describe in words a road surface, the problem surface it is an undulating surface, where some parts of the road have sunk a little, not much, but enough. You often get areas that are like this in norcal, they may last a mile or so. It creates what I call jostle, not a dangerous or unsettling movement, but the kind of thing that could make someone car sick.
Where too much movement is transmitted to the cabin.
It is often mostly side to side, and I am not sure it can be removed, maybe the sway bars are to blame, and I would rather not change those and lose cornering.
The stock car had the same problem, but in a different way, the stock jostle was more harsh, and abrupt, the Koni Jostle feels like the same amplitude but smoother, it still would make you car sick, it just wouldn't beat you up while doing it (it would only shake you up).

I still get the odd bounce over a deep depression, but it is much more refined and the scary part is removed.
I am not a road racer.... well sometimes..... but today I hit speeds I have never dared hit before, because the unpredictability, the scary part was gone.
That was the main thing for me, the car scared me at times, that is gone and I am glad.

Having said that I wish the jostle was gone, I thought I would point out the good things, as they do far out way the bad bits that are left:
They are a reasonably priced solution @ 650 (set of 4) from Protege Garage.
They make the ride around town more comfortable.
They get rid of a lot of road noise, I always blamed the tires, but I think half the noise was the shocks transmitting more noise/vibes to the body.
They tamed the dangerous amplified bounces, into just one mild dampened bounce.
They got rid of most (75%) of the other bounces.
They made the car feel MUCH better at high speed. 80-140. I would say the car now feels like it is going 40 mph slower than it used to, so at 120 with the FSD's it feels like it used to at 80 on the OEM's.

I actually notice a HUGE difference backing out of my driveway, it slopes down to the road, drops off about a half inch to the concrete gutter and then jumps up a half inch to the road surface which slopes up toward the center. It used to be, anything faster than a slow crawl would give an abrupt jolt followed by a lot of oscillation, now I back out at a normal pace, nothing more than a dull thud sound, no jolt, no jive. It behaves like any other "normal" car.

All I am left with that I dont like is the remaining 25% tamed bounce, and the jostle which feels the same amount as stock but smoother.
Not perfect, but waaay better than stock.

I would like to go with another local, stock suspension, MS3 and do back to back runs on the same road at the same speed, hoping I can get someone else involved in norcal with an iphone or another accelerometer recording product for an unbiased comparo.
Anyone local to Santa Cruz/San Jose have something with an accelerometer that can record/measure, the bumps/jolts?