.RJ

A write up with some pics here, in case you guys have not done this before.

Difficulty: On a scale of 1-5, I give this project a 2.

Time: 2-4 hrs, depending on how fast you work, if you have an impact or lift, how drunk you are.

First, you pick up some busted *** used Konis. Then you call up CRX Lee (<-- link there) and ask him to rebuild and revalve them stiffer. He'll send you some pimpy boxes like this



Now put the car on stands and take your spinnerz off



Assemble your tools



And we'll start with the front suspension first. Remove the 12mm bolts holding the brake line to the shock





Remove the brake line from the shock



Then remove the 14mm pinch bolt at the top of the shock fork



Now remove the bolt holding the shock fork to the lower control arm. Secure the bolt with a 17mm wrench, and remove the 17mm nut



Use a BFH and a drift to tap the bolt out of the LCA



Drop the shock fork off of the shock



Remove the 14mm nuts on the shock tower, the shock will drop once they are removed (hold onto the shock body as you do this)



Remove shock assembly towards front of the car



That was easy, now onto the rear......

Disconnect the swaybar endlink from the LCA, 14mm bolt



Remove the lower shock bolt, 14mm



Remove the upper shock bolts, also 14mm



The shock will then drop



Remove the 14mm bolt holding the upper control arm to the trailing arm. This gives the suspension enough droop to get the shock assembly out



Remove shock assembly towards rear of the car



Ok, everything's out lets take them apart

Get your spring compressors and compress the spring



Using a 14mm wrench and a 5mm hex/allen key, remove the upper shock mount bolt, and the upper mount



Take the spring off



Label your springs if you are re-using them



*** If not, and are just replacing springs on the stock shocks then you would just reassmble now in the reverse order of dissasembly. Spring compressor is usually not required with lowering springs***

Using a prybar and BFH or other suitable device, pound the brake line bracket off of the stock shock. Give it solid hits and work around the bracket until it slides off



Separate the rubber bushings from the metal collar in the upper shock mount




Replace the stock metal collar with the one supplied by Koni



One ITR's the shock shaft is too large for the stock upper mount (stock is 10mm, Koni is 12mm). They're metal on top and bottom, so I took them to a machine shop where they bored out the holes on a drill press so that the shock shaft will fit through. I do not think this is a problem for civic and other integra mounts, they are supposedly 12mm.

<FONT COLOR="red">Warning: Ghetto-Fab Ahead</FONT>

The bumpstops didnt fit over the Koni shock shaft either. So I introduced them to Mike's dremel.



Line up the brake line bracket with the divot on the shock as shown, and pound the bracket in place. I used a piece of steel tubing I had sitting around and light taps with the BFH until its all the way on.



Install the circlip on the shock body



Then the ring for the spring seat



Now the spring seat



Dust cover, bumpstop and washer



Compress the spring, put the upper hat, washer, and pair of 20mm nuts on the shock shaft.



Take the spring compressors off, and installation is the reverse of dissasembly. On the front, make sure the divot on the shock is lined up with the pinch bolt on the lower shock fork. The lower fork will not slide all the way on and the bolt will not thread freely in if they are not lined up. In the rear, jack up the lower control arm to get the upper control arm back onto the trailing arm once the shock is in.

Torque specs for ITR on reassembly:

Front

Upper Hat 36 ft-lbs
Pinch Bolt 32 ft-lbs
Lower fork 47 ft-lbs
Brake Line Brackets 16 ft-lbs

Rear

Upper Hat 36 ft-lbs
Lower Shock Mount 40 ft-lbs
Swaybar Endlink 29 ft-lbs
UCA 40 ft-lbs


Modified by George Knighton at 3:50 PM 7/7/2008

GettaluvR

wow nice write up !!
let us know how's the ride

.RJ

Rides like its on jackstands now

Battery died on the impact, will finish later

FyrFytr

stunna!

Mugen Type R

i only have 3 things to say:
Nice write up,
thanks alot for the good info and pics that were clearly indicated with photoshop
and last but not least:
WOW, your the man!

navin

iTrader: (1)

what...where's the call for the snagglet33f mechanic to come over and help..err drink brews..

fix my car ryan, and nice write up

.RJ

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by navin &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">fix my car ryan, and nice write up </TD></TR></TABLE>

Its busted again?

navin

iTrader: (1)

the idle ownz me...

Honda IACV's

MissMyHonda

nice writeup

.RJ

Swap that chit out for another one

Bbasso

Very cool, thanks RJ for the write up.

Hairy Gorilla

bling blang, why no springs to slam it?

py1188

Good write up. I've done this so many times I can now do it in my sleep

Mindtrap

thanks rj, exactly what i needed.

Eluder200K

Sweet, thanks for the great write-up RJ

When I did the shocks on my buddies R I just used the car as a spring compressor and took the top shock retaining nut off with the car on the ground, that way you don't need to use spring compressors (which can be kinda scary). Does anyone else use this technique? It sure is a heck of a lot easier, that's for sure.

itr1244

damn.. nice How to "".. that's nice.. thanks alot

jiahanhao

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Eluder200K &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When I did the shocks on my buddies R I just used the car as a spring compressor and took the top shock retaining nut off with the car on the ground, that way you don't need to use spring compressors (which can be kinda scary). Does anyone else use this technique? It sure is a heck of a lot easier, that's for sure.</TD></TR></TABLE>


i did the same thing with my ceevic

RGoose18

iTrader: (1)

Amazing write up! Keep it up

Slow_Em1

[QUOTE=.RJ]


good ol' craftsman tools.

littledan

that's the best how to i've seen yet.

bender

Very nice how-to; especially the warning on what parts need to be modified. Thanks.

EleanoR

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by py1188 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Good write up. I've done this so many times I can now do it in my sleep </TD></TR></TABLE>

You ain't kidding. Once you do this once the next couple of times will go by much faster. Just make sure you slow yourself down the first few times because in my case I accidentally put stuff on the new Koni shock in the wrong order which didn't hurt it but I realized later that day so I had to take the shock off the car for a 2nd time

mike

Philly_NBP_R

nice write up .RJ

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

woooo finally a write-up showing the CORRECT way to install Konis, including the brake line bracket swap, hardware modification and everything!

Only one thing, though:

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One ITR's the shock shaft is too large for the stock upper mount (stock is 10mm, Koni is 12mm). They're metal on top and bottom, so I took them to a machine shop where they bored out the holes on a drill press so that the shock shaft will fit through. I do not think this is a problem for civic and other integra mounts, they are supposedly 12mm.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't understand this part. When you replace that metal tube inside the upper mount for the one supplied by Koni, the new one is of a larger ID to accomodate the Koni shock piston. What exactly did you have to get machined?

Also I didn't have to do anything to my bumpstops, I just jammed them over the piston and they eventually got past that little piece where the washer sits.

.RJ

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What exactly did you have to get machined? </TD></TR></TABLE>

The tops and bottoms of the rubber that sits in the shock mount are 1/8" or so metal, there's no washer on top of them like on civics and integras. Its just large enough for the stock shock shaft, and hence about 2mm too small for the larger Koni shock shaft. Lee @ Koni told me that only ITR's and S2000's have a 10mm shock shaft. I have no idea why......

Since the holes were enlarged, I used the koni supplied washer on top, under the nuts to be safe.

If you had a drill with a good 12mm carbide bit, I suppose this could be done at home, but I dont so to the machine shop it went. Only cost me $25 to have them drilled out.