i just installed the koni sports/gc on my civic but the bolt that goes through the rear bottom shock and control arm must have stripped either the bolt or nut because the bolt never tightens down it just spins. Is this going to be a problem if so what should i do? i noticed that on the koni shock the welded nut was not completely straight like the stock one and i carefully threaded by hand first... thanks

 

anyone?

 

Just brake the welded nut off and stick a normal nut on there.

 

with a lock washer?? i ordered another bolt from honda.. hopefully the bolt was stripped and not the nut? this sucks maybe i should have just gone with progress setup.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dchung1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">this sucks maybe i should have just gone with progress setup.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I dont think the progress setup prevent installer error.

I doubt there was a problem with the konis. Sounds like the bolt was either cross threaded, or seized. Did you use anti-seize on them when you installed the shocks?

 

no i tried threading the bolt by hand and it wouldnt go through, so i tried threading the bolt just through the lower rear shock body straight just to see if the bolt goes through and it still didnt go through easy. I looked to see why and the welded nut on the koni shock body is not a straight line, the nut is off center kind of at a angle if you know what i mean so i just tried threading it through. Thats when i saw some metal shavings off the bolt but not sure if the nut is now cross threaded also.
i might have to do what the other guy suggested and break the koni nut off the shock body and then put a new oem stock bolt with an non welded bolt at the end.

 

Were these shocks new?

 

I have had the spot welded nut break the spot welds before...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dchung1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">no i tried threading the bolt by hand and it wouldnt go through, so i tried threading the bolt just through the lower rear shock body straight just to see if the bolt goes through and it still didnt go through easy. I looked to see why and the welded nut on the koni shock body is not a straight line, the nut is off center kind of at a angle if you know what i mean so i just tried threading it through. Thats when i saw some metal shavings off the bolt but not sure if the nut is now cross threaded also.
i might have to do what the other guy suggested and break the koni nut off the shock body and then put a new oem stock bolt with an non welded bolt at the end.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If they were new, it sounds like a warantee issue to me.

 

The Prelude rear shock has a much wider spanning and deeper lower mounting clevice and it is easy for the two legs to get out of parallel so the holes do not line up easily. Just a few degrees out of parallel can make the bolt not line up exactly because of the span and the arm length. I have never seen this on anything but Prelude because they by far have the biggest clevice.

I have seen this when people install used shocks and the person who removed them wasn't too carely and pryed or twisted the shock off the car or if that got whacked around hard when off the car. Also in the past 8 years I have run into a few sets that did not line up exactly when they were made new, usually if the heat from the welding cooled and the metal drew up a little bit more and pulled out of parallel. If the arms are not parallel, it is easy to simply realign them off the car by using the bolt to establish were it is not straight then knock them lightly with a hammer until it aligns again.

If the shocks are brand new and made this way, they would be covered by warranty so arrange an exchange with your dealer. If they are used, straighten them.

 

ok thanks. ill take it apart today and see if the nuts are stripped.. i might just end of breaking the nut off and using another oem new bolt and lock washer and nut. thanks though

 

Make sure you back it up with washers to distribute the load, and a locking nut.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Rene M &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have had the spot welded nut break the spot welds before...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Me too. Just the other day in fact.
Just double nut it on the end and called it good.

 

I have Koni Sports on my Prelude. When I got them about 3 years ago, I had heard a good number of stories about the nuts on the rears getting stripped upon install. So before I put mine on the car, I hand-threaded the OE lower mounting bolt through. Low and behold, the bolt would not thread. It turns out that on both of my rear shocks, the two lower mounting prongs were not parallel. I had to take both rear shocks, put them in a vice, and bend the prongs straight before I could put them on the car. Had I just mounted them right out of the box, both of mine surely would have stripped as well. This is apparently a very common problem on the Prelude Sports Koni from about late 2000 and on. I wrote an article about the probelm and the fix about 3 years ago on PreludeOnline.com

Andrew

 

When I recieved my koni's for my ef they came with longer bolts and washers,nuts. you are supposed to chisel off the welded nut and use the long bolts.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1slow_si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
When I recieved my koni's for my ef they came with longer bolts and washers,nuts. you are supposed to chisel off the welded nut and use the long bolts.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Did you buy them used? Koni does not supply any bolts for Hondas as the stock bolt is just fine. If you feel that you need to chisel the nut off, go ahead but the nut was welded there in the first place so it would be used with the stock bolt.

 

the spot welds they use to hold the nut on are pretty weak, i had one break off on my old set of konis also, no big deal just use a regular nut, not worth going thru the hassle of warranty issues

 

When I got my Koni yellows for my S2000 (bought new) they did the same thing. I removed the nut and used new nuts/bolts. Several folks with S2000s had the same problem. I now have Koni Series 28s and they rock - still love Koni!!

 

Yes. I bought them new from shox.com (actually you recommended them to me over the phone) They came with the longer hardware. The factory bolt was too short to thread into the nut on the shock.

 

DOH! Just remembered. The longer hardware was so I could mount the angle piece for the suspension techniques swaybar.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1slow_si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> DOH! Just remembered. The longer hardware was so I could mount the angle piece for the suspension techniques swaybar.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, the ST bar tells you to knock the welded nut off your shocks and use their longer bolt. I knew that we did not supply any bolts.