I tried installing a pair of Koni Yellows on the front of my '89 DX Hatchback today but I could not get the ring that the brake hoses screw onto, all the way onto the shock body. The instructions show that you should press the ring off of the old shock and push it onto the new one. When I first tried pounding it on I got an inch or so before it would not go any further. I measured the diameters of the stock and Koni shock bodies, and the Koni's were at least .030" greater in diameter in the vicinity of where the ring should sit. Since I did not want to put the old shocks back on, I tried removing all of the paint up to the location where I thought the ring should stop. This reduced the diameter about .020" and allowed me to press the ring on much further than before. However, when I pressed the ring on it stopped about a quarter of an inch short of where it should sit because the shock body tapers outward rapidly past a certain point. It is not a matter of having used too little force, because I mushroomed a chromoly tube trying to pound the ring on.

Has anybody body else had this problem with the Koni's on an '89-91 Civic? The shocks I ordered were supposed to be for an '89-'91 Civic. Do you think I received the wrong parts or is this normal? The ring not only clamps to the brake hoses but also aligns the damper fork on the shock body. If this is normal then I think it is ridiculous that the ring does not fit.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by on2wheels &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If this is normal then I think it is ridiculous that the ring does not fit.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't know if it is normal, but it is the same problem that I had when I first installed my Konis in the front of my 88 CRX Si. In the end I didn't use the brackets at all and I haven't had any problems. However, I have "moved" the shock body down in the fork so there's really no way to use the brackets at this point. But I get more shock travel as a result.

 

What I did was take a dremel and grind out the inside of the ring until it fit.