Update: ignore the part about the rack and pinion dust boots. They DID NOT work very well, due to rubbing on the 2.5" ID springs.

Update 2: See below note about putting electrical tape around the shock body.

From this thread: Write-up: Installing Koni Ground Controls and custom dust boots - Honda-Tech

I thought I would make a write-up on how to install these new Ground Control sleeves for Koni shocks. These new sleeves differ from the previous ones in that no adapter is needed. The inner diameter of the sleeve matches the Koni shock outer diamter exactly, and has a machined lip that sits directly on the snap ring.

For more info on installing the Konis themselves, check out .RJ's write-up here: Koni Shock Install (56K :burn - Honda-Tech

Here are normal spring and shock parts, I just used a stock spring to illustrate the assembly order.

Shock, spring perch, spring, bumpstop, smaller washer, dust cover, larger washer, top mount, dished washer, lock nut or 2 jam nuts on Konis:


When you install Ground Controls on Koni shocks, this is what you DON'T use:

spring perch and ring, OEM dust cover, OEM upper spring insulator


close-up of new Ground Control sleeve for Konis showing the machined lip that sits on the snap ring:


To keep the sleeve from spinning around on the shock, wrap some electrical tape around the shock body. Once around will do.

If the sleeve starts pushing the tape down, DO NOT use the tape. Remove it and go without, otherwise you risk failure of the circlip if it's not fully seated and captured by the notch in the sleeve.

Make sure the tape does not overlap itself at any point.


Slide the sleeve over the shock body, rotating it around when it hits the tape to help it fully seat on the snap ring


Shock w/ sleeve installed


Put the rack and pinion boot over the shock, the end that was previously very small (see first pics) should go over the shock body. Then install the bumpstop, and zip tie everything in place. Put the zipties in the valleys of the boot's folds, and position the ziptie around the bumpstop such that it tightens into one of the grooves on the bumpstop

Shock w/ new dust boot


I slid the lower zip tie down as far as it would go, with the cut end of the boot overlapping the GC sleeve:


Top end of the boot over the bumpstop

Cut off a strip from the top shown in the pic so that the upper mount will be able to fit over the bumpstop:


Top mount w/ new GC upper insulator (remove original rubber insulator):


Top mount assembled:


Place spring onto shock:


Install top mount and dished washer (make sure dish faces up):


Install jam nuts:


Completed assembly


When you are done you should have 4 dust covers, 4 spring perches, 4 perch rings (maybe not depending on the vintage of your Koni shocks, you might only have 2 rings from the front), and 4 original spring isolators left over


Here is the car after the original install and initial adjustment:


Showing off my m4d carpentry skillz y0 with these plywood ramps I made so I can get the jack under my car


After adjusting it to get it to sit level, and then raising it about 1 to 1.5 turns all around:

 

uh, whyd you zip tie the top of the boot to the bump stop?? your bumpstop is going to get pushed down and not cover the shock rod anymore. kinda makes it pointless.

 

lol

 

bumpstop remains at the top of the piston, directly under the top mount busings.

 

nice dust boot mod

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">From this thread: https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=917766




Modified by PatrickGSR94 at 10:20 PM 4/13/2005</TD></TR></TABLE>

Damm thats a great idea I always have to roll up on a brick....

 

how low did you set the coilovers? halfway down? all the way down?

 

i roll up on bricks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mikehawkBUiLT &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how low did you set the coilovers? halfway down? all the way down?</TD></TR></TABLE>

They are all set differently in order to acheive a level ride height.

 

how low you can go?? is 3inch ok for koni?? (dropping from stock height)
let me know

 

um...yeah time to repaint the gsr hammers...again.

 

clean car man, how does it ride? Ive been thinking about a new suspension setup, and the Koni/GC is almost sold for me (had my mind set on ksports for a while), but anyway great write up

 

Wow you guys are stupid. Look at the original post date. PatrickGSR94 has long since sold these.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KOALA YUMMIES &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Wow you guys are stupid. Look at the original post date. PatrickGSR94 has long since sold these. </TD></TR></TABLE>


haha....yeah, it was from a OLD thread

 

 

Can we archive this or atleast keep it up top?? I just got some components and will probably be using this as reference

EDIT: My bad, didnt see the other post was archived

 

Awesome

I've been looking for a full pic of that boot cover

Installing my GC/Koni's this monday Can't wait

The GC extended top hats came with the bump stops

 

I can't believe I didn't see this write up. Or maybe it was so old I don't remember
Regardless, great post

 

how's has this setup kept up since you first put it on... any updates?

 

haha dang man I sold the GC's over 3 years ago. Still riding on the Koni shocks with nearly 170K miles on them, running stock GS-R front springs and stock ITR rear springs with the Koni perch on the lowest level.

 

Hey patrick, I'm using skunk2 adjustables for my coilovers... when I put on my koni yellows and then put on the top hat, I noticed i didn't have to use a spring compressor? Am I doing this right? my spring can wobbles around and slides up and down, but if I lower the push the damper rod, the top hat sits on the spring like it should. Is this ok?

BTW, this is the first time i'm doing this, so I'm kinda lost.

 

With sleeves (Skunk2 or GC), the spring is short enough that the spring isn't fully captured at full droop.

This is normal, and won't cause any issues. Simply check to make certain that the springs correctly seated each time you let the car down off of a jack, which is about the only time they could mis-seat (unless the car catches air, in which case you have bigger issues to worry about).

 

Ok, so it looks ok then.

Next question though. Since you said it has to seat correctly, are you talking about the spring where it cups up top with the top hat? the bottom of the spring rests on the adjuster part, so i presume that is not the part you are talking about, correct?

 

Correct.

You don't need to look under the car to check either. On the very off chance that it fails to seat correctly in the tophat (not yet happened to me in 2 years), that corner of the car will be visibly higher after dropping it off a jack.

 

I respectfully disagree. If you hit a rumble strip and get a wheel airborne (fairly common on track), and the spring becomes un-seated from the top hat, your car will not drive the same. If your spring is not touching your top hat at full droop, then you need helper springs for sure.

What length springs are leaving space at full droop? Those are 7" or 8"???