Standard Konis are adjustable, I've done it, its good

Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

I asked around quite a few people at VOI and not many knew that the standard Konis are adjustable. I wasn't entirely sure myself, so I decided to find out on my return from VOI. I felt that my 99 GTS was definitely set up on the comfort side of good handling, with a general looseness in corners and an un-nerving wallow especially around the point where the rear end breaks away and grips again. Not confidence inspiring ! The spring rates felt reasonably good for fast road use, but the damping was way too soft, mainly in rebound.
I removed the spring/shock assembly from the car starting at the front, and with a set of spring compressors, removed the spring, then the plastic washer and the rubber bump stop(both split to facilitate fitting and removal). Then by clamping the bottom mounting of the Koni in the vice and fully compressing the shocks travel ( not the vice!) you will be able with a slight turn ( whilst fully compressed ) to feel the internal adjuster engaging. Whilst looking down from the top of the Koni, turning it anticlockwise, whilst still compressed, will reduce the rebound damping and clockwise increases it. There is a total of one and three quarters of a turn adjustment.
Mine were already turned fully anticlockwise ( minimum softest setting ), so I started by increasing the fronts to a half turn clockwise and reinstalling them, A road test showed no appreciable difference.
So out they came again, this time I tried a few different settings on the bench, and its difficult to feel any change until the adjuster is past one full turn clockwise. So I settled on one and a quarter turns all around, front and back, which leaves the Konis noticeably stiffer to fully extend by the very scientific method of standing on the bench above the vice and heaving as hard as I could to extend it.
After re-installing everything and it is a fair bit of work, it took me a full day and a bit of messing about, a roadtest revealed a greatly improved viper, no I'll say that again.... A TRANSFORMED VIPER !! The handling feels as I imagine it was designed to feel, better turn in, less after turn in wallow, much greater precision on the road, (and some of the roads in the UK and Ireland tax viper handling to the maximum). It is actually possible to feel what is happening with the suspension and the feedback from the road surface and tyres is altogether better.
I always knew that Konis were good dampers, and for no outlay, apart from my time, I have enabled them to start doing the job they were intended to do. I am delghted

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

I can foresee another upgrade for the Battleship, when ever your ready

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Is that the same for a 94 RT. Niel thats a fast battle ship

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Joel,

Great Post. Bill P told me about the adjustable shocks when I bought the car but I'm still too new in the seat to consider adjusting yet. Perhaps in time. I wonder if all come from the factory at the min-soft setting you describe?

Anyway thanks..good info.

Cheers.

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Not sure if a gen 1 would be the same, but if its on Konis they should be adjustable. I think that the gen 1's were a bit stiffer than the gen 2 anyway. Also not sure if all years and markets are set the same. Drove Chris's (Y2KGTS) 2000 GTS at VOI ( unbelievable generosity...thanks Chris ) and it felt a little tighter than my 99. Also **** 97 feels firmer than my before setting, but softer than my after setting. Incidentally, when I took them out initially, one of the front Konis was set at a quarter turn, the rest at minimum
Take a free day and just try adjusting, its one of the few things on a viper that costs nothing but time.

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Great info Joel. I was wondering why I had never seen a post about adjusting the stock non-ACR shocks. I will give it a try. What kind of spring compressor did you use?

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Gen 1 were a LOT stiffer, don't think you'd want to much harder
for street use

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Did'nt no if i could soften it up just a bit as the roads are not that good around here and she jumps about a bit..

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

You can adjust the Koni's on the GEN I cars the same way. Makes all the difference in the world. Made an even more of a difference after installing the Eibach springs.

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Neil, we'll get the battleship sorted out for next season, take a day some time and start working on it, reckon if we do a side each, half a day should sort it out. Until then there is a whole winter of polishing ahead

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Joel,
Great post! Did you notice any difference in ride quality ie. over potholes, bumps, rough pavement? Is it a kidney buster or tolerable? Thanks.

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Ride Quality is great, harder yes, but feels more "sporty" definitely not a gut buster, just a better controlled suspension.

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Thanks again. I'm changing to max firm this weekend! Will post my seat of the pants results also.

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Devil, be careful about the max stting, ie, one and three quarter turns, the rebound damping is very strong at this level and may actually be a little to heavy for the standard springs. Try my one and a quarter setting first and see how you like it !

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

So said Joel

Mine were already turned fully anticlockwise (minimum softest setting)...So I settled on one and a quarter turns all around, front and back...

Click to expand...

THANK YOU JOEL FOR THE R&D! One of the last things I had left to do on my "winter" list...What a piece of cake, due to your post...Mine were set to the minimum as well...took your advice and did 1 1/4 turns...My RT is still on stands for a couple more weeks...Hell, it snowed 2 inches last night...but spring is in the air! Can't wait to try the Koni adjustments out on some of my favorite "private tracks"...Thanks again!

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

If you are going to remove your springs, becareful of those spring compressor tools that require you to turn a bolt for the claws to compress the spring. You can go to harbor frieght and buy a hydralic spring compressor for $80-100 and they work awesome!! I can have my suspension on my car off all fours in about 1 hour. (If you have air tools). The suspension on the viper is actually pretty easy stuff in my opinion.

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Another thanks Joel for the great research. I did this last week. Mine were set at 1/4 turn. Went with your suggested 1 1/4. It has made a HUGE difference. The ride is a bit harsher but not bad at all. Really seems to hug the road now. Can't wait to try it out on a track. I used this spring compressor which worked quite well. 29$ from Habor Freight. Took about 1-1.5 hr per wheel once I figured out how to do it thanks to your great instructions.

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

I adjusted my shocks per Joel's suggestion (1 1/4 turns) just prior to the Thunderhill Viper days. It was definitely better than the stock setting (1/4 turn), however, I still found myself waiting for the car to settle prior to turning in. This was especially the case where it was bumpy entering the turn and when turn-in was proceeded by a change in direction. I'm going full max.

I have yet to notice any significant change in ride quality when simply motoring down the road.

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Just a hint/comment: You don't have to set all four the same. You might want to try stiffer in the front than the rear before you go full stiff on all four. Stiff front will make steering feel "quicker" but being softer on the rears will help maintain a little traction. Full stiff on the fronts and not more than half way stiff on rears has been good for me.

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Just got my RT off stands from winter...took it for a rip...and I just had to say WOW! Handling is substantially improved!

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Gerald,
how long did it take you to adjust them?
Might have my vipertech adjust mine....

thanks
Jim

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

It took me about 1.5 hours per corner once I figured it out. The remove/replace is the easier part. It takes a little fiddling around to get the springs compressed. You could always have the tech do the adjustment and do the R/R yourself.

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Jim,

Just like Jeff said...it's cake...especially the front...hit it!

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

sweeet I cant wait to adjust mine to full out street racer lol. The car feels like a Caddy right now

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

crap...thanks for nothing guys...this just added another 6 hours of fun to my list of things to do.


more info here from koni....

http://www.koni-na.com/adjustment.html

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

Glad to have been of help and I hope that the simple adjustment of the shocks (or dampers for the technical purists) enhances the driving experience. I'm with Tom in that the front and rear don't need to be at the same settings. One and a quarter turns is toward the max I'd recommend at the rear, since there is a danger that the rebound setting will be too strong for the std springs and make the rear suspension too slow to respond. However at less than one turn there is very little change. At the front it may be ok to adjust a bit more, buts its a bit of a fiddle and I just ran out of time to experiment any more before the winter season brought things to a close.

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

well, im going to give this "trick" a try tonight. anything i shoudl know going into this job before i get the car in 50 pieces and then find out the hard way? eibochs wuldnt make any difference to the amount of adjustment does it?

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

There is nothing complicated about it, just mind all your "bits" when you are using spring compressors and don't forget to retighten the shock mounting bolts with the suspension at ride height or at least with the wheel jacked up to ride height (if you know what I mean ) so that the bush is not torsionally stressed. Don't think Eibachs will make any difference although they do have a slightly higher rate than std, so perhaps could support a fraction stiffer adjustment.......just try it and see. Good luck.

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

One thing to remember is a stiff setting may cause loss of contact with the road on a bumpy surface that cold result in total loss of traction under heavy acceleration or turning.

I noticed when driving my father-in-laws ZR-1... when you set the shocks to the firmest setting the rear tires often would bounce right off the pavement when hitting a bump around a turn.

The middle setting was best for aggressive street driving and the soft setting made the car feel like it was "floating"

I think when I adjust my GTS I will set the front to firm and the rears in the middle somewhere.

Re: Standard Konis are adjustable, I\'ve done it, its good

advice well taken, thnx