steering and suspension Koni And Bilstein -- ?

[Andy74tii]

I did a search but did not find any instance of a FAQer mixing both Bilsteins and Konis on a single car. I have found several instances where folks have mixed Bilstein Sports in the front with HDs in the back. Back in the old days, there was a fellow named Jeff Mulcahey who wrote a bunch of Roundel articles that went pretty in depth into the suspension on his tii. His favorite setup was HDs in back, Sports in front. Keeping that in mind, is it crazy to consider Koni Reds in back, Bilstein Sports in front? If I understand correctly, the Konis are gas, and adjustable, and thus you could possibly adjust them to the point that they would be equivalent to Sports. Is that a crazy idea? Should you not mix these together? Is there a downside?

[BLUNT]

From the way you write it it sounds like you already have them?? If so throw them in and see. Otherwise i dont understand the logic of running mixed shocks and then trying to dial the konis in to similar specs as bilstein sports up front.  If thats the case just get sports all around. Ive driven a car with HD in rear and sports in front and it wasnt drastically different than sports all around

[Andy74tii]

No, I have sports all around now, and am thinking about either HDs in back, first to see if it's that different feeling. But then I had this wacky Koni idea. Good data point, Blunt, thanks for that. Maybe I should just go to HDs all around...

[BLUNT]

I currently have Hds all around with H&R sports and its a pretty good compromise for daily. It rides well and handles well for the street

[TobyB]

Be careful doing that.

 

Generically speaking.

 

You can get the car set up so it's statically stable,

and even dynamically stable in straight- ahead bumps,

but dynamically unstable in bumpy corners.

 

I learned that the hard way.

 

Koni and Bilstone have very different damper philosophies.

 

That said, Bilstones on the front, Koni on the rear should be ok-

if anything, it will understeer in bumpy corners, and that's ok.

 

I did it the other way, and it went to oversteer in bumpy corners.

That was not ok.

 

t

[Mike87]

Before I went Koni Sport all around, I had Bilstein Sports in front and Koni Reds in the rear. I did that because the Bilstein Sports in the rear were too stiff. The Konis were softer and adjustable. Ride was good with that setup. I did not have any weirdness like Toby mentioned, although I did adjust the sway bars a bit.

 

Now with the Koni Sports, the ride is much better for daily driving while still firm for the twisties.

[Andy74tii]

Thanks, it's good to know that someone else did this and had reasonable results!

[Mike Self]

I have the same setup at Blunt on my '73 (Bilstein HDs front and rear, H&R Sport springs and 22/19 swaybars with urethane bushings) and it's a great street setup--and also good for the occasional autocross and/or drivers schools, even on 5" rims and 185 tires.  Bet it would be even better with wider wheels/tires.

 

cheers

mike