Advice on suspension damper replacement (good and bad)

[Jimmy]

Folks

The car is a 1968 SWB 911 and currently has a tired set of Koni’s fitted. I would like to replace the shocks for a road going with a (sensible) uprated version. The intent is to lower the ride height though I believe this won’t impact on my choice of shock? the drop would increase the compression (I assume). Any advice on suspension damper replacement (good and bad) would be appreciated together with a supplier.

Any offerings of a set of dampers would be appreciated

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Jimmy

[haasad]

The drop won't change the spring rate just the height the car rides on a particular spring. It will change the point the damper stroke starts hence the effective damper stroke compression will be less and in extremis you can bottom out the damper. For normal lowering parameters as opposed to "slammed" this shouldn't be a problem. You will affect the suspension geo by lowering so it will need resetting you will affect steering in particular bump steer can be a problem due to the changed steering arm angles . There are kits to fix this or one can raise the spindle on the strut to compensate ( not really DIY unless you are pretty skilled).

I would fit either Bilstein or Konis in a sport type option. IMHO adjustable is a waste of time for 99.9 % of the population including me.

I have a pair of red rear konis here used but ok think they'll fit your car. £50 ?

[Jimmy]

Am I limited to Koni dampers due to the associated strut housing ID? Having spoken to a few suspension vendors, Koni was the only offering.

Any further advice would be appreciated.

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Jimmy

[911hillclimber]

My 73T had Koni fitted by me after the original boge gave up way back in the early 90's, they were the type you can adjust the damping on. not sure now if those are the current Sports.

I set them to mid way in the range front and back and the car drove really well on the road with good compliance and well damped. The front bobbed up and down a bit like most 911's.

I later used the car for hillclimbs and changed the dampers to custom valved Bilstiens which it still has.

These are fantastic for the hills but hard on the road and non adjustable.

If you just want a nice road car go with the simplest solution, and Koni have been around before even I was born.