Hey Koni Struts on Ebayer........

vwbill · Post by **vwbill** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 9:38 pm

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NOS-Koni ... 5606QQrdZ1

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 10:26 pm

Yes, I noticed those.

Anyway, I wonder what the specs on these are (adjustable damping?) and if they would still be any good? Oh well, Ray's solution for struts seems to be the hot ticket anyway. Still, couldn't hurt to have options...

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:18 pm

Check the part number carefully. There is no such animal that fits 72-74 411/412. There is a strut cartricges that fits 68-72 411 and with the spacer 73 412 with symmetrical strut bushing. The 74 412 (and possibly some late 73)...have a different cartridge....and no adapter will make it fot earlier models. But....you can swap in the bushing assembly (with some mods) to the earlier model.

From what I have read and heard, the Konis for 411/412....are not high performance by any means. They are no better or worse than KYB's. These are from back in the days when Koni made basic replacement parts as well as high performance parts. I believe they are adjustable....but not externally.
They are really high quality units. If you had a new set, they would last for years. But you would need to max the adjustment to get handling that is more satisfactory than stock.

My worry...is that seals are seals. Generally the piston rings in better struts ans shock are just that....rings...not seals. They should last a long time. The problem is that when sitting still the outer seal rings get "shot". I also do not know if the piston rings take a "set" if they are not exercised. But if you can get them in the $35 range or so....go for it! Ray

ubercrap · Post by **ubercrap** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:29 pm

Yes, from the description of the years, one must be suspicious that they don't know exactly what they are selling. What do you want to bet these are actually the ones for the early Type 4s?

Wally · Post by **Wally** » Mon Sep 26, 2005 1:47 am

ubercrap wrote:Yes, from the description of the years, one must be suspicious that they don't know exactly what they are selling. What do you want to bet these are actually the ones for the early Type 4s?

Thanks for the tip! I thought I give it a try since I really, really like the Koni red shocks and won the auction

Since Koni is a dutch company, I have called HQ over here beforehand and asked about years of that type. They are for 1972 and 1973 412 models (not 1974 model), so Koni indeed recognised that the 1974 shock model is different. The last model year probably wasn't interesting enough to make special shocks for.
The representative got the info from a 1976 catalog he pulled out of their book-shelf

and also told me they used to make steering dampers and rear shocks for the 411/412 as well!

So maybe I will use the shocks and use a '72/'73 strut to adapt to my '74 model car. New Koni's are way to nice to pass this up.
Did you know they give a life-time warrenty on those? At lest they did iirc and even if the warrenty has expired for some reason, it does say s/th on the quality of those shocks. But I already knew that

Thanks,
Walter