Strut comparisions.... help!!!

I have a 89 Accord with Ground control coilovers and a set of Koni Specials(red) that are only adjustable for rebound. I'm trying to get a set of adjustable struts such as KYB,Koni SPorts, bilstien etc. Problem is, no one offers adjustable struts for 86-89 accords. BUT, on the 90-93 and 90-97 accords, the demensions for the strut is practically the same as the "Wishbone" configuration on the 86-89. the only concern i would have is that would the strut would be too long? I did a comparision at the junk yard and it seems that I can fit the 90- up struts on the 86-89 models. What i plan to do is, get a stock strut from a 90-93 or up to 97 models and test fit. Also, the brake line brackets seem to be of the same configuration.

I guess my conclusion would be for the reason these companies didnt offer these adjustable struts for 86-89's at first was frusterating me becuase i thought maybe they just had to modify abit here and there. But i realized the 90-97 accords are heavier and and thus requires them to redo the valve body compressions. At the same time i don't see why it would that way, I myself would jump at that opportunity to get the struts since they are stiffer to begin with becuse of a lighter weight of the 86-89's which actually helps with performance i would assume.

As for the Ground controls, i have the 350 spring rate which is i should say, the first level.

i keep thinking if i could bump up the rate to maybe 450 or maybe even more and run adjustables at full stiff. i'd be happy with my handling and since i'm at around 3 inch drop. it would definatly help with bottoming out.

by the way, the weight of the 86-89's i think is around 2600 lbs.


Any Suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.


Josh

here is a pic of the car at the lowest setting(4" drop)

http://photos.yahoo.com/cyberwolfm

FYI, both Koni Yellows and Koni Reds are adjustable in rebound only, you have to pay the extra $$ to get double adjustbale shocks from them. You could always try Advance shocks (http://www.advance-design.com/), from what I hear they are willing to develop shocks for whatever application comes by (though they are not cheap). I have no idea whether your current plan to use 90-up shocks could work, but at this point it sound like your best bet assuming you're not in it for the most optimal performance possible, in which case my first two suggestions (and the most expensive) make the most sense. Hope this helps, peace.

Hello Josh, interesting that you'd post here.
You won't be able to use the 4th gen struts, another user tried the same thing and came to the conculsion that he'd have to invent a bracket to do it. He felt that the bracket would be impossible to do safely.

Send you koni's back and have them modified for stiffer valving, I think gordon said they could also rebuild them for compression adjustment as well, not sure about that or how much extra it would be on top of a standard revalve. Your right about going stiffer with the springs to, at least 450 sounds good in your case since your so low. BTW I now have Koni's to, they are way stiffer that the bilstein H.D.'s I removed. Set them to 1 full turn off of full soft.

You could also have bilstein revalve their H.D. strut to sport strut specs, would cost you $200 + the price of the struts. Other that that raise it or sell you car and get one that has better parts avaliability. :rolleyes:
After all you wouldn't be asking this question if you owned a 4th gen accord, would you:D

Here's the thread where Ralleynate found out that 4th gen struts cannot be used with 3rd gen accords

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t21281.html

BTW, how's ester? Say hello to her for me.

Jim, when i read the post that the guy from autozone did, he said he checked the numbers for just about all the parts. He didnt clarify what exactly was different on the strut. I really think that i could get the 4 gen accord strut to slide into the 3gen wishbone arm. that's pretty much the only thing i can think of that could keep me from making it work. but then, at the same time, i think i could first get the GC's redone to possibly 475 lbs. rate or even 500 but i wont probly go any higher due to other articles i read in the import mags about some featured rides using a specific rate according to vehicle weight similar to 3rd gen weights. so, in some cases, i have read owners goin with for an example of 600 back and 500 front or and vice versa according to understeer/oversteer effects.

I'm tryin to figure out if i should go with 500 in the front and 400 in the back or something........ i may have to chatter with some guys who have run those kind of rates and have the same ideal car weight.

at what drop are u at Jim?

Also, Estermeister says hello. She would like to hear from ya. Email her if u'd like.


Take care.

Josh

Josh his first post on the thread does talk about part numbers, however it's his last post where he says this, it's titled "won't work"

after compairing the cv shafts for the 4gen and the 3gen, they are not compattable. other than the splines being different sizes, the cv shafts are completely different lengths. you could just mount the struts to the old mounting bracket since the upper mounts are the same; this would require an adapter. i would not trust this adapter because it have to be thin enough to keep the steering geo.

I had to clear my email out a while back, have her drop me an email, like hello how ya been or something.

[email protected]

I'm running a 1.5" drop with H&R sports, even I have problems bottoming out:D :D , maybe someday I'll slow down,....NOT!:sun: