Struts Hitting The Hood Under Full Compression?

[RTStabler51]

At Summit Point this weekend, it was the first time I really got to work the car since the new suspension has gone in. Its nothing crazy. H&R Sport Springs, New Konis, Poly all around, MM SFC and CC Plates.

Now it certain areas of the track, when I believe the suspension was being full compressed i was getting a 'banging' noise. After looking at some things, I have new holes in my hood bad and rub marks from the adjusters hitting the hood.

Anyone have any input on this? Everything is brand new. Some say to check the CC plates, but what am I checking for? I really don't feel like dropping the coin on a set of fox body struts.

Can anyone provide any other input?

Even with adjust the valving it didn't seem to do anything...

[TheViking]

Typically they will hit when you've added lots of camber as the strut top no longer lines up with the dimples in the hood. I would probably start by placing some clay or play-doh on top of the struts. Close the hood and see where it's compressed. Maybe you can shave a little material off of the suspect areas.

[RTStabler51]

Typically they will hit when you've added lots of camber as the strut top no longer lines up with the dimples in the hood. I would probably start by placing some clay or play-doh on top of the struts. Close the hood and see where it's compressed. Maybe you can shave a little material off of the suspect areas.

I had through about doing something like that, but reading some of the older posts in the few people who mentioned similiar issues got me worried. I don't know the exact specs of the alignment, but its suppose to be 'aggressive'.

Is the car lowered in the front?

yup H&R springs

[chalkys_explorer]

Ryan, I have H&R sports and MM cc plates in my 84. To avoid the banging, you need to drill a couple of 5/8" (??) holes in the lower hood so the strut tops have some where to go.

[vrinner]

When I had my stock hood and cc plates, I ended up hacking off a good 2"X2" section out of the stock hood. I'm pretty sure the shocks will show signs of rubbing (using the clay method mentioned earlier) with the car just sitting still.

[Raven855]

Ryan do you have a pic? How much of the strut is above the bearing of the CC plate? How many spacers have you used? On the MM plates you get spacers of varies thicknesses that can be used to move the top of the strut down in relation to the bearing.

[PsRumors]

Maybe I am having a brain fart but if the hood is going to make contact with the strut isn't it going to do it at rest or at compression?

The strut doesnt come up through the CC plate any more at compression than at rest. Does it?

Or is it that it angles back and forth in the CC plate bearing enabling it to hit?

[Raven855]

The body flexes quite abit side to side and on the up and down. Its really amazing how much it flexes even with the subframe connectors.

If the strut is hitting at rest it needs to be spaced down. Drilling holes in the bracing helps too. I was using a cheap set of the MD plates with the bushing on the 86 with the H&Rs and they hit the hood. Spacers under the bearing fixed it. At least until I start start compressing the suspension more.

I think what we need to find out is if the strut bottomed out, is the spring seeing coil bind, is the cc bearing OK, is your swaybar OK. Is the problem caused by design or is it from defective parts?

[RTStabler51]

Ryan do you have a pic? How much of the strut is above the bearing of the CC plate? How many spacers have you used? On the MM plates you get spacers of varies thicknesses that can be used to move the top of the strut down in relation to the bearing.

IIRC there is only one spacer used under the CC plate. I'll have to check it out better.

Maybe I am having a brain fart but if the hood is going to make contact with the strut isn't it going to do it at rest or at compression?

The strut doesnt come up through the CC plate any more at compression than at rest. Does it?

Or is it that it angles back and forth in the CC plate bearing enabling it to hit?

It only does it under a very heavy load and while turning....

The X-Y position of the top of the strut will change depending on where the steering knuckle is - so it pivots in the spherical joint in the CC plate and the end of the strut will move around [left-to-right] with the up/down movement of the suspension. It also moves front-to-rear as the knuckle is rotated.

Also very possible is that the struts are bottoming out and pushing the top of the strut tower higher into the hood. If this is the case, you will need shorter struts, and they only come in the Fox version. The good news is that you will get an extra 1.5 or 2 degrees of negative camber from the strut change.

Unfortunately the stock SVO KONI struts are *very* long and have lots exposed beyond the upper CC plate. You might be able to move the spacers around to lower the exposed end of the strut adjuster but that will only make it closer to bottoming the strut into the body on full bump.

The joys of lowered cars.

Mike is there a way to tell if the strut is actually bottoming out? I got VIR coming up in a few weeks!

[Pat_in_L.A.]

Mike is there a way to tell if the strut is actually bottoming out? I got VIR coming up in a few weeks!

Stick a tie wrap around the strut shaft and see where it is after driving it.

[GAboySVO]

I put two spacers below the CC plates and got the MM strut bump stop.

[NY eric]

Well I can only say from my experience. The hard banging in my case was the strut bottoming out. Koni measured my springs and said I would have to remove a little over 1 inch off of the shaft. I destroyed my first set of Koni's by bottoming them out. Also you can add a snubber to the shaft if you dont want to send them back for shortening.

[fastsvo]

My car is lowered with H&R sport springs and do experience the banging noise as well. In the last year or so I have replaced (with the help of Pat_in_LA) the LCA and the struts (stock Konis) in which we also added the MM progressive bump stop. At this point, I think my CC plates are bad, so I have a set from MM that I will be installing soon.

I don't believe my setup is currently hitting my hood, but I am shooting for the spacer setup to help me out here plus my CC plates came with the uerathane bumpstop as well...maybe that will resist the banging more than the softer progressive units.

-Eric

[SVOMikey]

Help w/ non SVO koni struts!

OK, I found the right thread. I think my OEM Konis are bottoming out with the H&R sport springs. I don't know if I've damaged them yet but it's good to see I'm not the only one. I also have CC plates, most likely with one spacer in there. Also bent the endlinks so I went to 1" shorter ones. They're still scraping the strut housing but not bending. I assume the IRS works the front of the car harder.

Now the Question: I have a set of the red konis off of a V8 fox somewhere. I seem to remember that they were shorter and had less strut tube below the steering knuckle mounting bracket. Are these a drop-in to an SVO suspension?

What is the most recommended method of getting rid of the bottom-out? bump stops, retooling the current SVO strut or using the shorter fox Konis? I was just about to try and find Gabriel strut cartiges to troubleshoot the problem as the shop manual mentioned something about not bench testing a strut as one cannot duplicate the sideload of the strut.

Thanks all. Mikey

[SVOMikey]

Mike Thanks for the help as always! Are these the MM bump stops you guys are referring too? I assume they just slide down on the exposed strut shaft? I would think they'ed be cheap insurance even on the shorter V8 fox struts.

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