Since Tokico has been doing their warehouse relocation I'm unable to run Illuminas as planned.

Since I come from the distant land of the 944, I have had good experience with the Koni stuff.

So heres the deal, I've sourced some mustang rear Konis for my GSL SE; no problemo. I recently came across the tip for running the rear Koni inserts from an AW11 MR2 up front. I also saw some tidbits of information about the top of the shock being the wrong diameter to fit the stock strut tower bearing/bushing; thats fine, I can deal with it. On my quest for said inserts, I noticed a part number difference that creates two different options you have for these particular inserts.

Did some researching and found that the difference between the two options is something having to do with different sized lock nuts. Its apparently something to do with '85-'86 cars and '86.5-'89 to cars.

Heres a screen shot of the catalogue with the difference listed:


Which one is correct for our application? And I'm assuming this is the lock nut that holds the insert into the strut? If not, is it what bolts the strut into the strut tower mount?

Apologies if this question has already been answered. I did quite a bit of searching around to no avail. Thanks in advance!!

 

It's the lock nut that holds the insert into the strut housing. M42 = 42mm nut. You want the '85-'86 strut cartridge.

Another guy here posted that they're a complete drop in fit, but I had to cut off the little nub on the bottom of the cartridge and grind down the weld around the bottom for it to slide into the housing. Otherwise it would go in about 3/4 of the way.

 

Sweet, I figured it was the one that held it into the strut housing. Thats good info. I'll be ordering all of this stuff soon. We'll see what happens. I'm also wondering what will happen with the strut tower mounts. Camber/Castor plates may be in order.

 

I just want to add to this and ask another question. It's not just the nut that's different, the shock body size is also different right? I thought the 87-89 cars had larger diameter struts?

 

I think you'd be right. So the answer to this whole question is: the '85-'86 MR2 struts will theoretically drop in AND bolt in. Cool, thanks for the clarification guys!!

No for a strut tower solution...

 

So am I reading this right? That the stock FB shock upper mount can be used with these konis as is? No need for special camber plates or drilling to fit the insert through the mount.

 

No you would need camber plates or a bushing for the stock strut tops.