I am looking into replacing the suspension on my '80 and found these KYB GR-2s on ebay. I searched and found that most people strongly prefer tokico to KYB, however Tokico doesn't make any front shocks for an SA. I think that I am going to go with racing beat springs, but I need to know what is a good inexpensive set of shocks for my car. Thanks in advance.
John

 

Run into the same issue for my freinds 79. The KYB GR-2 is about the only insert still available for the SA. The SA uses a different strut tube, but can be modded to use the FB inserts.
I have the KYB's on my FB with older tokico springs, and the car sits rather low. The only complaints I have about the setup, is the rear are a little too soft. Combined with the limited travel, this causes the rear to bottom out rather easily on medium to large bumps. In oklahoma, those are prolific around town, and get rather annoying.
I plan to switch to the tokico adjustables when I can, along with modding the rear bumpstops. If you are not using the car for autox or track events, the KYB's should be fine with the RB springs.

 

Thanks for the information. What does it take to modify the strut tube to accept FB inserts? I don't do any autocrossing or track driving, this is just my daily driver. That being said I would prefer to get the best handling I can while still keeping the car street friendly.

 

From what I have been told:
The SA strut inserts are about 1" longer than FB inserts. There are a couple methods that can be done. Either shimming the underside of the inserts to bring them up to the hieght needed, or cutting the strut tubes.
For shimming, I would find some thickwall tubing about the same OD as the bottom of the insert, and cut it a little long, then trim to fit. I am not sure if there would be any other steps needed, but I'm sure someone can point them out.
Cutting/welding the strut tubes should be done carefully, as it would be easy to ruin one or both if done incorrectly.

I believe you also have to reuse the original tube nut at the top of the insert.

 

easiest thing to do would be to find the whole front assemblys from and 84-85 donner car. that way you get the bigger spindles as well.

 

+1^^^

 

I just had a friend who's handy with a welder cut approx an inch out of the strut tube then reweld the top threaded portion back on. This is better than using shims because by cutting an inch out of the strut above the spring perch you gain suspension travel, which is definately needed. Before I had the struts cut, I used shims (a stack of washers taped together) and my car would bottom during tight turns at the Solo II course. After the strut tubes were cut, my bottoming problems went away.

Of course the best solution would be to get '84-'85 struts and spindles but I couldn't find a decent set near me.