Koni shocks

Hi lads...Just curious to know if anyone here has found a plug-and-play alternative to our beloved Koni shocks.. My car is an early S1 1980 ('79 build) with one rear shock setup, with no air ride. Koni rebuild seems to be shrouded in such intrigue that it's seemingly soooo dramatic , including
the turnaround time/B.S. dialog, that it seems barely worth it....
thoughts..thank you all again in advance...(Flamesuit on), Jq.

 

Nice post by @Al Campbell :

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/replace-self-leveling-suspension-with-something-modern-need-steps.527434/#post-144802543

As for the repair, Koni facilitated me the details of an aproved independant shop near my area. So it's worth asking them.

 

To my knowledge, there are only two factory authorized Koni service centers left in the US. One is in Sonoma, California, and the other is in Hilliard (suburb of Columbus) Ohio, which is local to me. These are the only two shops which I would consider for any and all Koni-related work.

My experiences with my local Koni shop have been nothing but pleasant and straightforward, so I'm not clear where your perception of 'intrigue' comes from.

DM

 

I had the guy in I believe Arizona rebuild the rear load leveler shocks and it was a waste of money. The rebuild lasted just a little over a year.

 

Assuming, I dont feel any need for the levelers (not going for concours).
Can anyone tell me the Koni part for non-levelers? Is there any adjustment to the suspension required?

 

And I have a lot of experience with the California location and have had nothing but good experience and very reasonable turn around time.

 

I also had great service from Performance Shocks in Sonoma California for a rebuild of my 412 self-levelling rear shock absorbers.

 

Good day,

Check the Koni part numbers and see if they are still available. If so, then it is typically less expensive to replace the shocks with new ones. If your shocks are NLA, then your choices are to rebuild and/or find another vendor replacement. The rear (older style) Koni load levellers (as used on the 365 GT4 2+2, etc) have been NLA for a long time. I had heard that Ferrari pressured Koni to create these and I have yet to see another car manufacturer use them. That said, even the authorized Koni rebuild centres do not rebuild these older style levellers. To address this, some go with adjustable coil overs/springs and statically adjust the rear height with the loads the car may typically experience. The adjustable coil overs can use Koni's with the addition of a fabricated spring perch... or I think there are some non Koni aftermarket ones that could be used with similarly spec'd springs. Lastly, there have been a few firms that have offered coil over replacements as a complete kit as well, but their names escape me.

Cheers,

Sam

 

To add to Sam's message, the rear shocks (p/n 105059) are available at Maranello Classic or at Superformance. The Self-leveling units (354 GT4 2+2/400/400i S1) are no longer available (p/n 100807). However Superformance has a bolt-on replacement called "Load Levelling Shock Absorbers" which work with air pressure (the air pressure is applied to get 400mm between the two axis under load). I had those installed on a 365 GT4 2+2 and the ride felt pretty good.

The rear shocks are also shown in the Koni web site but more expensive than at either Maranello or Superformance:

https://koni-shocks.com/products/koni-classic-ferrari-400

 

365 GT4 2+2 (not 354 GT4 2+2)

 

Well, okay then..it looks like Sonoma is the place to go....thank you all..Jq.

 

OK, sadly my turn now...the rear shocks on my 412 are leaking oil. I'm not sagging at the rear (well, I am a bit, but the car is fine...) but it feels like a matter of time, and at this point I'm leaning away from having them reconditioned for fear of simply pushing the next failure point upstream into the myriad of associated components that can subsequently fail.

I (think) I would rather put some more industry standard equipment in there instead, this shouldn't really be rocket science should it?

Jacques, how did you get on with the people in Sonoma?

Thanks.