[gavin]

Sleepcounter....

I would love to know the dimensions of the inserts (length/diameter of shell, stroke length, length above shoulder, diameter above shoulder) just so I could harrass Mssrs. Bilstein, Tokico, KYB et all about other applications which may fit or almost fit.

Ill get that info for you. The inserts are installed on the car but its not that hard to remove them(especially since the car is still up in the air).

I recall though that KYB has an AGX insert for the 2nd gen Toyota MR2 that dimensionally should be able to fit. Its been a while since I spoke to KYB about this. The toyota struts are made fro inserts and have a removable cap at the sop of the strut(the konis by comparisn, bolt from the bottom of the strut). I couldnt figure a way to get the AGX inserts to work in this manner and was still unsure about the dimensions.

Especially Herr Bilstein -- I've had good luck with his wares.

Bilstein makes a real quality product. Top notch stuff. One of Bilstiens tricks is they love parts interchangability. The guts from their race shocks most of the time fit in their passenger offerings. This means, parts are plentiful and cheap. The one thing that has been slow has been external adjustement however.

Dennis Grant (farnorthracing.com(?))from Ontario works at ATI (accurate technologies inc) where they do a lot of modification to bilstiens shocks.

AWR racing also likes bilstiens and has a shortened version(in a coilover kit) available for the 2nd gen

Particularly interested in travel of the 1G Specials

The threaded boss athe the base of the inset is about 1" in length. I dont recall this affecting the shock stroke on the 1st gen Sports(and I would assume the same for the 1st gen Specials). There was plenty of travel to be had.

Unsprung weight

I might look around to see if I can find some aluminum tubing one day. The pipe couplers was a stroke of good luck though. Yes, they are heavy(er) than aluminum, and every ounce counts, but in the grand scheme of things I let the weight slide.

The thing is the strut body and insert are both steel. Thats twice as much steel in one package. Heck..the insert is a twin tube setup...3 layers of steel! While in my dreams Id like to have an aluminum bodied, fully threaded(for coilovers), monotube setup, that costs...A lot. Im willing to deal with the konis and their added weight to unsprung mass because they work. Given the choice between light and mediocre, or heavier and stellar performance, I choose the konis. Ill live with the spacers....for now.

Sprung weight

Hmm.. you claim that you are old, but those are some good eyes. Some of these are older photos of the car when I first installed the illumina/GC setup on the car. The speakers have since been removed (Sunroof Delete and other weight savings).

Gavin