Fitting Koni's in a 5ktq

["Mike Hopton" <mike@genesis-microchip.on.ca>]

     I installed the RD Enterpsises Koni front shocks in the 5ktq last 
     night, pity they don't tell you in the instructions which way they 
     should be rotated to stiffen them. As it turned out it wouldn't have 
     made a whole lot of difference anyway.
     
     The operation was delayed slightly after stripping the 7mm socket at 
     the top of the original shock. Thanks to the dremel, a BFH and two 
     sets of vice grips etc. the nut gave up the ghost. The other side was 
     much easier - well except for putting a permanent twist in the allen 
     socket when the nut eventually broke loose.
     
     Adjusted the Koni's to the same settings and installed..... hmmm 
     Martin Pajak who assisted during this operation was most satisfied 
     when he performed a bounce test on his side. He was surprised with my 
     reaction, so we swapped sides. The left hand side was nice and firm 
     lotsa damping, the right hand side felt no different to the old 
     shocks. Soooo, we removed the bouncy shock and tried to readjust the 
     stiffness, no matter where we adjusted it this shock could be easily 
     moved up and down with two fingers and a thumb. Tried pumping it up 
     and down a couple of times, no improvement. The other strange thing, 
     you could hear a bit of air inside the shock and depending on where 
     the piston was in its travel there were points where there was hardly 
     any resistance.
     
     So in my limited experience this shock is toast straight out the box? 
     Any other experiences with Koni's failing from the factory I kind of 
     assumed these things were 100% tested.
     
     Oh RD didn't include any receipt or warranty information and the 
     address on the shipping invoice was for a company called ASI? So I 
     guess this is where the fun really starts. 
     
     Now, where did I put the Boge and Bilstein catalogs....
     
     Regards, Mike