Correct front shocks and struts on 1967 911S

[jerryg]

The following article is from the Pelican forum:

"The top set of shocks are Bilstein front shocks, original equipment on some 911s. It is important to make sure that you match the front suspension struts to the type of shocks that you purchase. The lower two shocks are Boge rear shocks, and were also original equipment on the 911s. Unlike the front, the rear shocks do not have to be matched to the original shocks sold with the car."

I am trying to replace a mismatched pair of struts on my 1967 911S project. When I came into possesion of the car it came with one Koni front strut and one Boge (another cobbeled job). I have recently bought of a nice pair of Bilstein front struts and inserts. Would they be correct for the 1967 model? According to the Pelican article, some "S" models came with the Bilsteins front struts. Did they in 1967? I'm concerned about authenticity.

[gled49]

No Bilstein in 67. Koni or Boge only. I don't believe any Bilstein insert can be installed in Koni strut, maybe in the Boge strut. Gled

[chris_seven]

I agree - the Koni leg is a slightly different shape to the Boge leg on the early cars and Bilsteins weren't available.

There is a Bilstein Insert that can fit the Boge Leg if you add about 3mm of packing below the insert or the gland nut doesn't lock up the insert correctly as it is just a little bit too short.

[tomkirkcis]

67S Targas did not come with the Koni struts that were standard on the S coupes

[Bobs 67S]

Jerryg,

The two types of struts on the 1967 as gled, Chris and Tom have said are Boge and Koni. Key features are the tube, Boge is a straight cylinder and the Koni necks down prior to inserting into the axel casting. The top gland nut is 1.5 mm thread on the Boge, while the Koni is 1.0 (in older catalogs this was identified as Boge=course, Koni=fine thread).

Koni has made inserts that will fit the Boge strut, just use the correct 1.5 mm thread gland nut.

I'll defer to Chris on fitting the Bilstein.
(I did machine a bottom set of dished inserts for a 1968 some years ago, to shim and center the replacement shock, it must have been a Bilstein going into a Boge. The car was a Targa).

Note the outer cover is stamped for each of the brands. (Koni is also date stamped).

Finding the mate to one of your struts shouldn't be difficult, the Boge was standard on the normal coupe, and both normal and "S" Targa . The Koni was standard fitment on the "S" coupe but an option on the normal.

That gland nut is the Boge 1.5 mm.

[Merv]

I fitted the Koni inserts into my BOGE struts on my 68 last weekend. I removed the older BOGE Automatic gas shocks and fitted the Koni oil filled shocks with a low rate of dampening (adjustable). I made sure to remove the packing spacer at the base however. The new Koni gland nut fitted well and the whole job on both sides took less than 2 hrs.

[Fritz A. Ficke]

Koni's are a part of the 'S' package.

[gled49]

I believe the factory did not install Koni's on Targas as they thought they were to stiff for the chassis. That doesn't mean you can't put them on. Gled

[66S]

Some Koni inserts have the threaded cap as an ntegral part of the insert and some used a separate cap. With the separate cap you could put a Koni or other brand insert for Boge struts in a Koni strut or vice- versa. Some aftermarket inserts came with two pairs of separate caps to use on either type strut. 69 on inserts have an extension on the bottom and are incompatible with SWB struts.

[jerryg]

WOW! Since I have one Boge and one Koni on my Targa project, I guess I now should have started looking for another Boge, this one for the Pax side. Talk about me being confused, regarding the Konis for the 67 Targa. FYI, I previously had a 68 Targa 912 and needed shocks all around. My Porsche mechanic warned me not to put Konis on the car, because they were too stiff. I ignored him and went with the Konis. What a mistake. Even on the soft setting, the ride on any road with expansion joints was painful. I remember driving from Baltimore to DC, and wanting to shoot myself because of not listening to the experts. Thanks all for the info.