# Adjustable Shocks for Altima



## Guerrero (Oct 21, 2002)

Found this in other forum 

Thanks to mahout and Altimat


Okay, I promised in October but I finished early. Adjustable shocks can be made for Altima 3.5SE’s from Koni inserts on the front and KYB AGX’s in the rear. Both are available at TireRack for decent prices.
Now, the disclaimer: This is only a report of what we did, not a recommendation that it should be done.

The front shocks are Koni Sports P/N 8641 inserts intended for 95 thru 99 Maxima .
They are installed as Koni intended and Koni’s Gordon Benson has a web site showing insert installations as clearly as you could ask for. Only the strut mount bushing’s sleeve was any effort to install. It was a teensy bit tight (how’s that for tecnobabble?) but fits fine. Gordon is also good about answering questions. All shock companies should copy Gordon’s setup.
www.vfaq.com/mods/konis.html You may have to search "Koni install" to find it.
My only offering would be to possibly add some oil to the cut-off strut to fill the space between the insert and strut body so heat supposedly would be more easily transferred from the shock action. It won’take much. Koni years ago used to advise that but doesn’t seem to do that now. Our front springs have been replaced by Eibach that lowered the front ride height by 1.4”

The rear shocks are KYB AGX P/N 741028, intended for 90 thru 96 300ZX. Check the current P/N for the application.
These take more unusual work. The spring seat has to be cut off carefully and competently. We removed the seat initially with a milling machine. The second we cut off by true shade tree mechanicing: We hacksawed it off and filed the edges to about ¼’ width. ALWAYS BEING CAREFUL NOT TO HARM OR HEAT THE SHOCK BODY. Then we spread and re-aligned the yoke. (the U-shaped bottom end) to match the Altima suspension mount. Once free of excess diameter the shocks fit right in place. Our rear springs have not been changed.
Adjustments: Our Konis arrived with the adjustment knob stuck and with Konis advice we wiggled and jiggled it a bit harder to try to loosen it. It finally seemed to loosen without too much effort; however, we now believe it did snap and is stuck in the firmest position. It’s worked well on track and the street so out of laziness or lack of time we haven’t replaced them. Yet. We have de-activated the front anti-sway bar by clamping it to the body on both sides and that appears to work very well with the firm position on the Konis. The wheelspin we observed in turns has been drastically reduced, a real benefit but we attribute that more to de-activating the anti-sway bar than the shocks. Needless to say that has improved front tire mileage a ton.
Our AGX’s have worked best on setting #4. 
Turn-in is excellent and tire control is excellent on turns. Lean is much reduced without affecting ride smoothness. There is no wandering or uncertainty at 145 mph at the end of long straights at VIR or in NASCAR 4 at Lowes.
On the street my wife doesn’t complain and she has a history of complaining about my race suspensions. 
Both of these shocks have virtually the same stroke and vehicle load characteristics as the Altima but there’s no doubt that Koni, KYB, Bilstein, or Tokico can fine tune them better, which we hope they do. 
Likewise, I can’t say for sure about their use on the 2.5 models mainly because we weren’t able to adjust the Konis. I do believe that the adjustment set softer would work on the 2.5 just as well as on the 3.5.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to email. I’m retired but not dead.


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## ALTYHOLIC (Oct 19, 2002)

Thanks for the link/tip Guerrero.
As usual Mike, a.k.a. ALTIMAT does a 
wonderful job at install directions including
pics for all the diy'ers out there.

I'm still a little weary about the "hack and 
whack" approach to vehicle suspension components.

I know many of us have been waiting a long time
for some affordable adjustable struts/shocks for the
3rd gens. I've waited two years so I suppose a little
longer wait won't hurt...


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