KYB Front Struts and Intrax Lowering Springs....HELP!!!

[Born2Run]

Hey guys...I know this has been subject has been beat to death here in the past, but currently building up a pair of 1996 Cutlass front strut assemblies for the larger brake upgrade and suspension drop on my 1990 Cutlass Supreme and have a couple of issues I need to resolve before final assembly. Before I removed the OEM hydraulic strut cartridges I noticed that the strut retention nut (lower nut that secures the cartridge to the strut tube) sat flush with the top of the tube when fully seated. After I installed the new KYB gas cartridges and the new strut retention nut that was supplied with them, I see that the KYB retention nut now does sit flush with the top of the strut tube after tightening. The nut sits about 1/2" higher off the tube than the stock one did. Pulled the KYB cartridge back out and compared its length to the OEM (hydraulic) cartridge and found that the body of the KYB is longer than the OEM unit by about 1/2". I also see KYB has added (welded) a small metal base ring (looks like an inverted cone) on base of their cartridge where the hydraulic cartridge manufacturer did not. Problem I see here is that if the top flange on the KYB retaining nut now sits 1/2" higher off the strut tube, won't this only add to "bottoming out problem" so many of you had, especially when adding lowering springs??? For those of you who have installed KYB cartridges up front before, is the higher base flange on the KYB retention nut common with this strut installation and has anyone run across this before??? Going to attach a photo so you can see exactly what I'm refering to. Second question I have is the amount that the jounce bumper need to be cut to prevent bottoming out when using Intrax springs. See a lot of you guys have just cut it in half, others of you even more. Can anyone give me a suggestion as I don't want to go through this more than one time??? Talked to Intrax directly and they know nothing about reducing the length of the jounce bumper and just suggested I have a suspension professional do the job....what a line of shit!!! Also, after cutting the jounce bumper I assume the larger diameter end of the bumper is the part that I install back on the strut shaft with the larger diameter end facing up...is this also correct??? Would really appreciate any constructive feedback on my questions. Thanks in advance.

[97loudcut]

I can't remember about the sitting flush part. So someone else might want to chime in. I can however say that nothing struck me as I went through the installation so maybe that means there was not a noticeable difference on my part.

 

In regards to the jounce bumper I cut mine in half. I was running the Eibach springs and I never bottomed out. I think half is all you need no matter the spring.

 

Hope that helps.

 

-Matt

[CSI_MuNkY]

My struts have the same gap after swapping in the KYBs, no problems as of yet. Mine was lowered by 1.5" (based on factory advertised height of vehicle) last summer and I never had any bottoming out. But then again I don't take bumps fast if I can help it, and I have coil overs with 300lb (rear) and 350lb (front) springs. Its going to have to crush a lot of heavy spring before it bottoms out, lol.

 

Jamie

[CRONER]

Im down 2 1/4 in the front now on jersey roads, havent bottomed out yet, but i think that i shoud bring it back up half an inch... otherwise, i'm afraid i might blow kyb's too fast