Bilstein Universal Struts -- Now Less Universal

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john vanlandingham

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Ascona73

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john vanlandingham

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Ascona73
I need to take them apart to get the pins machined.

I'm going to add the schrader valves up top as well.

To add a schrader valve, yes.. But soft jaws and LOW clamp in power chuck and stick them in to the very end of the chrome and you're OK..

What valving didya get? I presume for the Japonaise thing we talked about..

Yup, same 1991 Sentra. I originally called Bilstein for valving recommendations, told them what my friend was using the car for, corner weights, spring rates we'd be changing to, etc. They ended up recommending the 380/180 up front and 300/120 out back. We're going with 275 front, 225 rear springs with flat-wire helpers. Mostly rough tarmac hillclimbs.

Weight of car and weight of front?

Cause that valving would be nice on a 1230kg 90s Dubya Arsey Car

Old scales, it got 37 lbs lighter ultimately but I don't recall from which end.



I just went with what Bilstein recommended, my friend Tim ordered them from Streetwise. He's all hot to run the Mt. Ascutney hillclimb September 16-18th.

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Opel is a 4-letter word...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498579@N07/sets/

Seems a bit stuff for that weight, especially in rear.

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Grant Hughes

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NoCoast
Seems a bit stuff for that weight, especially in rear.

I had nothing to compare it to, I went with Bilstein's tech guy's recommendations. If it ends up being too stiff, we can always revalve them. I suspect soft springs on tarmac is a weird combo, and the car is *really* hooked up on asphalt, looking at his split times on Mt. Washington. So I'm at a loss really. It's definitely a weird mixed-use application.

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Opel is a 4-letter word...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498579@N07/sets/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2016 10:46AM by Ascona73.

Oh, I missed that it was a tarmac car... No clue on what rates in that case.
Only thing I've seen for reference would be old Ford F2000 spec sheets. And what John has built for people.

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Grant Hughes

Just an FYI, but here's the reply from Bilstein North America regarding the 46 mm strut fluid volumes.

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FILL VOLUMES:

8.8" 46mm - 382cm3

7.8" 46mm - 344cm3

6.8" 46mm - 303cm3

5.8" 46mm - 265cm3

When I asked about nitrogen pressures, he said a minimum of 150 psi was recommended. He also said 200 psi would be "good"...though he acknowledged that "as-delivered" they run considerably higher pressures that that.

When I inquired about lubricating the strut tube bushings he said a good quality grease was fine. He suggested greasing the "mesh" between the bushings...I mentioned there was no "mesh" in these struts, the struts came disassembled. My comment was, "what about a piece of felt wrapped around the strut shaft to retain the grease?", and he concurred that should do the trick, as long as it's well-lubed. I'm basing it off old Bosch distributors that used felt between a pair of bushings to retain lubricant. I guess whatever works.

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Opel is a 4-letter word...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10498579@N07/sets/



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2016 10:35AM by Ascona73.

Thanks for posting that up!

Well, I'm 24 cm^3 low so:

2.3cm^2 * Pi = 16.2 cm^2 for the area of a 46mm diameter circle.

24 cm^3 / 16.2 cm^2 = 1.48 cm, or how much further the gas divider should be in the housing.

I'm thinking I need to pull the struts and add more fluid.

C'mon guys, cm^3! Let's get with the metric system and just post stuff in mL!

But in all seriousness, really, under 400 mL in a 8.8 travel. That's like $100 worth of THC oil, totally not worth the work to fill and export to other states or countries where that stuff is illegal.

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Grant Hughes