Saab shorty Bilstien inserts...

I bought these Bilsein strut inserts to replace the illin, leaking Monroes in my Volvo 240. These are both originally Saab 9-3 units. I'm using these in my shortened strut tubes with coilover hardware for sporty street setup.



So the problem is that the Bilsteins are too fat. They don't slide all the way down to the bottom of the tube. Also the Bilstein gland nut is too big for the Volvo strut tube. Maybe you can see the difference looking at them in this picture. Has anybody solved this problem? I guess I should have bought the Konis from Kaplhenke....

I have the same struts.

The lower body of the struts are polished down- pretty much the paint taken off, to get them to drop in all of the way.

The gland nut is a custom unit that RSI use to sell. I picked these up from Nathan a while ago. I haven't sent them out for a revalved yet.

Jordan

Well damn. I hate to start sanding on brand new parts. But it does feel like that might be all I need. Just a couple layers of paint removed. . .

Is there any chance those gland nuts are just standard parts to put a Bilstein into Volvos?

I think they're custom made. Possibly Volvo ones opened up? They're in the car right now so I can't examine closely.

Ken, Could you find the gland nut that is used for the 240 strut tube and machine or add material to work with the saab inserts? I know you have a big welder

There is nothing special about the gland nuts.

You need gland nuts for Volvo 240/Bilstein HD...

That's all they were selling...or machining 240 threads on the Saab/Bilstein HD gland nut

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Chilm said:

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Adjusted permissions. Is that better?

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Dammit Myles, you've splained to me all the costs involved in buying and revalving and then remachining and fawkin with top mounts do this silly Saab insert thing.
post up all the costs so the poor mooks here can see how much easier and cheaper and better it would just to start with a straight Bilstein custom insert where the valving is specified and the top is unmachined and you machine it once.

Buying and re-work is silly unless you start with a used pair for dirt cheap.

I talked to RSI today. They are having some more gland nuts made to hold the saab bilsteins into the volvo tubes. That pretty much screws my plans for a few weeks, or months.

I never quite grasp your solution John. You talk about these custom inserts, but how do they work? Do they need the Volvo tube removed from the spindle and replaced by a proper threaded tube?

qwkswede said:

I talked to RSI today. They are having some more gland nuts made to hold the saab bilsteins into the volvo tubes. That pretty much screws my plans for a few weeks, or months.

I never quite grasp your solution John. You talk about these custom inserts, but how do they work? Do they need the Volvo tube removed from the spindle and replaced by a proper threaded tube?

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That's about typical for them

I have 8 brand new ones and the seals sitting about 1 foot from this keyboard.

There was all this brou ha ha NLA a couple of months ago and the normal "I talked to Bilstein and blah blah boo hoooo" I picked up the phone, checked inventory there, they had 10 so I ordered 8..

What the F**k does it take to get you guys to understand that some people do not know what they think they know?


As for the custom inserts, they come in a variety of lengths and come with an unfinished top pin fat and long enough to machine up into anything imaginable...
The "normal" so called HD insert is a 40mm body---(it is the piston inside which is 36mm , hence the older "P36 designation"...P= patrone)
Kinda like this "50mm" versions I made some years ago:



See the top?


In Volvo---and many others intended to stick right into a stock tube---you have the yellow sleeve over the bottom portion.. Slide that off and look inside and you'll see a VERY thin wall bush...Thats the guide bush...
And it works OK for driving around...

With the customs you use a new tube...instead of the cheezoid thin wall OEM thing.
4130 DOM Cr Mo thick wall with 2 widely spaced guide bushings to make a much more stable assembly..
Some random photo off the inter-net (just happens to be some of my own)


So you want shorter than Volvo you first figure what Volvo LOA is and call in the order for length and valving and then make it shorter and make the tops whatever you want..

The industry standard for serious use is a bearing with 22mm ID...I usually make the tops to be a big fat 20mm pin and then I make sleeves to fill the space and give a register for the bearing to sit on the upper spring seat, and the nut to hit the bearing and to fill the ID of the bearing..I use 7/8" ID bearings..(22mm = .866, and 7/8" is .875, so a smidge larger and much much lower bearing replacement cost when its due)

Like this---also random found on the inter-net---my stuff is all over the place..shocking


You may also notice the top is much more compact than most others I have seen..Most designs waste all kinds of length fawking around making the LOA longer than need be but us rally type fools want LOTS of travel in a compact LOA --- so we think...
For example, my upper spring seat telescopes OVER the top of the lower tube which means
we win a little (maybe 1/2" to 5/8" travel for a given LOA--Length Over All)

couldnt you just turn the inner of the glandnut on a lathe?

MadDog_945 said:

couldnt you just turn the inner of the glandnut on a lathe?

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You could bore the center of a stocker to anything over 40,, but there no way to fit any kind of wiper or seal..and some sort of seal is a good idea.

Besides, the correct, new part is like $18, plus the seal..

That is admittedly more than the normal TB budget, but why fawk around when the new part is available and in stock at TB only sorta alert suspension specialist?

yeah.. no.. i'm no turbobricker whens it comes to buying parts that fit

Do you have a link to the gland nut ?

MadDog_945 said:

yeah.. no.. i'm no turbobricker whens it comes to buying parts that fit

Do you have a link to the gland nut ?

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a link?

You mean to get some?

Me.
Evidently only I can find them...
Don't ask me why it seems so difficult.

So gland nuts are available then? I'll drop you a note john. The problem of fitting them inside a stock tube still exists. I can start sanding paint and metal from the OD if it will make a difference. I just didn't want to do that to parts I might need to return for a refund....

The threaded tip on the Saab bilsteins is not exactly a drop in fit for the Volvo either. I had previously made some spacers to take up space between the Saab Monroe inserts and the Volvo upper spring/shock mount. See picture. Different OD on that smooth part below the threads.

They should slide all the way down. Looking at your Monroe, I bet the strut tube is bent.

You are probably right. Precision of straightness varies, and they are straight enough to not effect alignment, and they pass an eyeball check. But Bilsteins are slightly larger on the OD than the Monroes and maybe make some small ovalization or warping apparent. Most likely the junction point where I shortened the tubes and welded them back together could be a small constriction, warped from welding heat. I'll have to work that out I guess.

The tubes were also full of water when I removed the Monroes because there was not a wiper seal on top of the gland nut. These have been sitting in my garage unused for almost a year now and there was still water inside. Thats why the paint and exterior of the Monroes looks so bad.

Lord_Athlon said:

They should slide all the way down. Looking at your Monroe, I bet the strut tube is bent.

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I've had 2 Volvo struts that had a large weld seam in the tube. HDs needed a significant amount of sanding to clear it and slide down smoothly.