I am going to be replacing my xk8 front upper shock mounts and have an idea I want to try. If you have a pair used upper shock mounts that you would like to (sell) get rid of please contact me.

Tony Chiles
t06chiles-at-bellsouth-dot-net
"Make it a GREAT day"

 

This has to be a first - someone wanting worn out upper shock mounts!

I'm guessing you've got an idea for refurbishing or an alternative part so I'll be watching out for developments in this thread.

Graham

 

Ill ask my shop if he kept mine.

 

Tony - I just replaced mine a few weeks back and still have the old ones sitting in the garage.

 

I still have these. Not completely worn out but starting to crumble around the edges. New one in center for comparison.

 

I have PMed steve, did not expect to get this kind of positve response from a posting. I have some 3/4 material that I want to try and refurbish a pair before I R and R the front shocks. I may hit the rest of you guys up, but for now I have started with steve.

"Make it a GREAT day"
Tony

 

Tony got your PM and replied can have them out the door tomorrow afternoon.

 

Tony - got the email with address - will have these shipped this afternoon. Just let us know how the rebuild works out.

 

I found my old set too. If you need more than one pair!

 

So I ask for a pair of used shock mounts and “sklimii” one of the moderators hooked me up. So with shock mounts in hand I started to work on my alternative to the super foam donuts that is used on these. I found some 3/4” plastic materialfrom McMaster Carr that was 12x24, enough to make 4 sets. I took some measurements and drew up the part I wanted and took the material to local machine shop (word of warning, machine work can be more expensive than you realized).The machine shop produced the four sets of donuts and I was off to start rebuilding the shock mounts. The new donuts ended up being 5/8” thick, with a 1/8” tall lip on the bottom surface. It shows up in the pictures. So the foam that had previously deteriorated down to 1/8” thick is being replaced by 5/8. So I know I am going to have a gain of 1/2”. The lower control arm has the shockmount about 2/3 away along its length, so that’s going to increase the ratio of the ½” lift to something like ¾”. Because I installed new shocks when I made this change I can’t tell exactly how much the spacer alone will raise the car. With new shock and the plastic donut I got 1 1/8 lift in the front of the car, the distance from the center of the wheel to the lip of the wheel well was 14 1/8 drivers side and 14 ¼ passenger side. The final after new shocks and shockmounts was 15 1/4 and 15 3/8 the car doesn’t have that cool rake anymore, but the camber should now be in the ballpark. So here is the step by step of the process.

This is off a1997 xk8 with 54K miles and they are shot









New donut from the machine shop







I wanted to be sure that the spring seat would not slide around or jump over the lip in the above picture so three stainless screwswere used to attach the spring seat to the plastic donut as seen in the next two pictures





From the above picture you can see that some relief was added for the studs, screws and internal notches for the riser that is just below the yellow paint.







The picture above shows a 1 1/16” wrench for reference

The pictures below show the foam donuts that are used to isolate a washer for the shock to mount to. When these go bad they will not be centered in the upper shock mount cup, and they can look just as nasty.







These foam donuts are compressed when the top part ofthe shock mount is added




and to keep this all together I supersized the 3 rivets from 1/8 to 3/16, for demonstration one is shown below. Note that the inside donuts are not in the shock mount, this picture was just to show the rivet. i need to find a suitable replacment for the foam donuts in the cup. I had one set of foam donuts that were reusable, but these are not and i am looking for an alternative at this time.



In the end I have to agree with Sam that it is easier just to buy the shock mounts and install them, but if you want a solution that will last the life of the car, this is it.

 

Tony - thanks for this great & informative how-to/"or NOT!" on the ever-troublesome front shock mounts. In the end, you've convinced me to go with the ready-made prefabricated replacement mounts. However I congratlulate you on your initiative, mechanical skills, and photography. The guys like you are the spirit of this great Forum.

 

So, all in all, how much was it? And how long did it take you?

I'm still waiting for parts geek to restock, but if yours is less expensive, I might go that route and never have to think about it again.

 

the donuts are 150.00 a pair. my cost was 425.00 just for the donuts and then I did more work on them to add the reliefs for the screws, studs and risers
There are only three sets available.

I might be able to do a refurbishing swap if I can fine some material to isolate the shock washer.

You can pm
"Make it a GREAT day"
Tony Chiles