Last night I put on new Bilsteins to replace the well worn rear shocks on my 242Ti. All was fine and dandy except for the spacers between the rear control arm and the shock. With the Bilsteins, they were about 1/4" too long. The only solution I came up with was to trim the spacers to fit using a trusty hacksaw. Now I think maybe I was a little too hasty. Has anyone else encountered this? Everything was snug when it was tightened up, but is there another spacer out there I should have used?

I also re-used the nuts. Should I have replaced them with new ones?

Thanks,
Mark

i picked up some cheap rear shocks from the local parts store, they were ordered in as being for a volvo 240 series, however i had to cut about a quarter inch off my spacers as well. i wasn't really able to tell how snug it was afterwards, but the bushing was definately a touch wider. of course now that i have functioning rear shocks, i have to actually find the source of the vibration from the rear end...
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-- '82 245GL, B23E, K-cam, under restoration, 350k km --

That is about what I had to cut off of mine. The Bilsteins had a wider flange at the bottom than the shock I took off. I hadn't read of this anywhere else on the board thus causing some alarm.

-Mark

i have no idea why & it made me a little uneasy to have to break out the band saw. however on my spacers there was a tapered notch right near the end on one side, i just used it as a starting point for cutting. maybe they used a diffeent oem supplier for a couple years ?
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-- '82 245GL, B23E, K-cam, under restoration, 350k km --

Interesting, mine were not tapered, and I noticed in the Bentley manual they look tapered. Perhaps you are right about different suppliers.

-Mark

i'm not sure which part you are refering to when you say tapered.
it was only one side of the notch that i used as a cutting guide on the sleeve that had a taper. and i used a bandsaw, so my 'hack' job was pretty straight =)

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-- '82 245GL, B23E, K-cam, under restoration, 350k km --

Did you compare the length of the metal sleeve on your new and old shocks? You shouldn't have to cut the spacer. It may indicate that the shock is not the correct part for the application. Just a guess.

Greg

I checked the part numbers and it was the right one. The Bilsteins had a wider bushing than the old one making the spacer too big.

what part number do you have then?

Greg

Shox.com PN B46-0296 which is a derivative of the Bilstein PN. Before I ordered these I checked them with the IPD ones to make sure they were the same. Is it possible that my car could have the wrong spacer to begin with? Were different spacers used for turbos and non-turbos?

-Mark

Hmmm that's interesting. I have the same part number on my invoice from shoxcom
Those Bils are on my 90 240, and they fit perfectly.

I never thought there was any difference in that spacer for the turbos and non-turbos, but I'll go out and measure the spacer on the 90 and the 84 240T.

Oh well, I guess the important thing is that it's working!

Greg

Greg,

I pulled out my shox.com invoice and on one of the parts lines it reads "Use Spacer for Turbo". This is on the line with the strut part numbers. Does this sound familiar or did you use the original spacers off your car? I checked a few online parts places and I can't find a part number for this spacer or any indication that they would be different.

Thanks,
Mark

That spacer is for the front struts. If you put Bil struts on a turbo car, you need to put the spacers in before the struts. On other 240s, you don't need the spacer. This is because the Turbo cars came with gas struts from the factory, and the body was longer.

Greg

I guess since it's working I can't complain, but I get kind of uneasy when I have to cut 1/4" off of parts to make them work. That and my hacksaw didn't exactly make a precision cut.

Thanks,
Mark

Maybe you should have switched the bushings instead of cutting the spacers. Next time you replace you may have to have longer spacers.....
RP
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RP '87 245 266,000 mi