Shock absorber (coilover) recommendations, anyone?

Never do the rears only. You could end up with a badly unbalanced Pantera. If you want non-adjustable shocks, I'd keep an eye on eBay and these forums, for a set of non-adjustable Konis. As far as I know, Koni will still rebuild them. Your stock springs should be fine. Just have them media blasted and powder coated.

That being said, surely there must be some adjustable spring/shock combo that has TÜV approval in Germany.

Even though they say the original Konis, (and the  adjustable Ariston‘s) are rebuildable by Koni, I have not seen too many people who have had it done successfully.

if you’re over here in the USA, a couple of the vendors have spring and shock packages. That would be Dennis Quella  Pantera Performance, Castle Rock) and Scott Bell (SACC)

Probably most of the other vendors as well! They are already set up for the ride, ride height, and spring rides.

(As a note, Scott Bell used to take the original shocks in as trade-ins. Maybe he has a good set.  I have a set of them up in my attic. They are very heavy. It will cost a lot of money to ship overseas).

He is in Europe and why he is asking.   Koni is your only choice and I am not sure they are even rebuilding the old fixed shocks anymore.  I can't imagine as well that all the people in Germany and Switzerland are running non adjustable shocks.  Maybe they are the the feds dont know it :-)

Not sure if this helps since it is in the USA, but I had done some research on rebuilding Konis before deciding to move to coil overs.  There is a weblink below.

John,

Thank you for your email request.

These are serviceable.  Starting fee is $250.00 per unit pending inspection of internals.  If we do find any damage or excessive wear to any hard parts then cost of requisite parts will be additional to service fee.  We can provide an accurate quote once we them cleaned, disassemble and evaluated.

We do offer optional restoration services as well, blast, paint, for an additional fee of $100.00 each.  These options can be discussed with the technician once upon completion of the evaluation process.

We do have 2 locations, Sonoma, CA. and Hilliard, OH pending your location.

Turn around time for service is as follows:

California = 4-6 weeks from receipt of package

Ohio = 2-3 weeks from receipt of package

Link below will provide you with our service request form downloads for either location.

https://www.performanceshock.com/koni-service-page/

Please advise if you have any further questions or concerns.

Thank you again for contacting PSi.

Jayme Perreira

Performance Shock Inc (Psi)

Dealers and Service Center for all Öhlins, Koni, Penske, Bilstein, Moton, JRZ,

Hyperco & Eibach Springs, Goodridge Plumbing, Fittings and ZF-Sachs Performance Race Clutch Systems

29139 Arnold Dr. | Sonoma, Ca. 95476 | USA

jp@performanceshock.com | www.performanceshock.com

Phone: 707.938.5664 x 105 | Direct: 707.934.4836

Hi tschnoeck,

you can try the stac company (in France), they rebuilt my 4 Ariston shock absorbers (seals, etc ...). Very good job.

STAC (www.suspensions-stac.com)

Porte 12 - 2040 Route de St BERNARD

06220 VALLAURIS FRANCE

Tel: 0493646001

mail: info@stacfrance.com

There is a set of used, non-adjustable Koni's on eBay right now. As long as they can be rebuilt, they would be a good buy for you; only $319 for the set of four. The seller is Mike Mayberry, aka "king" in these forums, aka "barbaram442" on eBay.

Unfortunately, due to a "family emergency", I can only respond today and thank you for the numerous and helpful tips and ideas.

I will go through them all, evaluate them and then report back to you.

Tim

PS:

Roland Jaeckel had another very promising tip: since the springs of a Pantera usually don't get tired, or only very rarely, he suspects that the lower axle of the wheel carrier could be stuck. I haven't even considered this yet, so I'll check it first. That would be a relatively simple matter....