[steved0x]

I got an email from Elephant Racing, who does Bilstein rebuilds, and it looks like the rebuild option is not an option for our struts:

we do rebuild bilstein struts. Unfortunately the 2000 Boxster struts are not rebuildable. They are a low-cost line that bilstein developed that are permanently swaged shut.

Dang, I would hate to see the "non" low-cost version. Strike that, I wouldn't...

Originally Posted by Racer Boy

EDIT: After some more research, I decided that the Koni sport shocks would be more of what I'm looking for, as they are adjustable (the Bilsteins aren't) and are more suited to performance applications. It sounds like the FSD's are mostly aimed at moderate street driving, and since I intend to do track days, I'll be skipping the FSD's. I may ask ECS to change my my order to the Koni's if the Bilsteins are still on backorder.

I will check these out, and good to know on the Bilstein being on back order everywhere.

Originally Posted by jakeru

Steve - what are your objectives for this car? If racing, anything near seriously, you'll want to take into consideration the allowances of the class you'll be competing in, and spending some $ on shocks can be a great investment - one of the few modifications, for example, allowed in SCCA stock/street class.

Just HPDE, no racecar plans or ambitions...

Originally Posted by jakeru

One thing I have little doubt of is that you're going to see huge performance benefits upgrading your old and certainly worn out 120k mile shocks - probably in the >1 second range on a typical autox course. Happy to help with the replacement procedure as I recently tackled the job on my 2001 which had about 110k.

I'm looking forward to it

Originally Posted by jakeru

I have experience with Koni sports on the 986. These are a good value for a versatile, but on a budget weekend warrior that maintains stock class eligibility. Not the best setup out there for extreme, no-holds-barred competition by any means, but the external adjustability (of at least the front Koni sports for 986 - rears are unfortunately the style that needs removal to adjust) is a nice upgrade over the oe Porsche shocks and non adjustable bilsteins. You can also have them revalved if needed, or modified (such as to make double adjustable) by outfits like Proparts or Truechoice. This is the cheapest way to get into a double adjustable setup. (The other way to get there is spending probably into the multiple thousands on something like, JRZ or Penskes.)

I hear some mini racers are having good results with FSDs, but they are not externally adjustable so you'd give up the ability to make fine-tuning handling adjustments in between runs or to accommodate changing road or tire conditions. I haven't heard many reviews on 986 FSDs, so not very certain how they are valved. You might try to reach out to Koni technical/service center, as they may know.

Sounds like the Koni Sports are bumping up as a top contender. My fear is that I would adjust the rears wrong (and the fronts too, although it sounds like they are more easily adjusted). I can probably mitigate that with some research to find the right starting place for the back setting, and then adjust the fronts to match the set.

Thanks everybody so far, great information!