BC coilovers for the GT4, yes its for the GT4 Options

[yellowchinaman]

save up because in the end I'm organising a group buy and so I'm sure I can help you out too when the time comes.

[whatthe]

^ that sounds great man, i was going to organise something for the aussie members who were interested but yeh GB ftw!

[yellowchinaman]

Last night I started working on cutting the stock leg Taras had donated to me for this project.
The aim was to cut the leg down to just the lower section of the superstrut.
The tools I had to do this job with was:

Angle grinder with grinding and cutting blades
hacksaw
File
Vice clamp

And for safety:
Goggles and gloves

I first started by securing the legs in a vice clamp and then began cutting away with the angle grinder.
The first problem was clamping it securely. Because the legs had other bits like the brake hose holder sticking out, I was limited to how to clamp it down and also my angle grinder couln't cut all the way round.

I managed to cut about 2 thirds the way round and about less then a cm away from the bottom.
Using a hacksaw I manually sawed the rest off.

These where the bits that was not needed:

and I was left with this:


Next thing was to change the blades to a grindig blade and stert to take the excess bits down to the bottom and evening it out.

This took a long time because even though I cut the legs down with less then 1cm left, that was still a lot to grind away.
Also towards the end I had to stop, check and grind again trying to make sure that the surface was evenly flat. This really tested my patience.

After when I thought I had finished with the angle grinder, I used a course flat file and started to skim the surface in all directions to ensure the surface was flat.


The end result was a mnice, smooth and flat surface.


Notice how I left about a 1mm edge there.
In the instructions, it dodnt say how far you're suppose to take it down to. I decided to not take it all the way down because I didn't want to risk making a mess with the angle grinder and to give a bit of a lip for when i tap weld it.
As long as both legs are evenly the same there shouldnt be a problem.

So here they are after cutting:


And give them a good wash:


Then finally back home for a test fit:

Now they're looking more like a super strut coil over

NOTE that I didnt insert them fully just in case I had to take them off again.
I was really impress how nicely they fitted into the legs. It was air tight with no play what so ever and I had to tap it a bit to get it that far in. At first I was a bit worried abut it not fitting here because if it was too big, I'd have to drill the leg a bit and too small would mean play and that will ruin everything.
BC had made these insert to fit perfectly and I'm very pleased with it so well done.

Next is to order new bushes as the ones in the legs now are leaking and there's none in stock so I should get them by next week.
Then I'll need to take it to my friends workshop for the leaking bushes to be pressed out and replaced and finally insert the coilovers in and weld them down.


Overvies so far:
Everything is coming to plan and there has been no surprises. The scariest bit is over and I'm a bit relieved.
Cutting the legs took just over 2 hours with the tools I had.
I do want to point out that this was not a job for the faint hearted. I was covered in metal shavings and made a bit of a mess at the garage.
Where as most DIY mechanics are confident with bolt on and bolt off upgrades, this definately requires some engineering confidence and a lot of patiences.
I did enjoy doing this but I can also imagine that a lot of people would be reluctant to give it a try.
However, this only applys to the ST205 superstrut. ST185, and ST202,3,4 BC coil overs wouldn't have to face this problem but I'm sure most ST205 owners wouldnt mind this becasue we are faffers and saving almost a grand with these coilovers if they work.

[VinT]

Looking good. But I have one question..
Are there any fastening in this connections?

[yellowchinaman]

nope. You just press them all the way in and then weld around the edges.
I found out that surprisingly, a few amature rally teams use the same method to make their own coilovers on the ST205 in in the middle easter countries so it must be pretty strong and proven to work.

Look at the size of that shock on the coilover. Its almst the same size as the oil filter!:



This post has been edited by yellowchinaman: Feb 5, 2009 - 11:23 AM

[VinT]

weld around the edges.

I see. Thanks.

[yellowchinaman]

ok another small update.
I didnt do much last week because I went away with the misses and yesterday I had my engineere press out the warn bushes and replaced with new ones.


For those who was worried about welding and cooking the shocks well I found this out. It comes apart!!!!


After spot welding it they finally finished off as a full SS coilover.


Hopefully this weekend I'll have them installed.

[mikaelhoglund]

Hello!
I have a D2 coiloverkit and it works fine in the rear but in front the damping hight is just ½an ince, but they have just taken my front kit back and remaked the kits for the superstrut celicas. The new kit is like the BC one. I can update you with pictures after the installation. Also the dampers are upgraded to a new better version as well.

[yellowchinaman]

Hello!
I have a D2 coiloverkit and it works fine in the rear but in front the damping hight is just ½an ince, but they have just taken my front kit back and remaked the kits for the superstrut celicas. The new kit is like the BC one. I can update you with pictures after the installation. Also the dampers are upgraded to a new better version as well.

So D2 have now adopted the insert design same as BC?
Its been a while and I've not updated anything. Basically I'm stuck because there is a problem withe these BC coilovers.
I'm having to pain-steakingly cut off the welds to correct a mistake in thes coilovers and its very annoying and I'm still not done.
I'll post up the details later after I've corrected them.

[SveNRG]

For those of you eagerly awaiting more info, here's a quote from yellowchinaman via gt4dc via gt4oc.net forum

Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:45 pm

http://gt4dc.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2764&start=30



I know its been a long time since I've posted anything on the BC coilovers. Thats because I'm still waiting for BC to send me new bottom half inserts and untill I get them I wont be able to continue with my write up.

Sorry to keep eveyone waiting, I know there are a lot of people are waiting for my thoughts on the BC before buying them so here's what I have to say.

If you want to buy them. Do so. My review is write up on my experience and findings on these coilovers. After you've read it, use the knowledge as guidence.
I don't take advice from anyone who passes on second hand information or no actual exprience with something so don't take generalisation and knock off coments too serioursly from people who havent actually tried them.

I've had the rear ones on for a while and so far I've had no troubles at all and already liking what I've got. I cant wait to get my front ones on.

Setting up the rear took almost a week of tweaking, adjusting and trying and now I'm flying over speed bumps withough any knocking, discomfort and exhaust scraping.

BC's only major mistake was releasing these with incorrect instructions. There are a few other minor things which I'd question but will do so after I've done the front as well.

Mean while a gift to all my readers who whishes to try them:

[yellowchinaman]

Well it's been a long wait but its finally all done.
For the past few weeks I had to wait for BC to send me a new set of bottom inserts as I had to result to cutting the old ones off due to a mistake in the instructions being the other way round.

This is going to be a huge update so I'll split it into front and rear starting with the rear setup.





REAR:

The rear coilovers where incredibly easy to install. I had no problems and issues what so ever. It was a simple bolt off and bolt on and the only thing which held me back was my old drop links in which I ended up angle grinding it off and replacing them with new ones.

As you can see in the picture there was no problems with the 2 bolts unlike the older D2's which didn't line up properly.


Do take note that when lining up the top mounts that the pointiest corner (the peak) points outwards. Took me about 15 mins of turning to realise that it wasn't a perfect triangle formation


The drop links fitted perfectly and the brake cable was a diddle to bolt on.


One thing you'll notice immediately (if you haven't changed anything) is once you've put the rear wheel on, you'll realise how short the rear coilovers are compared to normal shocks. The wheel literally sits within the arches when jacked up.

The other thing is how difficult it is to tighten the deepest top mount bolt through the small gap where the strut brace passes through the boot trim.
The reason being is that you now have the adjustable knob sticking up which adjusts the stiffness of the dampers and that gets in the way of using a normal 12mm spanner so I'd recommend ripping out the boot side trims when installing these. It will save you a lot of cursing and hand cuts.

After I lowered the car the rear was sooooooooooooo low it was ridicules. I took it for a test drive still just for a laugh and found that even though it was set that low, I was still able to go over bumps quite comfortably and nothing bottled out.

Then I jacked the car up again to adjust the height based on the test drive.
First off was the ride comfort.
You immediately notice as expected that coilovers would feel stiffer then shocks and springs.
The factory setting is 8 clicks from soft to hard.

After changing the settings about 5 times I decided to set it to the fallowing:

The springs where set for maximum travel so I could use it's full length. Where as I wanted a stiffer rear I still wanted a comfortable ride and a car which can clear urban city speed bumps.
however even though setting the springs to its maximum length the ride height was still too low.
So then I extended the length by unscrewing the coilover out more to extend the length.

I ended up extending it by 3cm making the total gap between the bottom spring ring lock and the bottom ring lock 5cm's apart.

In the manual it says that for a macpherson setup should have a minimum of 80mm's inserted in the bottom end and for a A setup to have 25mm's inserted.
There is more then 25mm left still in the rear bottom legs so I didn't have to worry.
As for the damper setting, I decided to keep it at 18 clicks.





















FRONT:

Firstly i welded the superstrut legs to the inserts using an ARC weld which is IMO one of the toughest weld and ideal for this situation.
Theo only thing is you only get one chance at it and if you don't have it the correct way round or not lined up properly then your only solution is to cut it off entirely like I did before.

Once welded, I sanded off the old rusty surface from the superstrut legs and sprayed it down. When assembled with the coilover it should look like this:


Again notice that its shorter compared to normal shocks and springs like the rear but remember that the springs on the coilovers are stiffer then normal or lowering springs so with the weight of the car on, it doesn't sink as low as normal shocks and springs.


When I disassembled both sides, I took this opportunity to replace my crush tubes to "Mr Barry's up rated crush tubes" from the GT4OC.


Getting these out can be a pain in the arse because the arms are at an angle so getting the bush lined up and straight for the tubes and bolt to be inserted and lined up can be annoying.
So this is how I did it.
Use a jack and jack up the front assembly so that the banana arm is horizontal. That way you just jiggle it a bit ant you can pull out the old tube and inset the new ones easily.


After changing the crush tubes, installing the coilovers where again straight forward.
Making sure the top mounts where rotated correctly so that the camber travels horizontally.



At first when installing one side I did notice the drop link didn't line up. It was too short.


But then when I took off the old shocks from the other side and put in the coilover, the drop links became equal on both sides and bolted on fine.


However I did have a problem with the brake hoses.
Neither side lined up perfectly so that I could clip them down. It was either at the wrong angle or welded in the incorrect place.
Warning. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BEND THE BRAKE HOSE TO MAKE IT FIT!!!

This wasn't such a big problem because I simply cable tied it down.


Then I pieced it together and took it for a test drive, came back to set the adjustments.

Just like my initial aim with some comfort and practicality in mind, I set the front accordingly like the rears.
Again with maximum spring travel and making sure there was minimum 80mm within inserted in the bottom ends, the distance between the two ring locks was 30mms.


When fitted it looked like this:


This time the front dampers where set a bit softer then the rear at just 12 clicks from soft to hard.
It was still harder then stock setting and any more made me feel that every speed bump started to feel a bit like a bang.

And this is what the car looks like now with the coilovers on.

Its a little bit higher then my TRD lowering springs but not as high as stock height.

I took the car into alignment and had the front cambers set to 1deg out and rear at 0 for better then stock cornering ability.
On my way, I found myself flying over speed bumps and pot holes without a worry and cornering much harder then I was able to before with KYB shocks and TRD lowering springs.

There was no clunking, banging or any signs of the front end bottling out.
The rear end started to slide out easier when set on hard and I have stock ARB. It did not skip across lanes like the D2's where described. It was actually controllable.
I felt like I have a new car again and when driving, it handled a lot like a go kart around the bends. The feed back and response from the shocks wasn't at all uncomfortable and the car felt very well planted when hammering hard in 3rd gear around the bends at boost.

I never felt that I was able to corner this hard and felt this stable when I had up rated shocks and springs even though when I did change to that previous setup, I was already over the moon.


Overall ratings and thoughts:

First impressions was a lot more impressive then what I had expected. The build quality is of a very high standard and on paper the spec does sound impressive. eg. Bigger girth is always better.
What's involved in the installation can be scary for any amateur home DIY mechanic and is defiantly not for the faint hearted.
However I was expecting a lot worse and through out the process I was constantly praying that the front superstrut wouldn't develop a problem and could deliver usable performance.
Despite the mix up with the instructions and the front brake clips being not so perfect, this entire experience was actually quite enjoyable and very very rewarding.
The BC coilovers are definitely worth the upgrade and dramatically improved the handling of the ST205.
With such limited range of coilovers out there for the ST205, the BC had successfully offered a very competitive yet affordable option.
In fairness, though there are roomers that they're made from the same factories as where the D2, k-sport and G4 coilovers are made, BC are a seperate entity and differs in design and spec compared to those other brands and so I couldn't really place BC at the same level as the other brands but yet I cant class them the same as the leading brands like TRD and Tein.
I have to say that I was a little bit disappointed that BC didn't offer adjustable top mounts for the rear because most GT4 track users would adjust the front and rear camber a bit however I gusee this could easily be resolved by buying adjustable camber bolts for the rear.


My other thoughts are what problems these could develop in future?
The Tein, Cusco and TRD top mounts do corrode a bit when exposed to rain mainly due to the fact that we have a vent directly over it.
Where as these top mounts do look very strong and sturdy, I would have to wait and see what nature will do to them and if it exposes the qualities of the materials used.
Also its just a matter of time untill someone test BC when they're in need for a rebuild. With these being so unique and so exclusive to certain distributers I hope that wouldn't be me anytime in the near future.

At the moment I'm still very happy and excited like I've come out the show room with a new car but time will expose more issues.

Yes I did run into set backs and yes it is much more of a job compared to other coilovers but you cant say you're a faff owner unless you've really faffed about with your four can you?

For around £600-700 for a set of coilovers with superstruts that actually works... BC have really set a new standard for us to all think about.



Special thanks:
Firstly I'd like to thank James at performanceguru.co.nz, not for helping me to be the first to own and try these coilovers but more for the work you've put into helping BC develop these coilovers.
Though performanceguru's exclusivity over these SS coilover didn't last that long from BC, just rem
ember that thre are thousands of us ST205 owners out there, who appreciate your contribution to bring us an affordable option.

Secondly Kev from apexperformance.co.uk who helped me get my message through to BC regarding the dodgy instructions and promptly arranged for a set of replacemnts.

Lastly my mad mechanic Mat who helped me with advice and welded them up for me (twice) and Taras for donating his crappy left over superstrut legs which was lying around in his garage anyway.


Ray aka YCM.

[AnaXyd]

Great writeup! Do you suggest BC instead of Megans?

[SveNRG]

Thank you for this great write-up! I'm seriously considering getting a set for my ST202 with superstrut. I was also looking at KYB super street specials, but since you have experience with these and like the BC ones better, that settles it for me. Cheers!

[95CelicaST]

BC coilovers are highly regarded in the Subaru community. They definitely have higher build quality to them than Megan, Ksport, and D2, which are all the same (basically) and have a much better reputation behind them. In a few months I will be purchasing a set for my Celica and I'll do a writeup on the ST202 units.

[3WayStunna]

Not to sound ignorant, or silly, but will all sets sold from bc (or other dealers) have to have the fronts welded to the stock suspension to some degree? In other words, they will not be a simple bolt on?

[yellowchinaman]

Not to sound ignorant, or silly, but will all sets sold from bc (or other dealers) have to have the fronts welded to the stock suspension to some degree? In other words, they will not be a simple bolt on?

Not at all my friend.

All the superstrut ones will need to be welded. As far as I know the ST20* superstruts are the only coilover BC made which needs to be welded because of the extreme cost of fabricating the lower superstrut half hence this is the best solution. It's not hard to weld TBH. Any local welder can do it for you.

Its been quite a few months now since having them installed and I've had no problems at all. Still flying over pot holes and speed bumps and I drive my car pretty hard around bends. Still happy playing with the dampering settings and not a sign of corrosion or rust. Feels like the day I first installed them.

This post has been edited by yellowchinaman: Jul 23, 2009 - 7:42 AM

[3WayStunna]

well thank you much Chinaman. Speaking for myself, it could be a problem, but maybe not. Lol, do the intructions come im japanese?

[yellowchinaman]

well thank you much Chinaman. Speaking for myself, it could be a problem, but maybe not. Lol, do the intructions come im japanese?

lol. no but they do come in english. Or you can fallow my guide.

[Wolf_tm]

Hi Ray !!!

As I fitted them too, what about your rear BC - rear tyres clearance ?!?

I found mine to be VERY VERY small with 235/40-17, unfortunately...

[yellowchinaman]

Hi Wolf. I dont have that problem. I have much more then 4mm. Over 1CM in fact.

I have 8J wide supertourismo's though. Offset is 35.
What wheels do you have and what's the offset?