BC Racing coilover install, BR series

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Oct 28, 2006, 10:00 AM

03EVO-VIII

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BC Racing coilover install, BR series

Alright everyone, I know a lot of people are dieing to hear a review on these. I was looking forward to get a kit about a month ago from Import Image when all the sudden the previous model went out of stock. Luckly these came in at perfect timing. I must say the c/o look better in person than the pics, and the pics do look good. Shipping was next day since I’m in the same state. The install was incredibly simple, I had the tein springs in so I didn’t really use anything to compress the springs as the whole unit was being replaced. I’ll throw in some pics to help those that haven’t installed before. We have 3 14mm nuts on the topmounts upfront and 2 19mm on the lower + 1 12mm on the brake line bracket. You may need to have a breaker bar handy to break the 19mm loose plus you’ll need a deep socket 19mm. I didn’t use any spring compressors as my setup already had shorter springs so it was easier to slip the entire unit out. The c/o’s come pretty close to what I believe is stock height, I loosened the lower lock ring and raised the lower bracket about 1 ½ in. I left the lower bracket loose and slipped the new one in place. If your doing this on your own just make sure you have the nuts ready to put on when you slip the topmount in place. Once the top mount is held in place, having the lower bracket still loose allows swinging it around and fastening the brake line on where you can position it to see what you’re working on. Once the brake line is in place then align the lower bracket and tighten all the bolts. Now I do suggest you do one side first, both front and rear put on the tires and achieve the drop you want instead of having to do all four over again. Moving on to the back, you’ll have to remove the trunk liner to access the rear top mounts. Those are 14mm and the lower bracket is 17mm which you’ll need 2 to loosen as well, one on both ends. Now on these it really depends probably on what you have in there for your suspension. I was able to remove the 2 top mounts and the lower nut and stud and with a bit of pressure down on the rear brakes was able to slip these over the lower control arm. Some may need to remove one of the ends of the lower control arm to get them out. I did the same to the rears and loosened the lock ring and brought those up an 1 ½ in. as well. Here it helps to have an extra hand or long arms if you’re by yourself. With the nuts in hand, take you hands out your pocket. I meant the ones off the dampers. Your going to want to remove the damper knob for this. Slip the damper in bottom first and you won’t make it to the top mounts without putting some down pressure on the brakes to slip these into the topmount position. You’ll have to reach over into the trunk and put at least one nut on a bit to hold them in place from falling out. Once it’s in place position the lower bracket and tighten all the bolts and nuts. Once you put the tires on and see the drop where it stands you may want to do some tweaking. To raise you’ll loosen the lower lock ring and grab the core and turn clockwise and counter clockwise to drop. I do recommend some mechanics gloves for this. For the front you may want to loosen the lower bracket a bit as it helps to raise and lower. Once you have it set, measure and copy to the other side and you’ll be done quickly. Between smoke breaks and talking **** on the phone it took me 2hrs 45min with no air tools and I was cleaning my hands and ready to go for a spin.

For the drive I cruised around a bit to make sure everything was tight and I had no noise. The setting was on full soft which was very comfortable. The ride was a bit stiffer than stock, but it was not bad at all. I was really impressed on how smooth the ride was. Now my brother is looking for a new home and a few days ago was showing me a new neighborhood under construction which had all the roads laid out but no houses other than 2 model homes. Since I was finished about 6pm I thought where better than that. I got there and sure enough no one in sight. I lapped around to make sure there wasn’t any loose sand on the road and planned out the streets I wanted to lap around. On the softest setting you can perform as well or better than the stock setup, but it’s been a long time since I drove around on the stock setup also. The car leaned in every turn. Playing around with the settings every time I came around to start a new lap makes you think damn, 30 settings is a lot. Full stiff was stiff as a board. The car was completely steady, no leaning in the turns and the tires were screaming. That will definitely be my next upgrade as now they cannot handle what the suspension will. I finally settled for 18 all around for the street. Overall I’d say if your looking for a kit that is capable of riding smooth one minute and shaking your fillings out the next, then this is definitely it. With all the extras like pillow ball mounts and camber plates. I’m definitely happy with my selection. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask. I’ll try to help as much as I can. I’ll try to go under and measure the distance between the upper rings and lower lock ring for those that like the drop where is stands on mine, I didn’t take any pics of the car cuz it’s really filthy right now. I’ll see if I can post tonight or tomorrow as it looks like it may rain today.