My adventure with BC coilovers

[Joszer]

That had to be incredible! Even in 83" they were doing around 165 on the dogleg not very long main straight and hitting the brakes at the last second, I was no more than 30 ft from them and instantly the brakes turned bright red and howled! I am pretty sure these we manual transmission cars and turbo V6 with more power than today. Also racing were lay down twin engine karts, they hit 145 on that section of the track and just 2 seconds a lap slower than the F1 cars, insane to say the least.

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Back on topic

I will have to call BC to see about the camber plates, I already slotted the strut towers to enable changing the camber, drilled new holes, I would rather have the plates so will see what they can do.

What do you mean slotting the strut towers? I read 2J'S posting on the other forum about these coilovers coming "slotted" for more camber adjustment. What does he mean by this? When I installed mine, I just pulled the old struts out and plugged these in. I don't see how you can adjust the camber on the spindle since the stock bolts are not cam'ed and the strut tower holes do not allow any upper movement.

Can you help me shed some light on this adjustment please?

Thanks.

 

[dyn085]

What do you mean slotting the strut towers? I read 2J'S posting on the other forum about these coilovers coming "slotted" for more camber adjustment. What does he mean by this? When I installed mine, I just pulled the old struts out and plugged these in. I don't see how you can adjust the camber on the spindle since the stock bolts are not cam'ed and the strut tower holes do not allow any upper movement.

Can you help me shed some light on this adjustment please?

Thanks.

Slotted towers-

Slotted camber plates-

In short, slotting the towers allow you to change the camber of the strut through elongating your upper mount bolt holes. This will obviously affect the integrity of the tower. Camber plates give you the same mounting freedom without altering the actual tower itself because it uses the OEM mount and then additionally has a slotted plate to dial in exactly how much camber you want.

Do it once; do it right.

 

[RAAMaudio]

Camber plates are obviously the way to go, if you can get them, none were available so I had little choice and I drilled mine, not slotted, it is far better that way and I have fortified them so there is no degradation. I have had to do this on a few cars over the last 4+ decades and have jumped in rallies, slammed over curbs on road race tracks, put over 100k hard miles on a car and never had an issue

I have a pair of fixed spherical bearing plates I came across in one of my parts bins the other day, been there for years but still brand new, I have some 6061 plate so going to make my own adjustable mounts soon but what I have is far more than strong enough to handle the road and racing and flying over the curbs as it is

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At least the BC coilovers I have have slotted mounts so you can adjust the camber at the knuckles and use the stock bolts.

Not a fan doing so when on race tires, I have had them slip before.

On my car they are pushed out all the way and wedged behind them so they cannot slip.

On other cars I have had to tack weld them as there was no way to wedge them, a bit of a hassle but a tiny tack weld can hold a great deal better than a bolt tightened up and relatively easy to cut the tack weld when needed to remove them then just a tack back over when done.

Having modded and race/street driven, etc dozens of cars over the past 47 years, up to and including designing and fabrication of roll cages that always passed inspection I am pretty confident that I have the skills to do this safely and effectively, I am still here, at least 1/2 million fast miles under my belt

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I post based on history of actually building things and making them work vice just picking a random picture of a less than proper mod to discredit when I have nothing better to do

Rick

 

[dyn085]

I will have to call BC to see about the camber plates, I already slotted the strut towers to enable changing the camber, drilled new holes, I would rather have the plates so will see what they can do.

Camber plates are obviously the way to go, if you can get them, none were available so I had little choice and I drilled mine, not slotted, it is far better that way and I have fortified them so there is no degradation. I have had to do this on a few cars over the last 4+ decades and have jumped in rallies, slammed over curbs on road race tracks, put over 100k hard miles on a car and never had an issue

Which one of your statements is correct? Do you have current pics of your installation to clarify?

 

[RAAMaudio]

I drilled them, not slotted, no good pics, not sure why I said slotted, just typing to fast that day or something

I forgot to mention the main reason I want camber plates now is so the STB will fit, which I still do not know if this car really needs it yet but I have to test it to be sure.

Before I do that I have some hub centric spacers to test fit to see if I can adjust the camber at the knuckle far enough with my 15x9 track wheels.
If I can then I will put the struts back into the stock holes and test the STB, if not needed then I will just make a gusset of sorts to strengthen the top of the towers.

 

[dyn085]

I drilled them, not slotted, no good pics, not sure why I said slotted, just typing to fast that day or something

I forgot to mention the main reason I want camber plates now is so the STB will fit, which I still do not know if this car really needs it yet but I have to test it to be sure.

Before I do that I have some hub centric spacers to test fit to see if I can adjust the camber at the knuckle far enough with my 15x9 track wheels.
If I can then I will put the struts back into the stock holes and test the STB, if not needed then I will just make a gusset of sorts to strengthen the top of the towers.

No worries, I knew there would be no pics when I asked.

 

[RAAMaudio]

I have posted more pics on this car than all other cars I have ever built combined, it is something I just have never done much of.

Taking the time take, host and post pictures of holes drilled into the top of strut towers is something I consider far to simple to bother with.

 

[dyn085]

I have posted more pics on this car than all other cars I have ever built combined, it is something I just have never done much of.

Taking the time take, host and post pictures of holes drilled into the top of strut towers is something I consider far to simple to bother with.

You've stated in multiple threads that you slotted the holes (which I anticipate on all being edited soon enough), and I highly doubt you knew exactly where to perfectly drill holes to dial in your 'perfect' alignment-it's just not realistic. Just like the times I've asked you to provide data, supplying proof is rarely ever a difficult thing to do. Especially with the introduction of Tapatalk, all someone has to do is literally click the camera icon, take photo, upload, and post.

This community has been wrought with misinformation and opinion since its inception, and there's no reason that we can't move beyond that. There's no reason that people should be continually accepting so much rumor and speculation without issuing challenges to see proof, as that's the only way to effectively move forward. I have no problem with people challenging me for proof of anything that I can prove, and if I'm challenged and can't provide legitimate proof I have no problem openly admitting it.

The majority of the community is beginning to understand and grasp this concept lately, it's only a few that don't seem to get it.

 

[RAAMaudio]

I think I explained it well enough, again, I have slotted quite a few, this might be the first time I drilled them, simple typing out from rote what I have done in the past, simple error, really does not matter.

Another thing I did with far bigger ramifications, changed the rear camber and toe to what I knew would work better, I needed no data, I already had more than enough prior experience, in the real world.

Perhaps if you start building things you could learn enough to tell the difference.

Data is great, it is not everything nor ever will be, many times proven or else there would never be failures and look at the history of that in the engineering world, millions of them

I am not questioning you about your great posts in other areas because I do not have the expertise to do so. That does not mean I am jumping in feet first and believing it all until I have to study it and get a good handle on what I can gain from it. If I have questions I will ask but from a perspective of wanting to sort something out, make it more clear, maybe even find a flaw to help make it better but I am not going to keep posting the same old thing over and over again I have no real clue about as you are so fondly doing here

So far you have shown nothing except posted opinions and a few seemingly Googled terms to make you look good based on your very little or no real world experience. Perhaps you are actually trained and experienced enough to be offering this from your own knowledge, is that so?

Still want to keep this up?

 

[dyn085]

I think I explained it well enough, again, I have slotted quite a few, this might be the first time I drilled them, simple typing out from rote what I have done in the past, simple error, really does not matter.

Another thing I did with far bigger ramifications, changed the rear camber and toe to what I knew would work better, I needed no data, I already had more than enough prior experience, in the real world.

Perhaps if you start building things you could learn enough to tell the difference.

Data is great, it is not everything nor ever will be, many times proven or else there would never be failures and look at the history of that in the engineering world, millions of them

I am not questioning you about your great posts in other areas because I do not have the expertise to do so. That does not mean I am jumping in feet first and believing it all until I have to study it and get a good handle on what I can gain from it. If I have questions I will ask but from a perspective of wanting to sort something out, make it more clear, maybe even find a flaw to help make it better but I am not going to keep posting the same old thing over and over again I have no real clue about as you are so fondly doing here

Again, you instigated this. I asked you to post pics for clarification because of your contradictory posts simply to make this as simple as possible, but you can't. That's ok. Prior to you posting the contradictory information after my post I was simply answering another members question.

I don't care if you 'believe me' or if people challenge my data or information because that's how the community moves forward. I try to be as clear as possible as to what is my 'opinion' and what I know as 'fact', given whatever supporting data may exist at the time. Challenge me all you want, I really don't care. I was trying to help move this community forward in the exact same way over six months ago, but too much of my time was wasted when threads were mutilated and pruned to benefit the few as opposed to the many. Once I saw that you and SS were no longer moderators I came back to share what I've either known or learned since then, mainly because I think a lot of members are similar to you and just don't understand datalogging and the power that it gives us in determining truth from fiction.

So far you have shown nothing except posted opinions and a few seemingly Googled terms to make you look good based on your very little or no real world experience. Perhaps you are actually trained and experienced enough to be offering this from your own knowledge, is that so?

Still want to keep this up?

What exactly is it you want me to show? I'm not the one making claims of having the best-designed parts or anything else under the 'most common engineering practices' theory. Even in my data-comparison thread in which I'm testing different octanes on a single tune, I never once make any 'claims'. Obviously it's me that's the poser using Google'd terms trying to make myself look good...

The main problem in the FiST community, as I've seen it, is that too much of the community is unfamiliar with the datalogging process. I've told you repeatedly that I'm not an automobile mechanic, so I don't claim to be a racecar driver. My training is in aviation-tuning jet engines, designing and implementing aviation-standard repairs or parts, assessing and adjusting flight controls in order to have the required amount of travel and having it perform exactly as required, etc. I'm not trained in building beer-keg intakes, nor do I claim to be. What I'm trained to do (and I'm really good at, btw), in it's absolute simplest form, is design or complete a test in the most consistent manner possible and then assess the resulting data in order to determine compliance or what needs to be repaired, because aircraft parts, mechanics, and down-time is really expensive in that community. I use that information to determine exactly what needs to be repaired/adjusted/replaced in the most correct and/or efficient manner. After I have completed the repair/adjustment/replacement I then have to re-test the system/subsystem in order to verify compliance to blueprints, manufacturer data, regulations, etc.

So yeah, I'll keep it up so long as you feel the need to rebut and try to assert that I lack comprehension. Like I said, I'm not an automobile mechanic that assumes certain changes are automatically better-I'm an aircraft mechanic that is trying to show members how to determine if changes they're making actually are better.

 

[RAAMaudio]

I did not recall that you are an aircraft mechanic, I respect that very much and I do know a bit about it, not as much as you but the one thing above all is everything has to be done right as no room for error. Knowing this helps me understand your reasons better for wanting more solid information. My buddy across the street is a retired aircraft mechanic and owned his own small fleet of small plans at one time, we have had some great talks, he loves my projects.

I have known quite a few in that industry and have had some interesting things happen in my life like 400 ft through the mountains in Southern Idaho in a B52, catapult launches, arrested landings, CH46 crashed at sea while on the way to pick me up, almost went down in another one later on, lowered onto a moving ship at sea out of another one in a horse collar. I was in the control tower one night on a carrier when an F14 blew an engine 100 ft before the start of the deck, huge fireball out the front and back, hit really hard, blew the other engine, I thought it was all over but in the AM just sitting in the back of the hanger, engines already removed and all cleaned up, damn amazing!

I will never be able to provide data which I wish I could versus the stock on my car and not likely ever to be able to put it on a different car but I still believe beyond a doubt it is the best of that type because it is true cold air, somewhat pressurized, the least bends, a very good flowing air box(if not I would not of seen hundreds of round ones in race cars over the decades), a very good filter, insulated over the exhaust, it is also super low in weight and was dirt cheap to build.

It is well past the time to just let this go and move on to more important things, I agree to disagree

Rick

 

[Aerofusical]

Anyone know what the max height of these coilovers are compared to stock? Only coilover I am struggling to find the height range details on lol

 

[RAAMaudio]

Pretty sure they will go as high or higher than stock but I only set mine at the proper height for the geometry of the car to be the best while being relatively low.

You can call BC directly, they are great to work with.

321-206-6381

 

[CanadianGuy]

Anyone know what the max height of these coilovers are compared to stock? Only coilover I am struggling to find the height range details on lol

Let us know what you find. Looking at them but want stock height in winter and lower in summer.

 

[XuperXero]

I can confirm that BC will go higher than stock. But I can't confirm by how much.

 

[Aerofusical]

Ended up just raising 10mm, didn't see how high it goes. Mailed bc UK and US but no response as of yet.

 

[KonaBlueFiST]

Thanks man. I'm really considering dropping the money on getting this thing corner balanced. I might look into later this week

Did you ever get this bad boy corner balanced? Wondering how it came out! I have been on the hunt on a deal for BC coils for a long time now!

 

[Nexus]

Guys, for those who have been on BC up until now, are you still happy with them? any major issues?

 

[Erick_V]

Guys, for those who have been on BC up until now, are you still happy with them? any major issues?

Have had mine for about a year and a half. No issues or complaints at all. I set them at full soft for the streets and then increase the damping for autocross or when I want to hit some nice twisties. I'm not that low either, I believe I have just under 2 finger gap. I only rub over very large dips on my 17x8 215/40 setup. The only thing I would have done differently is get stiffer springs. The 5k/3k is a little soft for my taste but it hasn't bothered me enough to change them lol. I will probably upgrade to 7k/5k Swift springs in the future and enlarge the hole on the strut tower to be able to adjust camber without removing the strut.