They look nice and a really good price as well.
Hey Ray - we expect a full write up on installation (we like photos ) and a report on them please.

_________________
Vice Chairman
1990 White UK Celica ST185 - Project DTM
1997 Cream BMW R1200C (as seen in James Bond "Tomorrow Never Dies")
2005 Jaguar X-type 3.0 Sovereign AWD Automatic
Blood Bikes - https://www.freewheelers.org.uk/

hahahha. Yeah I think everyone is expecting that. You have no idea how many people in different forums are waiting to hear from m report.
Problem is I havent got any experience in another set of coilovers to compare them with so my write up will be for those going from basic to coilovers and I'll try not to be bias to them.
I will probably start at the end of next week when i have time.

Hmm...

It's clearly streetrace stuff, not sport.
The pic by YCM shows it.
Look at the thin plunger at first.
If you want sport, in must be from 45 mm at least in OD, here I see very thin sticks.
Only tarmac for making girls yell-squeal, not sport use

_________________
"To raven, to do a crap, to sward a pinkie - just that are the needs of a real man"

(E.M.Remark, "Three camrades")

Hahaha. Yes PF. Its not ideal for Motorsport and not even entry level. We all know it doesnt compare to the "Elephant Trunks" you manufacture.
The purpose of my test is because the ST205 has very limited coilovers for SSS.
Everyone swears to TRD and Tein because they know it works.
Whilst other smaller brands have tried, they've failed miserably.

Also with the current condition of the global exchange rate, TRD and Tein coilovers are now priced bout £1.5K which is rediculas.

BC is new and offers a clight different concept and design compared to the crappy brands.
What I'm hoping is that they can offer an affordable upgrade to the SSS.
Of course people who is into tarmac track events will swear by Tein and TRD's. But for the domestic market into street modding, this mite be a good alternative.

You know PF one day hopefully, I'll get to try out your coilovers too. I'd love to have a ST205 capable of real off road ability.

Ray,

If to choose between TRD/Tein & smth else, surely it worth to make a trial on alternaives to japs.
As price for TRD/Teins is awful, we are assured, that this price is not argued for real!

_________________
"To raven, to do a crap, to sward a pinkie - just that are the needs of a real man"

(E.M.Remark, "Three camrades")

Ok so I've had a good inspection of the BC coilovers and read the leaftlets that came with it.
I'vealso taken some close up pictures and voice my thoughts and elaberate on a few features.
The kit for the ST205 is coilovers are the BR Type which is BC flagship Gold and black product.
THere is a thinner one available in the UK which is the V1 design and they are red and black.
The difference is a bit like the Tein Super street and Super drift.

The entire kit looks like this.

None of that silly purple, or metalic blue colour.
It looks sleak and looks like it does the job.
The kit comes with 2 keys, on eslightly larger than the other for height adjustments.
Also included is a long alan key for adjusting the top mounts.

The first think I noticed was its Triple lock ring design boasting that common alu rings chew up the threads after a few adjustments.
I couldnt help thinking the key isnt as heavy duty and thick as the rings its self and that the hooks looked a bit shallow and that after a few slips, I could end up rounding off the rings.


But when placed on teh rings itself, it actually felt quite sturdy but I still didnt like the hooks of the keys being slightly rounded.


The groves on the rings where at a slight angle where the key hooks on quite tightly. Still I'd be cautious about ajusting it at the wrong angle.

Next thing I noticed was that the top and bottom ends of the springs where welded at the tip unlike normal lowering springs on a normal SSS setup.
There is also a L shaped ring seated at the top and bottom of the springs.
This is all so that there is no squeaking or rubbing of metal on metal like what you'd find on TRD and Tein lowering springs. I'm not sure if other coilovers have the same design feature.


Now this set comes with adjustable "TRUE CHAMBER" topmounts in the front but not the rear.
What they mean by true chamber top mounts is compared to the D2, these align upso that the adjustments can move in a perfect horizontal motion not in a 45 degree angle.

The top mount looks pretty impressive. I've seen the TRD and Tein top mounts and this looks like its the business. There's no Hard rubber but made of I believe solid steal same as the rear. Though the rear is not adjustable, it is already fixed at an angle.



The front has bearings which helps reduce the damping force delivered to the pillow and is suppose to be very durable.


Next off is the actual cylinder. They are 53mm pistons which is suppose to be larger than other street competitors that uses 44mm pistons.
And because its not the actual cylinder being inserted into the SSS legs, it is larger and holds more volume.
Wthin the springs, I couldnt help noticing that teh rubber gater which keeps the dirt off looks a bit flimsy. Yes it does the job but it does look like a gineric part.

Pulling it back I discovered what looks like a bump stop inside the gater.


The finish looks 50/50 with these. The shiny end look very shiny and the welds didnt look too bad. Yes some bits looked like an overkill of weld

And some the rest looked nice and consistant

But look carefully at the black paint, it doesn't look very neat. I dont think it was powdercoated bup prayed and around the welds where quite a bit of excess flakes.

Last of all the actual inset.
This is the bit which needs to be inserted into the SS legs.
Its seperate from the cyliner and of clean metal allowing you to spot weld it to the legs.

I'm a bit sceptical about welding this because Im worried about the oil heating up inside the shocks.
But I guess they must have thought this through hence why the insert its self is hollow allowing it to cool quicker

I guess I'll only know on the day at the workshop.

One other thing. The Damping adjuster at the top.
It can be adjusted to 30 levels of firmness.
Unlike the TRD adjustable shocks which just have 1,2,3 and 4
Tis one turns over about 3 times and clicks about every 2 mm of a turn.
Its great that it has 30 settings but I'm thinking that ech time I change the settings I'll have to turn it all the way to soft, and count the number of clicks up to make sure its the same on both sides.

Well thats it for now. I should hopefully be welding these to the legs next week and please excuse my poor spelling and grammar.

Yes it is worth trying something other than a Japanese make.
But unfortunately there isnt anything else out there being sold as a kit for the superstrut.
I see this as a gap in the market which TRD and Tein has dominated whilst other brands find it too expensive to develope on the superstruts.

You and I both know that its a FACT that it's not worth that rediculas price and manufacturing them cost nothing close to what they're selling them at.

That is why like you I seek alternatives, source or make my own products.

Yes, those BC looks very good, and time will tell us how they are...
I'm with you guys... TRD and Tein are a bit expensive and just fast road products, not for race... but they are Japanese so IMHO high quality product:
in these 14 years I have the ST205, ANY time I bought something not japanese, I ALWAYS had, unfortunately, problems...

_________________
Wolf_Tm
TM 250 enduro 2 stroke
GT-four ST205 Snowy White with selfmade 3SGTE v4.1 - [2.34kg/bhp DynoDynamics]
http://www.youtube.com/WolfTm250
http://www.facebook.com/wolf.tm

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.

For sure the leg here must be welded strongly to the damper body.

We do the same work with our stuff, because the OEM leg is evil stuff, completely *bleep* off if to produce it (because of casting).

_________________
"To raven, to do a crap, to sward a pinkie - just that are the needs of a real man"

(E.M.Remark, "Three camrades")

PF. You yse a similar method to make your rally coilovers.
I'm scared SH1TLESS about welding the shocks because they contain oil and I dont want to damage it.
Any advice on how you do yours?

Weld it, do not be scared.
All will be fine.
If you're bad welder, give this job to the qualified person.

_________________
"To raven, to do a crap, to sward a pinkie - just that are the needs of a real man"

(E.M.Remark, "Three camrades")

Stitch weld in short bursts and have a wet rag wrapped around the shock body

Obviously MIG or TIG only, high power, fast movement

This may sound unlikely but do you have a propshaft supplier near you? They will have a rotating welding setup which would be ideal for this application

no I dont have a propshaft supllier near me.
I'll ask my friend to do it as his welding is neater then mine and he's got more experience. Thanks for the advice people.

If friend is skilled welder, that's the way, but if you have any doubts, do not economy on welding here, as leg can break while riding (that's not a rare case, believe me).

Only TIG is prevalent for sure.
+1 for wet protection.

_________________
"To raven, to do a crap, to sward a pinkie - just that are the needs of a real man"

(E.M.Remark, "Three camrades")