Sorry for the delay on the update. My summer college classes have become a huge distraction as of lately. Still, things have been moving forward and I'm proud to say that my car is officially no longer stock!
REPAIRS: None to report on this right now, though there are several things I need to do. I'll mention that later, though!
MODS: I have finished putting on the coilovers, camber arms, and the new wheels and tires. I went into the project of doing the coilovers with two other people, both of which really didn't have any clue how to do it or about cars in general (promising food works wonders). Still, after an abundance of research I had found that
"oh, coilovers are easy! they should only take a few hours!"
I call bullsh*t on that. The first day we worked from 1pm until 8pm and just completed the front coilovers. Two days later we finished the job (a little quicker this time) and did the rears and the camber arms. Keep in mind we did the job with a jack (not a lift), hand tools, and no experience at all. I'm pretty sure most of the bolts hadn't been touched in two decades either. Would have been easy if the bolts had cooperated!
Either way, the BC coilovers are on and set to mid dampening, which (from what I read) is supposed to be ideal for breaking them in. So far I've put about 500 miles on them and have gone to one autocross with the new setup. I'm pretty happy so far.
Of course, what I've noticed the biggest difference in is with the new wheels and tires. First of all, the paint quality on the Rota Grids suck. Already have some chipping away just from using a tire iron. I'll have to repaint them eventually, but so far they're alright. I'm not really surprised, I suppose. BUT, the tires are a big step up from my all-seasons I was running previously. The tires are Hankook Ventus V12 in size 235/45r17. Very grippy and a lot of fun. Can't wait to do another event with them!
Just got the alignment done too. After the initial install the car was still driving great, but the negative camber was visible on the rears. I'll have to do another alignment in a few months once the car fully settled, but I had to do one before the tires got too torn up!
BC Racing BR Type Coilover Review: So far I really like them. I haven't changed the dampening yet, so they're just set at 16 all the way around. They have a very sturdy feel, are easy to work with, and have definitely helped with handling. For daily driving they are excellent (just don't hit potholes) and give a much better feel around turns. During autocross the car felt a bit more like a go-kart, and made turns with much more ease than before and hugged the ground in a better way. I'll update again on how I'm liking them once I get 1000 or 1500 miles on them!
UP NEXT: I have several things I'll be doing soon. First of all, I need to put on my front sway bar and rear strut bar. I need to find time to do that, which will hopefully come soon. I also need to do a few repairs. Neither of my windows work right now, and the idle is still a bit rough. The A/C is going out and I believe it is R12, so I need to get those windows fixed soon. Expect some updates soon!