TECHNICAL INSTALLATION:
2003 Dodge Neon SXT
BC Racing Sports Inverted Coilover Suspension
Tools Needed:
3/8" Drive Ratchet
1/2" Drive Ratchet
10mm socket
12mm socket
13mm socket
21mm socket
13mm box end/open end wrench (X2)
hammer/mallet
torque wrench (1/2" drive)
Jack
Jack stands
Slave........Any human with minimal mental function will do.
First thing you want to do is get your car on a flat, level surface,
and measure your ride height. Take your measurements from the ground
to the bottom edge of your fender lip (as shown). Write them down
respectfully (your writing won't respect you, if you don't respect
it). Put your measurements on the forehead of your slave with TWO
staples, one just won't do.
1. Break lugnuts loose, but keep them snug.
B. Jack up car from jack points, and place jack stands under car
accordingly
3. Remove Lugs from your front rim, and set rim aside.
C. Grab your 21mm socket and slap it on your 1/2" drive ratchet,
loosen the two nuts that connect the strut body to the cars steering
knuckle. It is not necessary to hold the opposite side of the bolt
to loosen these, if you turn the bolt side of the fastener, you will
need to make a trip to your local dealership, or crack dealer to get
new ones.
The bolts are knurled so that they don't spin in the knuckle,
because of this, they require some "convincing" with a hammer or
mallet to remove, simply tap them out............firmly, but gently
as to not damage any of the other components of the steering or
suspension, should you miss your target. Once they are loose, simply
pull them out to remove them.
5. Then grab your 10mm socket and use your 3/8" drive ratchet to
remove the static ground strap from the factory strut body, put it
out of the way, being careful not to break it in any way, or leave
it in a place where it could possibly be damaged.
E. Next, use your 13mm socket on your 3/8" drive socket and remove
the three nuts on the top of the strut tower. Before the last one is
removed, have your slave for the day hold the strut as it will be
completely free from the car. Remove the strut and spring assembly,
take care not to damage your CV axle boot in the process, if you do,
blame it on your slave, and kick him accordingly.
7. Place the old strut/spring assembly on the ground next to the
coilover unit marked "Front-Right", or "Front-Left", based on the
strut you removed (if you couldn't figure that one out on your own,
you are now the slave for the day). Compare the two to ensure they
match, and were assembled and labeled correctly.
G. Slide the new coilover in place the same way the old unit was
removed.
Have your slave guide the top of the strut in place by guiding the
studs into the holes in the strut tower.
When all three studs are through the holes, have him thread on the
new hardware onto the studs. Do not tighten them down at this point.
9. Guide the knuckle into the coilover body bracket. Slide a bolt in
the lower hole to hold it in place. Be carefull while manipulating
the knuckle into place that you don't inadvertantly pull the axle
out of the transmission.......that would be bad.
I. Push the knuckle towards the car to align the upper hole so you
can place the bolt through it, do not force it to heavily as you can
damage the threads and turn your smile upside down.
11. Grab your trusty mallet/hammer (or your slaves head), and gently
tap the knuckle bolts a couple millimeters into the knuckle.
Once they are tight, thread the nuts onto the bolts. Tighten them
down snugly with your 21mm socket and 1/2" drive ratchet, do not
overtighten as you will be finishing the tightening with a torque
wrench to the manufacturers specs (in the case of the Neon, 80
pounds).
K. Put the static ground strap onto the coilover on the bracket that
is in the same place as it was from the factory (convenient).
13. Tighten the three upper strut mount bolts on top of the strut
tower. Simply tighten them down snugly, then another half turn, no
gorilla tightening here as you run the risk of doing damage.
M. Inspect the bolts, clips, or fasteners that you may have removed
or loosend on your particular application to make sure they are not
loose.
15. Place your wheel/tire back onto your car, and tighten them down
to the manufacturers specs. Now is a great time to ensure your new
suspension has plenty of clearence from your wheel and tire.
O. Jack up the car to remove your jack stands, lower the car back
onto the ground and check clearence again. If everything clears you
are good to go!
17. The rear removal and replacement is identical with the exception
of the sway bar end links on the strut body. Here you will need your
pair of 13mm box end wrenches, one on either end to remove the bolt
from the end links. Reinstall the same way.
Now is the time where you need to do some math and measuring (refer
to your dog to do the math). You need to decide how much lower (or
higher if your car was hammered) you would like the car to sit. Take
your measurements from after your install, and subtract or add the
amount of raising or lowering you wish to do from your before
measurements on your slaves forehead. Because the BC Sports
coilovers are independantly adjustable from spring preload (we'll go
over that stuff in another issue), it is VERY simple to adjust the
height without guessing how much to move the bracket on the coilover.
Simply get the measurements (plus or minus) for each corner of the
car that the brackets must be moved from the difference of the
befores and afters (or the desired amount). Then lift the car enough
to remove the wheels, remove the lover bracket that connects to the
knuckle, and loosen the lock ring on the lower part of the coilover.
Raise or lower it to the desired location of your height, and twist
the lower bracket until it is in the correct position with your
measurement. Turn the lock ring against the bracket, and use the
supplied lock-ring wrench to lock it against the lower bracket. Bolt
everything back up and reap the benefits of the PERFECT stance.
These coilovers are a breakthrough in design and function, the strut
shaft is inverted, or mounted similar to motorcycle shocks. This
innovative design does wonders for precise suspension feel, as well
as completely housing the strut shaft and seal away from the
elements. Our test drive netted a MUCH better feel over bumps as it
wasn't teeth jarring, yet still had a firm, solid feel. Upon taking
some well known twisties, the car now exhuberated a strong desire to
stay flat and direct, the car now feels as if it is a point and
shoot machine, it is able to sustain high speeds through corners
without the need to trail brake to get the car to stay in a straight
line through the corner. On the highest of its 32 levels of daming
adjustment, it was rail-tight, overly stiff for daily driving, but
perfect for dog-legging on a race track. We will be driving this car
at next years SEMA show to test out the suspensions' longevity and
durability, as well as seeing how it handles itself on a real
racetrack.
On setting 15, it is nice and soft, yet the spring rates and valving
still feel very under control and precise. On thier lowest setting,
we would take grandma to church on sundays, and she would love it!
But then, she would drag us by our ears into the confessional to
fess up the the holes in our slaves head.
The composition of these coilovers would obviously hold up to the
harsh winter months with a cleaning every now and then. The anodized
gold aluminum lock rings and top hat look great behind the wheels,
and the powdercoated black body will take abuse.
Overall, install took a little over 2 hours, and that was with
stopping for pictures. So the average tuner should be able to do
this in under 2 hours.
