Megan Racing Coilover Install

[chrisbmx68]

I have been running bilstein sports, h&r race springs, and IE spec camber plates for the past year. I wanted to go slightly lower in the front and get something a bit stiffer in the rear. That lead to me looking at bc, cx racing, k sport, d2, Megan, etc style coils. Determined they are all basically the same. Found a good deal on the Megans in the classifieds. They come stock with 8k front 8k rear rates I found out that for $200 more they will do custom rates/valving (that puts you at the same price as a set of BC's so take that as you will). Purchased a set of 6k 8 inch springs from an independent source for about $50. So my rates are now 6k front 8k rear.

Did the install tonight, took me about 4 hours. I only got to drive about 2 miles home from my garage so I cant speak to performance yet.

Toys

working hard at the office

6k springs

gearing up for the install parts laid out


6k spring on the left 8k on the right (the og springs are 62mm id the new ones are 65mm they fit OK may need to make a tiny spacer if they make noises when turning)

travel visual and bump stop.

out with the old

comparison


in with the new

more old bits out

housing cut and wire wheeled

pondering the garbage abs wire holder that came with the new stuff

realizing I can just re use the stock tabs

zip zip


Drilled one hole in the middle, and its like it was meant to be.

Dry fit, very snug had to use a mallet to fully seat the new piece

Tigged it on, couldn't quite get all the way around the inside edge. If I ever do the wheel bearings again I will finish the weld 360

welds came out so so. Went great for the first half inch or so

spent 10 minutes threading the damn thing back in, and painted the bottom portion with some vht epoxy paint.

rinse and repeat for the other side. Was exhausted at this point and documentation started to suffer.



I will have to report back once I finish dialing in the height and dampening. Hopefully this is helpful to someone.
-Chris

[ak-]

Good job on the documentation.

This made me lol:
"spent 10 minutes threading the damn thing back in"

[rares]

wow that loooks good, nice work... about time we had a megan write up... nicely done.. let us know how they ride... be safe

[chrisbmx68]

The install was about the same as any of the other fully threaded brands. I will definitely post an update when I get it all setup right. Picture of ride height and thoughts etc.

Also I giggled when I opened the box.
Here is a pic of someones BC's fresh from the box

And here is mine


identical box, packing peanuts, layout, even matching holes punched in the box haha who would have thought could they be made in the same factory!!! ;)

[drumad]

I'm pretty sure the factory has a schedule for which coilovers they make each day of the week.

M - Teal
T - Black
W - Pink
R - Gold
F - Red

Go on alibaba.com and you'll see all the taiwan/chinese company's that make coilovers. Heck we might as well have a r3vlimited.com sponsored coilover lol. Ours will be made on Fridays.

Anywho, your install is looking solid. In for more progress.

[Tron]

So who makes the cheapest flavor of these I noticed that CX racing makes the red colored ones? lol

[chrisbmx68]

the cx's are probably the cheapest but you have to take into account none of them have proper rates out of the box. BC is 6k 6k or 8k 8k you have to special order to specify other rates. Megans are 8k 8k same deal with special order and more $ for custom rates. I asked CX racing about custom rates and the ebay seller had no idea what I was asking and would not answer my question. Cant speak to K sport d2 or any of the others. For me this ended up being the most affordable option.

my effective wheel ratios are now 295 pounds front 201 pounds rear
kg to pound conversion is x56
front wheel ratio is .88
rear wheel ratio is .45

[S13_E30]

i was going to get these, let us know how they ride.

[E30_fiend]

Good write up.

Im still not a huge fan of these setups but maybe as they become more prevalent in the e30 scene, I will jump on board.

The only real draw I can see with these kits is that they come with springs AND shock. Whereas the GC kits come with just springs and adjusters so you still have to purchase shocks at some point.

The shocks with these kits give me a weird feeling though. I just hope they hold up to the day to day abuse of driving.


Taylor

[FLG]

Good write up.

Im still not a huge fan of these setups but maybe as they become more prevalent in the e30 scene, I will jump on board.

The only real draw I can see with these kits is that they come with springs AND shock. Whereas the GC kits come with just springs and adjusters so you still have to purchase shocks at some point.

The shocks with these kits give me a weird feeling though. I just hope they hold up to the day to day abuse of driving.


Taylor

Ive got BC's at 8k 10k...no track days yet but so far theve held up with NO issues on NYC streets, and if you live here you know how bad they are. I mean they are downright abusive to the suspension and ive got no issues whatsoever. Ive probably put on about 2k miles so far, shocks arent leaking and there are no signs of anything going wrong anytime soon.

[chrisbmx68]

here is a quick pic of the ride height on 15's

its about 23 inches from center of the fender to the ground front and rear. I need to test fit my 16's and see how it looks.

Put 40 miles on it last night. Determined that linear rate springs are much more enjoyable/predictable. Also that bilstein sports do not offer enough travel or aggressive enough valving for h&r race springs.

[Junior2552]

Megan coils are very simple. I had them on three cars, and they are not a "comfy" coil. They drop you, let you not rub from being so low, and they're stiff as hell. For the other coils in their price range, I loved my Megans, and they never once failed me. Good write up, man!

[fatphos]

Thanks for the write up Chris!

Another thing I like about these coilovers are that they come included with camber plates.

If anyone else interested in Megan coilovers, feel free to contact me for some!

I may be able to get CX Racing Coilovers as well.

[grippymonkey]

very nice... I've used Megans on two of my Subaru's. They've seen track time and tons of abuse. I would definitely say they are worth the price.

[Adrian_Visser]

Good write up.

Im still not a huge fan of these setups but maybe as they become more prevalent in the e30 scene, I will jump on board.

The only real draw I can see with these kits is that they come with springs AND shock. Whereas the GC kits come with just springs and adjusters so you still have to purchase shocks at some point.

The shocks with these kits give me a weird feeling though. I just hope they hold up to the day to day abuse of driving.


Taylor

Only the cheapest, most basic GC coil kit comes with springs and adjusters only. The next level up includes rsms, camber plates, shocks, springs of the proper rate for an e30, adjusters. And most importantly the knowledge and customer support of people who speak English and know what an e30 even is.