Breathe Grease

Bearings are fun if you like to get grease all over every surface within the walls you're surrounded by.  I knew I should've got that bearing packer.

Anyway, we're still suspended. For some reason or another, installing the driver's side coil spring turned out to be an ungodly pain in the ass.  The difficulty was largely from the upper control arm being disagreeable, but I can't help but suspect that the whole thing would've been over in less than 6 hours if I had pulled the head and manifolds prior to taking this on (left the garage at 05:00 because I heard the morning traffic beginning at 04:30).

The biggest issue was, as always, clearance.  The orientation of the bolts are pointed outward, that is, the bolt heads are closer to the center of the shock tower, while the nut for each is closer to the firewall and radiator, respectively.  This centerline is also where the EGR valve hangs out, while the A/C, wiper fluid, and. . . something else run through in parallel to the steering column.  I ended up taking off the EGR valve, which made life a little more worth living.

Driver's side should be all set momentarily, though that's subject to change because the lower control arm is taking a cue from it's upstairs neighbor and is being a pain in my ass.  After that, I get to take the passenger side back off to address a fitment issue with the strut rod.  See, when installing the lower ball joint, I put the boot and retainer on in the order that was seen on the old one.  Turns out that wasn't the correct thing to do, which serves as a reminder that you should never assume that the last person to work on something had any more clue about what they were doing than you do.