The front suspension, although less extensive than the rear, still offered up its own challenges, and provided plenty of areas for upgrades. As most you from the northeast know, everything was pretty much rusted into its final resting place, and needed to be violently disassembled. The lower control arm was up first...
After removing the worn out ball joints on the press, it was time to remove the dried out bushings. My preferred method is heating the bushings up with a torch until you are able to hammer out the center metal portion.
You should turn out with something like this...
Then using a chisel or screw driver, scrap as much of the rubber out as possible. Applying heat will make this easier....
After getting it as clean as possible, the rest will need to be removed with some aid from power tools. I used a Dremel tool, but a drill with a wire wheel, or I am sure number of other methods could be effective.
Once the bushing was completely removed, I used a very industrial chemical stripping agent to remove the OEM finish. There are other products and methods for removing paint, however nothing is faster than Benco B17 chemical stripper. It is expensive and not the safest product, but it will strip any you can throw at it.
After 3 minutes....
The draw back of chemical strippers is that the surface begins to oxidize almost immediately. The application of phosphoric acid immediately after stripping does prevent this from happening.
I then quickly glass bead the parts to remove the oxidation, and to completely clean the surface. Unless you plane on treating the surface immediately, you should keep the bare metal parts inside. The surface will begin to oxidize if left outside.
At this point the arms are ready for powder coat, and you turn out with something like this....
The Energy Suspension bushing are then slipped in, and the Moog (K9820) ball joints are pressed in.