Good luck in the long haul with the "poly" bushings in the upper control arm. *See long dead posts of mine for plenty o' thoughts and bitchin' about "poly"....

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

Textoad,

you asked about the torque specs for the upper ball joint - it's 125 ft/lbs.

The socket is 3/4 drive, so you'll probably need an 1/2 to 3/4 drive adapter to use your torque wrench.

Be careful when you screw the new ball joint in. It's real easy to get them big-diameter, shallow threads crossed-up.

Steve

Purple Torque is the proper torque for a ball joint. Crank it until your face turns purple.

On the suspension:

I hear most say .92 as the most they would put on a daily driver, that said I'm using .99 on my car and haven't found the ride too harsh. I have the o.e.m. part store replacement shocks with a factory 7/8in. front sway bar and 7/8 in. rear sway bar to go with the combo and am very happy with the handling. I still want more so my future plans will be qa1 stocker star shocks on all corners, 16 inch rims with 205/50 front tires and 215-225/50 tires in back, and stiffer bushings on the 7/8 inch front swaybar. As is I'd say that my car handles at least as well as a modern econo-box if not as well as a cheap sporty car.

p.s.: On the addco rear sway bar I believe they used poly bushing because every time I go over a speed bump there's this nice creek. When I washed my car they made a horrible racket. Since it's only the rear sway bar it's fine but if my whole suspension were making that noise I'd probably go insane. Their are so many ways to make a suspension better without making it squeek at you, I'd suggest staying mainly rubber.

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My car may be slow to sixty, but at least it's been reliably slow to sixty for more than thirty years.