New Control Arms
They came with the rear brackets installed backward. The nylock nuts weren’t tightened down, so I just removed them and flipped the brackets around.
Of course, I had to fight the sway bar end link nuts. Ground off the driver side one:
And hit it with some POR-15:
The passenger side one actually came off. Using PB Blaster and heat, the nut turned while the shaft stayed stuck to the sway bar end. Once the nut was off, I was able to knock the link out.
Old arms removed:
They look like they were at the bottom of the ocean for 20 years. I was really worried about whether or not the rear bracket bolts would snap, since there was no way for me to heat up the nut side. In the end, they were tight, but came out just on the knife edge of snapping. Whew.
Got my fasteners all cleaned and chased:
…and the new arms and end links went on just fine:
(ignore the tie rod end; that’s the last piece of the “front suspension puzzle” I need to replace)
Did the final tighten of the bushing bolts with the car on the ground, and we’re good to go. Drives like new, basically—as it should with so much of the suspension so fresh.