P10 ball joint change

[Jay Stewart]

I posted earlier about my ongoing broken motor mount saga, and here's
the next part.

Went to change my wheel bearing this past weekend and found that the
ball joint boot was split, and the joint was dry and rusting, knowing
this wasn't good, I weighed my options. (The joint had shown no sings
that it was failing previously.) A search of the archives showed a post
from Geo with the TRW part numbers. The local Advance didn't list it as
a correct application, but I bought them anyway. Sure enough, the
ballpoints were only $18 each from the store, and they even had them in
stock.

When I took my drivers side control arm off, the bolts at the rear
section came out with the threads, leaving a nice smooth surface going
up into the frame. So I had to make another trip to the hardware store
to get a couple of huge taps & misc stuff to fix. $60 later I'm at home
and done tapping the frame. For some reason the passenger side didn't
give me any problem at all.

The ball joints were easy to change, you just need a really BFH to do
it. Took about 10 minutes each, and I didn't to use the torch or
anything special. Turns out they look and fit just like the stockers.
The passenger side wasn't bad (boot wasn't split) but I felt better
knowing that both were new.

The upper suspension arm that Jim H mentioned last week when talking
about a wandering G20 definitely needs replacing. The steel part of both
bushings is rusted out and has some slop. Does anyone know if these are
the same on a P11?

While I was in there I removed the brake backing plate in an effort to
help keep the brakes cooler. I have some open wheels which helped, but
the brakes still feel like they heat up too easily. Maybe this will
help? We'll see.

So now the car is back together and running properly again. My wife no
longer has to drive a borrowed mini van, and we are both happy. )

Next project: Hotshot header swap, unorthodox pulleys & a trip to the
dyno

-Jay
93.5 G20 homemade CAI, JWT S3 cams, Stealin Header, Greedy exhaust, JWT
clutch, LSD tranny swap, homemade HD mounts, VGX pads & Ford DOT3 fluid,
Stealin short shifter, 17x7 wheels with 205/40/17 Kuhmo 712's, B13 28mm
front swaybar