Should have pics of the install here after the weekend, but I wanted to share thoughts on the upgraded parts I'm about to bless the Monte with.

First off, call me crazy (I've been called worse) I did not think about looking for brand new upper control arms online for the Gen 1 to Gen 2 upgrade. I was under the impression I would have to scour the yards locally for a used set, get new ball joints, bushings, clean them, etc. To my surprise, Rock Auto had them, and after destroying the driver side stock arm using a ball joint press, these seemed to be a blessing in disguise.




So for about $100 I got two new arms, complete with new bushings and balljoints. If I would have known how much of a pain the original 25 year old encrusted upper balls were going to give me, I would have just ripped both arms completely off and done this from the get-go.

Also doing the Gen 2 3.5 rotors, dual piston calipers, switching to manual hubs (finally) at this time. I will have shots of that this weekend too, but after searching high and low for an alternative brake line (braided) that didn't cost as much as all the other parts combined, I came up with this:



(also shown is the Gen 2 idler arm)

Got these for $40 online...probably will only use 2- these are actually for a Mazda car, uses the same M1 10mm x 1mm fitting and banjo fittings. I'll see how these work with the new calipers...

And to utilize the braided lines and keep them held properly I picked up some padded line clamps to hold them in place:



Like I said, I'll hopefully wrap up tomorrow and I will be able to show more when it's back moving on its own. The winter weather has held it up and it's been cabin fever-ish around here.