All,

Just to follow up on my progress, I finally got everything in place. Kind of. The Calmini 3" kit bolted right up with minimal problems, as did my Skyjacker shocks. Took it out for a test drive today before calling the alignment shop, just to make sure that everything was in place and the height adjustment was correct.

First the good: even without the alignment, it rides better and handles better.

The bad: Right away I noticed a heavy clunking noise toward the front right side, as if something was not tightened down. After jacking it up, I noticed that the front right wheel was loose. I figure I forgot to tighten the lugnuts down, but that was not the case. The entire wheel assembly was loose. I haven't looked it over completely, but I assume that it's either the ball joints or wheel bearings -- both of which were in good order prior to starting the project. And...the action of raising the vehicle with the torsion bars set caused the rubber ball joint seal to flex more than it's used to. It tore. And...the brake cable bracket got a little smashed when it came into contact with the bolt that holds the front bump stop in place. And...the tie rods scrape against the front shocks when turning the wheels too far.

Up until now, the whole project was pretty straight forward, although time consuming. At this point, I just want to get the job finished and have my car back.

Sammy