Thanks Andrzej!
At least, it will be a good challenge!
Today, I was able to get the front struts done. A real challenge with the original springs since they do not provide much space to lift the strut out of the spindle. The trick is to 1) put spring compressors on the springs when the springs are fully extended (no weight on them), then put full weight of the car on the springs (I used a jack to lift the spindle until the full weight of the car was on it), tightening the spring compressors along the way, then release the weight... this gives some room to move the strut upwards and out of the spindle without fighting against the spring; and 2) remove the steering knuckle (it helps _a lot_ to have an impact wrench for removing the nut)... this allows the spindle to move around in a way that makes it easier to remove the strut. Even employing these tricks, the front struts were still a bugger to get off... The spindles did not want to give up the struts at all!
Obviously, it's important to be careful when the spring is compressed... there is a lot of potential energy there!!
Here is the comparison of the front strut and spring, old (left) vs new (right):
Supposedly one way to tell a strut (or shock) is toast is if they do not fully extend on their own. None of the old shocks or struts extended on their own. I still marvel at the thought that these might have been on the car since new...
Here is a shot of the new strut & spring installed on one side:
Last time they'll be as clean as that, I'm sure!
Muffler removal is done (whups, forgot to take a pic... tomorrow) and once I get a bit of welding done I'll put the replacement pipe on there... prolly Tuesday.
Adding an oil change to the list... Realized that I'd changed it last about 10K miles ago, which is the recommended interval. It's already spec'd to use full synthetic, so no additional gain possible by going from dino-oil to synthetic oil. But I will try going to a slightly thinner oil to see if that make any difference.