I didn't get nearly as much done this weekend as I hoped, but there was some progress made.
First off, the ball joints are in. That was a bigger pain than I thought it would be, but its done. I rented a ball joint un/install tool and used the impact to press the new ones back in. It really helps to have someone else hold all the tool pieces, alas I didn't have any help. Also, be careful not to drop it on your leg, it hurts.
The other thing I got done this weekend was fixing up the manifold. The crack was much worse than I initially thought after I got the manifold removed and cleaned up. Here are some pictures. Ignore the ugly welds. I very rarely weld stainless and it shows.
Here is the front side of the manifold. Doesn't look too bad...
Here is the back side, it was pretty bad. I'm glad I remove the manifold to repair it.
Here is the front side cleaned up. As you can see, the crack is much longer than it first appeared!
And, here is the rear side. Again it looks worse after its cleaned up with a wire brush.
Woohoo, ugly welds.
