Continued....
Well, I had been a little nervous about changing the rack out, as I was worried the input shaft would utterly refuse to come out of the pinch bolt. And- last time I'd done a rack, I had a lift, and was like 20, was blaring rock music, and was too dumb to be too worried about anything! This time, I'm older/fatter, this car is old, and I'm laying down in my garage under my car on jack stands, listening to some freakin podcast. And as I mentioned before, I think too much- so I put this kinda work off. I should not have been too worried after all- I simply crawled in under the car a little further, and from behind the rack, you can actually see and access the rag joint and input shaft fairly well. The pinch bolt came right out with a pre-emptive spray of PB Blaster, and using a 1/2" impact. Some light "persuasion" and only a few curse words (and not even the really bad ones!) and the shaft came out just fine.
I was pleased to see the Cardone rack came with the metal power steering connection lines (I think these don't always come with racks? But this one did, so I didn't have to harvest that off the other racks.. I will hang on to my original Ford rack, in case I ever get tempted to rebuild it..) I put the o-rings that came with the new lines on the lines, and installed them (I used Gates brand- no ideas if they are the go-to, but they seemed high quality, and both high pressure and return line were together under 30 bucks..) And I installed the rack.
Next, I topped up the power steering pump with fluid, and removed the serpentine belt, so I could manually spin the p/s pulley, adding fluid a few times as it was worked into the system. I quickly added the zerk fittings to the lower ball joints and outer tie-rods, greased them up, put the serpentine belt back on, and then started the car. No loud groan/whine, and NO LEAKS! I could not believe it! Did some side to side steering with the car still on jack stands of course, to finish bleeding the system- but it was quiet*, and so far is still not leaking!!! Man.. For the first time in the 3 years or so I've owned the car, the power steering is not freaking leaking. Halleluiah! What a relief! (*by quiet, I mean, yes you can hear it, but it no longer sounds like the Ecto-1 siren from Ghostbusters!)
Ok- home stretch! Now to wire wheel, sand, and then prime the sway bar:
..and now for paint:
I should mention- to get the sway bar out, those goofy plastic nut holders Ford used were long gone. I was able to use a wrench from underneath to hold the nuts, despite the fact that they had those weird points made on to them (I guess to hold the plastic nut holders?) More wire wheel tap & die action to clean the bolts up, but I replaced the M10 1.5 nuts with class 10.9 ones found at AdvancedAuto (I'm apparently a regular there you know..) They were nice and yellow zinc coated. They cost way too much. But, well, yeah, Bob's actually my dad and not my uncle. True story. Wait- what?
Moog K80097 sway bar bushings went into the original sway bar bushing mounts, which cleaned up nicely with just some WD-40 and a rag. I put the sway bar back in, torqued it down, and topped this whole project off by installing new Moog end-links. I have no idea why they made the end-link bushing white? I figure that will stay white in use for like a day. But, sure looks nice freshly installed!
Just bled the brakes, and then put the wheels on, and lowered the car back on it's feet. I will let the front
suspension settle over night, and then tomorrow after work put the front wheels on ramps/back end on jack stands to lift it up (but keep the front
suspension normal ride height/load) and do the final torque of the lower control arm bolts. I need to do a string alignment as well before driving the car, and just give another once-over to ensure I've not forgotten anything. But, here's how she looks tonight:
Wow- that was a lot of work.. I think that may have surpassed my previously all-at-one-time-work record, when I rebuilt the cooling system and had the dash out to replace the heater core.
Since I'm going for stock/mostly stock/stock style, the ride height matches the recently rebuilt-to-stock specs rear ride height, and I am pleased. For those curious- here's the parts I used:
-Moog front
lower control arms w/bushings and ball joints
-Moog coil springs
-Moog outer tie-rods
-Moog swaybar end links
-Moog swaybar bushings
-Energy
suspension spring seats, polyurethane
-Energy
suspension rack bushings, polyurethane
-Energy
suspension jounce bumpers & strut bushing/install kits
-Cardone power steering rack w/inner tie-rods
-Gates power steering pressure and return lines
-KYB struts
-Wagner caliper seal and dust boot
-Raybestos flexible front brake lines
-Raybestos caliper pin boots/bushings
-Ford NOS caliper pistons
-Motorcraft brake pads
-ACDelco banjo bolts
-(don't remember brand) caliper pins, bleeder screws, disc rotor dust cover caps, copper brake washers
-NAPA front disc rotors
-Timken inner and outer wheel bearings, and races, and inner bearing seals
-Dorman disc rotor lock washer, nut, castle lock, and cotter pin kits
-Dorman M10/1.5/class10.9 flange hex nuts
-LMR lower control arm bolts and nuts, strut-to-spindle bolts and nuts
-Valvoline FORD-spec moly grease for bearings, ball joints, and tie-rods
-Sil-Glyde for caliper slide pins
-Permatex anti-seize for rack bolt shafts, lower control arm bolt shafts, strut-to-spindle bolt shafts
-Type F power steering fluid, DOT 3 brake fluid, blue lock tite.
Next steps for the car:
-real alignment
-replace motor mounts and trans mounts
-Install
flowmaster 40's and new factory style rear tailpipes.
I'd previously bought a clean used rack at a Mustang junk yard somewhat near me (I talked about this in a previous post in this thread), and saw them remove that rack from a "show car" mustang that unfortunately had gotten wrecked. The rack and tie rods look ok/un-damaged, very clean (as was the rest of that donor car), and the tie rods appear new and tight. I later got home, and saw the "Cardone" sticker on that rack. I initially did not want to use it, preferring factory parts- but, I think I will use it after all: It will allow me to get the car together now, it hopefully was reliable (does not appear to have any leaks/issues, and made it past infancy failure risk on the donor car).. Plus- it was comparatively cheap, and I have it "in stock".. 
