small update.
thanks to a kind fellow on h-t, i was able to get the front shock/spring assembly put together. he shipped me the ES poly bushings for the top hats. i had purchased them from another vendor online, but they sent me the wrong parts and refused to cross ship in the interest of time.
here they are completed
they were a PITA to get put together. mainly because the 500lb springs had to be compressed to get the top hats on. and this is with stock top hats. imagine how bad it would be with extended hats! the springs had to be compressed about 3/4" (375lbs) to get the hats on properly. i went to advance auto to borrow a spring compressor but it was a POS and too big for the small tight coils. if i was doing this on a strut car with huge springs i would have been fine. it rubbed on the shock body and wouldnt compress straight. so i had to improvise
i do have a press luckily, but nothing to compress the combo and still give me access to the top nut (using a socket on the top covered the top nut). soo i just used a 36mm socket on the top of the top hat to compress the the spring on the entire assembly. i then took steel wire and wrapped it around the coils around the whole spring. this kept the spring compressed when i let the weight off from the press. its ghetto as hell, and borderline dangerous, but it was the best thing i had at the time. i wouldnt recommend anyone doing this, it was a PITA to do lol.
total compression "unsprung" is about 1/2" so about 200-250lbs of preload on the springs. not too bad.
some of my spherical parts have shipped. PCI offset RTA bushings, front LCA bushings, and rear toe arms. so once all those arrive, i can get the front all finished up finally, as well as do a big part of the rears. then once the rear LCAs and rear camber arms (sphericals) show up i can throw those on and finish up the rear.