The lower control arm bushings seem easy, but sometimes you need to really work the position to get the bolts back in. (at least for mine) BFH needed and a crowbar, sometimes even a bottle jack. Remove front tires for easy access.
I've not done the uppers yet.
The stabilizer bar links are easy.
PB Blaster everything about hour prior to.
Safety, jacks and stands, and tire stops. Put tires under vehicle for safety after removal.
I always check youtube for videos to see what others have done.
Take pics and post to bask in your success.

I know you said you wanted your vehicle safe for your child, did you check/replace your brakes yet?

 

In your first post you said you changed the oil pan gasket. Not to be that guy, but...

Do yourself a favor. The next time you pull your oil pan - Change the rear main seal while you're replacing the pump that you should've replaced when you pulled the pan the first time.
Good luck!

 

safety - brakes were done the first day i got it.

i say the oil pump b/c the oil was changed to a thicker oil, oil sending unit was changed, the removing of some oil was done from the sending unit, sea foam was put in and nothing, nada, zilch. i hear a knocking coming from under the engine but after 2k rpm, it disappears. i took it to a mechanic who got an accurate reading with a mechanical gauge. he got 13 psi at idle but couldn't find the culprit of the issue.

so, i'm thinking the oil pump. the dude before me, didn't do any maintenance so i think that that's gotta be it now. or there's a clog in the screen for the oil pump.

lca - done.
stabilizer - done.
sway links - done.
uca - not done. i don't want to deal with it so i'm waiting for a mechanic to do it along with an alignment.

i heard the rear main seal is a pain in the butt. is it?

 

I got to say that I'm going through most of what you are doing too. It all depends on the previous owners of these wonderful vehicles. My PO was the 'dont do anything until it stops the car from running or stopping'. So, my list of things to do to it when I got it seemed endless. But my list is getting shorter. Make a list, it'll keep you on track and keep the frustrations down, as you well know, all your spare time has just vanished with baby on-board.

 

So....I sold it. I got sick and tired of working on it so much. So I got a civic. But the wife says I can get another once we have more money and time to do things like this once the kid grows up a bit. So...thanks for the help and advice! Take care.

 

civic