Finished pulling all of the front suspension apart.
Had a hell of time getting ther driver's side lower ball joint out, the cross-bolt holding it in the a-arm took every single trick I knew to get it out. Mind you the nut was off, this was getting the bolt out of the ball joint housing. What finally worked: I torched it until everything was
really hot, cooled the bolt head and threads with ATF/acetone mix (that also sucked some of the oil up the threads and down the shank), hammered a 16mm socket onto what is supposed to be a 17mm bolt (stripped w/impact), cracked it loose and worked it back-and-forth with a 2ft breaker bar+2ft cheater bar, then hammered it out with my 3lb BFH and a punch.
Any hope of saving the lower ball joint was history once I cracked out the torch, so I ordered two new lower ball joints. Found a better deal on them through Amazon instead of the usual places like RockAuto, Finish Line Performance, etc.
Painted my new rear subframe. No orange paint was easily available, and Black2NA suggested green, so...
Took the exhaust and drive shaft out without any drama as I have removed both before. Hooray anti-seize.
Taking the power plant frame out was a heinous bitch thanks to one stepped bolt through the differential housing. The power plant frame is an aluminum frame that connects the transmission to the differential to improve throttle response. Anyway, it un-threaded from the knurled in nut on the PPF a little rough, but then it just wouldn't drop out. I'd never seen anything like it before, ever. It spun and slid up and down nicely in place, but wouldn't drop more than 1in out its hole. After forcing it out with a combination of an impact gun, 48in pry bar, and another set of hands (JLee's idea!) I figured out why:
It had been tightened and/or hammered in so hard as to mushroom the shoulder. Holy hell. My roommate took care of the should on a belt sander quite nicely.
With the PPF out, I cleaned it with a pressure washer, acetone, sandpaper, and a little elbow grease and painted it yellow. Clearly I am continuing the crazy coloration under the car.
The rear subframe that's in the car now is totally loose. I completely unbolted two of the bolts holding it in and got all four studs loose. When I figure out a good way to support it and lower everything down safely I'll drop it out completely. I'm really glad I'm replacing the subframe. It's rusted so badly I poked a few holes through it with my finger.
I also unbolted and examined both rear calipers. I'm glad I've got rebuild kits on the way, they are about ready to seize up! Should be able to save them I think.