follow up to my ball joints on SP

[kenny38]

I have posted before that my upper ball joints were worn badly. I was advised on the forum that it is usally the lower ones that get the most wear. On inspection we found them (lower) in "good condition". The top ones were original to the vehicle?? The new Italian racing mechanic who thinks he was Grant in a previous life said that the lower ball joints were fitted jaguar and a better quality than jensen obviously used at manufacture. I remember that these lower ball joints were replaced around 28 years ago during quite a large rebuild of brakes/ engine and suspension. The mechanic then said they (new ball joints) would out last the car and the replaced joints were of quite soft metal. Anyway they have obviously survived 28 years of speed humps and, recently, pitted roads up here. As you know when you start a job it is always something else needing work. He is tuning her up and stated that it might be nice to have new spark plugs (I'm sure he wasn't being sarcastic) when he showed me a plug he took out in front of me that was covered in black gunk. He also showed me a crack of some magnitude in the Edelbrock manifold plus a new gasket for a 440 required in the inlet manifold (?). Then a "weeping" radiator.which is tiny and he will put some internal weld fluid in. (don't ask!!) I plaintively asked how she would go when ready and he said you will notice a big difference in power as the problems he found would effect the performance/ BHP. He reckoned getting the plugs out was a challenge with the extractors in the way and had to devise a special spanner to remove them which gave him a sore back. What is wrong with young men these days?? !!. Regards Kenny38