Eagle update:

A few days ago I decided I needed a tool cart; funny thing considering a lot of people I know probably don't even have a tool box. In any event, when you work in a garage, as I most seldom actually do, there comes a point when you have to have or would like to have a good deal of different things out and available for what you are working on. In small spaces this leads to misplacing things and hence spending work time looking for them. I went ahead and bought a tool cart a few days ago and spent the finer part of what seemed like two hours putting it together. With three shelves and four wheels, each corner of each shelf had four nut's bolts and sets of washers and crush washers. I got sick of turning the ratchet all the while abhorring the fact I wasn't getting any work done on the car. After that I went ahead and just sanded some surface rust in the back of the car; at the inside where the gas take inlet is, and sprayed it with some black rust reformer paint.

Rust Reform (Black paint )
on the gas tank inlet 

Tool Cart

In any event the next day, I took advantage of a 30% off employee discount that went into effect over the last weekend and bought all new shocks, a new battery, a front steering stabilizer; shock for the steering, two sway bar end links, and two inch lift blocks for the rear; to rake the car. To do the work for all these things in my mind wasn't necessarily easy, but it also wasn't hard, just time consuming. In fact, it got a little out of hand.
The first thing I did when I got home was put in the battery... with a migraine... outside in the rain... in the dark... after work.
I just kept pushing on and on. However, after dropping bolts under the car several times, finding out I bought the incorrect length negative cable and listening to my sister complain about all the tools in the garage; from fifty yards away while I was out in the rain dealing
with the aforementioned. I closed the hood and went in for a nap. I ended up getting reminded family was in town, so I went back outside and got the battery in the car to a point where it was in a state to be driven.

Showing off the car to my cousin Chad, and hearing stories from my aunt Debbie who unbeknownst to me used to work at an AMC dealership; and thought they were shoddy cars, I returned home to sleep and go to work in the morning.

After work I pulled the car in the garage and got started on everything. The battery tray was a mess, 30 years of corrosion and moderate rust. I began scrubbing that with steel wool and graduated to soaking and scrubbing it with CLR and Evaporust. In the midst of these steps I began working on the driver side strut as well. Removing the nuts from the bottom of the coil spring retainer and removing the strut tree; a dome shaped piece of steel the top of the strut is mounted to under the hood; I found replacing the strut on the vehicle was something a third grader could do. Not so on a Ford Focus. With all that said, this was by no means a fast job. I had never done it before and had to sort of learn as I went, even though I was referencing a Chilton manual. The strut tree was... not a mess... but rusted where the bolts contacted paint and on the underside heavily covered with a layer of rust due to being exposed to the elements kicked up by the wheel. The part of the body where the battery tray was bolted was also rusted and flaking with paint. In addition to that and the plate under the car that helped retain the tray; which I also sanded and painted, I also commenced to scrubbing soaking the strut tree.

Basically, I was working on all these things at once. While soaking one part, I was wrenching on or sanding another.  When one part was dry I was installing another or giving a second coat to something else. All this added in with the time it takes to locate tools or parts you can't remember where you placed, its midnight or later and time to go to sleep for work in the morning. Didn't get to sleep until 2am.

[All told all that really found its way to being complete was a driver side shock installed and the strut tree being primed with rust reform and coated with truck bed liner. I also got the fender well where the battery tray sits, sanded, treated with rust reform and coated with truck bed liner. All of this is pretty funny, because I told my sister; and fully expected to be done with everything by the end of the night.]

Rust Reform/TruckBed Lined Battery alcove.

The next day came and in addition to prepping the passenger side shock for removal and install; to include restoring that strut tree, I commenced removing all the rust from the battery tray. This took probably the better part of two hours, five rotatory tool steel brushes
and an overnight soak in a 50/50 CLR/Water mix I'd set up before bed the early morning before. Once that was done, I divided my attention between painting the tray, sanding down the strut tree; to include cleaning all the rusted nuts and bolts going to these parts with the rotary tool. I then set my eyes on the Driver side Sway Bar end link. Long story short... I assessed for awhile and torqued on nuts before getting hung up at the long metal sleeve that separates the bushings. It was either rusted up or sand packed with 30 years of debris. It wouldn't be moved.

Passenger side End Link. No pictures of  Driver side. Looked about the same though.

So, as with running into any problem I sat, and thought about what I could use to loosen it or get the job done another way. I debated it, but finally reached for the saws-all and cut through the bolt end and bushing; taking care not to run into the sway bar.

Choices like these for me are generally a last resort. I approach things from the philosophy of removing them in the reverse of how they were installed, they may need to be reused or used later. However, I just didn't see how I was going to need old end lines or how I was going to get it off otherwise in the half hour or so of other methods and tools I threw at it.

Cutting through Passenger side (No Pictures of  Driver side)

This was easier conceived of than done. The smoking from burning rubber, penetrating oil to keep the blade from getting hung up was all on par with this kind of procedure. But...coupled with the fact that I had one metal blade for the saws all didn't bode well for getting the other side done in the same night. Aside from that huge looming fact I also found myself holding hands with the whole phenomenon of the first few scores and seconds of cutting seems to go halfway through what you're cutting, but the next half hour is spent trying to get through the second half, i also found myself facing the job being peppered in with the battery on the tool dying, and looking for a blade from another saws-all, mine going dull about three quarters of the way through. I also couldn't just cut through it with another tool as the rubber bushing was in the way and was a bitch to remove by picking at it. I did end up finding another blade but ran into it being longer and at risk of cutting into my caliper hose. Ultimately though, the blade itself was too big for the slot already cut, so it would just seize up in the slot. Going back to the original blade and cutting at the tip and base of the blade where there were still hints of teeth was my only option until the blade gave up the ghost.

End result: the last fifth of the bolt being held together I bent back and snapped with the pair of Dykes after picking at and pulling out the bushing.

After that I put in the new Endlinks, and painted the tray and passenger side strut tree to a point where they were set to cure and be installed.

New End Link installed.

New End link and Shock/Strut.

Getting to the other side the next day, I found that not having the strut installed completely altered the way in which the car hung when being jacked up and also in removing the end link on the passenger side. I had to go through and add more dunnage to the jack to get the car up higher so as to clear the the bottom control arm. Once that was done and a new blade was bought at the store, I powered right through the passenger side endlink; bushing and all, and went about installing the new end link and finishing the strut install about it.

Cut Rubber matting for battery tray.

After that, I really only worked on dressing up where the battery would go. Utilizing some of the rubber diamond plate rubber matting I cut a swath to go between the tray and the alcove, before cleaning up and calling it a day. (An unseen addition, but hopefully useful one.