Help me? (X-body content)

NovaD: Funny you mention the rears, I did those a few weeks ago and they were a piece of cake... which set my expectations high for the fronts :P
No spinning on the rear nut clips, now that I think about it

OldOpie: That's how the rears were for me, stupid simple

Thankfully, when I get around to swapping or chopping springs, I'll only need to deal with the bottom two bolts, the annoying top guy can stay in place while I compress the springs.
(though there is a certain small charm to the way she squats standing still)

Anyway, she's working now and I'm fairly certain nothing is going to fall off or otherwise fail spectacularly so I'll take this opportunity to apologize for the negativity....
Posting angry is like posting drunk, but with even less possibility for amusement.

you can't leave the shocks in there and expect to get the springs out.. it's physically unpossible..

on the bright side, you don't need any special tools to get the springs out- once the shock is out, you just loosen the lower balljoint nut about 1/4" and hit the spindle next to balljoint in a manly way with a manly hammer to separate it... place jack under balljoint to take up slack... remove nut and bolt thru sway bar end link.. slowly lower jack- spring practically falls out... installing chopped/stiffer spring is even easier than taking it apart since it will be shorter..