[V]

Today I finished up the steering rebuild.
New center link, new idler arm w/mount, new inner and outer tierods. I also replaced the worn intermediate steering shaft. I bought a modded astrovan shaft from Walter Racecraft which eliminates the oem knuckle joint and rag joint with actual solid u joints.
It now drives like a completely different car. Steering is tight and responsive. I got it back together almost exactly the way the old setup was in terms of alignment. Once I get new tires, I'll take it for a real alignment.

I also changed the front brake hoses. The previous owner didn't have the passenger side hose securely properly in the brackets and was missing one of the hose retainer clips, not that it caused anything but now its all back together the way it should be with a replacement clip. After I swapped the hoses, I opened the bleeder on the drivers caliper but I could not managed to open the bleeder on the passenger caliper. After a while of trying with line wrenches, box end wrenches, and finally vise-grips, it was stripped and rounded smooth. I acknowledged defeat and went to advance auto and bought 2 brand new calipers and a set of pads. No point in doing just one side. The rotors were fine so they stayed. The old pads had a good amount of life left on them but they were just old so I wasn't going to reuse them.
Car stops pretty good now after the test drive. No more pulling to either side upon braking and I also don't hear the front brakes dragging as I did prior. So maybe that was a hose or a caliper issue, either way its fixed now.

Future repairs to the front end will be new struts, new strut mounts, and new control arm bushings. That will come during the winter maybe. Tires are the next priority then trans service(leaking gasket) and rear brake check/pad replacement. Oh and I need to fix the always-on 2nd cooling fan(ect sensor probably).

Now I at least feel better than I can drive the car further than a couple of miles from the garage.