I have some comments on the strut rod issue. It looks like you have one factory rod and one that you bought at Speedway. I didn't think I needed my old strut rods and gave them away but unfortunately I found that the kit I bought from Speedway that didn't require strut rods, when I attempted to install I found out that the Speedway kit doesn't work with a stock Pinto Crossmember. I had to go another route with different lower control arms. I am finding that other parts that Speedway lists for Pinto and Mustang II only work with the Speedway or Heidt's crossmembers, not the factory stock crossmember. That is true for the strut rods that you and I purchased. The speedway arm isn't designed to work with the factory frame. The Speedway frame has a different mounting bracket and doesn't go through the frame like the factory configuration. I think if I put mine in the vice and heat to cherry red, I will be able to bend it slightly to make it line up with the factory frame mount. The good news is that the mounting holes in the strut rod line up with the holes in the Speedway lower control arm...you just cant bolt it on because the angle is wrong to get it to line up with the frame mount. Other than the angle being different, do you see any other differences from the factory rod? Is the overall length the same? Are the Speedway bushings the same as the factory bushings? Mine old ones are long gone.
I looked back and saw that I had offered my old strut rods to you in an earlier post before I gave them away to someone else. I wish I had kept them! I also wish I had researched and asked more questions about the Speedway parts. I assumed that they could be used with a factory crossmember but they don't. I asked the sales rep if the kit would...he assured me it would and even passed me to a tech support specialist and I told him what I had and he too assured me it would all work together just fine. I know better now. I thought if anything on my project would be a no-brain, bolt-together endeavor, it would be bolting the front suspension together. It isn't...