Finally, after many hours of excitement and frustration, bloody fingers and black nails, and a number of attempts using all my physical strength, the suspension on the 142 is done in its entirety, front and rear; and I am very pleased with the resulting stance---it is exactly what I wanted. There are a few things I would have approached differently given the knowledge I have now: notably, finding a way of pressing out the old bushings from the upper wishbones without beating up the arms so much, and cutting too much off the front bump stops (there is now potential for the lower wishbone to contact the frame spring pocket at extreme compression)---but overall things went very well. And it drives nice!

Here is the rundown of what was done:

New tires (Hancook performance all seasons).
New brake pads, front and rear. Everything in the system cleaned and bled.
1 brake hose replaced on the front, all others carefully inspected.
Emergency brake shoes repaired and adjusted.
Emergency brake cable replaced (ebay NOS from Israel!)
Differential cover and input seals replaced and filled with new fluid.
All new polyurethane bushing, front and rear.
New upper and lower ball joints in front wishbones.
New Bilstein shocks on all four corners.
New IPD sway bars, front and rear.
New Skandix non-progressive springs, front and rear: fronts cut 1.5", rears 1" coil compressors added. (As a side note, I wanted a stiff and very predictable ride, which is why I opted to not put in progressive springs---the behavior of progressives can be somewhat unpredictable at the limit).

The thing I am perhaps most proud of is that I did absolutely everything myself!



Despite what it looks like, the tires do not hit the fenders even when turning sharp over bumps; steering geometry is a mystifying thing...



You can barely even see the spring between the lower A arm and the frame pocket! The front end still has a little over two inches of travel at the tire though, which is enough for a decently comfortable and very usable ride on the highway.