Front Suspension: now with setbacks

An eventful day today: I had borrowed a coil spring compressor from a friend of mine and, obviously, they are as affected by metal fatigue as anything else mechanical.  While attempting to loosen the device while the spring was compressed, the head broke off the bolt and sent everything flying.  The screw part of the bolt bounced off the ground and hit me in the ribs (a glancing blow, but painful nevertheless).  Another lesson learned, and definitely a precursor to the rest of the day.

I bought a new spring compressor and finished putting the passenger side components on.  I went to put the wheel on and noticed it was hitting the top of the upper control arm.  Note: the wheels fit with the factory control arms.  I decided that I might be able to grind off the excess.  I was unable to grind off enough for the wheel to turn.  

Wheel contact

Ground this area

 Another issue is that the "stops" on the lower control arm make contact with the spindle way too soon and would negatively affect the turning radius.  I was going to grind this off, but I decided to stop before I got myself into more trouble.

The bottom line is that it appears the components are for spindles that are intended to lower the car by 1" - 2".  This would raise the centerline of the hub and there would be more clearance between the wheel and the upper control arm.  By grinding on the upper, I made them non-returnable.  Mistake.  I ordered UMI upper and lower control arms.  We'll see how they work.