As another nice diversion to the dirty work, I recieved my new tie rod sleeves in the mail yesterday. They are aluminum, but they were pretty dirty and rough when I got them. I'm not building a show car here, but I saw an opportunity to make them a little nicer, so I polished them up a little.
The first photo below is the way they looked when I got them, the second shows progress, and the third is the way they look now. They could use more polish, but like I said, I'm not building a show car here. They look good as they are now.