So i went to swap over the shocks starting with the worse one on the drivers side and i undid more than was needed and only noticed when i pulled the replacement up to get it in and yes i had taken the the whole shock out still in the damper fork which is why i needed extra clearance,i know double

Anyway i got it all done and put it back in and started the reassembling and only got so far until i noticed it won't go back in to position properly.
Some pics to try illustrate and it is all lightly bolted up not fully

Look at the strain on the stabilizer link

This is as far as the lower arm will go once all the top is assembled,what the hell!

Top in fine


As far as i can get with the lower arm in when i bolted up the bottom section


Might be hard to see but there is 2-3 inches there were it will just not budge to get the upper arm into the 2 holes.
It's been more than 5 hrs slugging over a few eves and no joy,the replacement shocks i though after the last attempt ahh thats it it must be damaged/bent as the mate i got them from had written of his car frontal but just swapped back in old one and nope it's the same situation sadly,but at least the shock is good!
I did notice some strain on the stabilizer link when undoing the bottom at the start of the job.
So am i missing a procedure of doing this and assembling it wrong which i hope!
I have run out of options,even though i had pulled the driveshaft out too far which i did do the get the whole damper out and that was giving resistance to the gap created but it will sit in flush when the lower is left undone.
So it's assemble the top the bottom stays out assemble the bottom the top stays out.
This has been a major PITA and i just hope someone can set me in the right direction, there is always something the chance something could be wrong with the original parts or that i have done damage? on the taking apart,either way it's got me

Helppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp