At some point probably in the next six months, I'm going to need to do brake pads and rotors. I'm pretty convinced my shocks are shot as well...I'm hoping the springs are OK but I need to confirm. The thing is, I don't want to do redundant things over and over, especially when they're a pain in the butt. Pretty clearly if I am going to need both shocks and springs, I would do those together. Is there a significant advantage to doing the brakes at the same time, or is taking off the wheel the only thing I'm really saving?

The brakes generally don't need to come off for shocks/springs, but it depends on how you remove the fronts. If you decide to remove the upper control arm rather than the lower, the calipers need to come off so the hose isn't stretched.

Were it me, I'd do the whole job as one. Car is on stands/lift with wheels off. Chance to do AR stuff like wheelwell cleaning with the liners out, stuff like that. One parts order.

Is that a reasonable single day job for someone who's slow like me? It would be on stands in my driveway. In fact, it likely would be one wheel up at a time, or is that a bad way to do it (I lost out on the used liftbars someone was selling a while back dammit).

Doing my front suspension now. take a look at your ball joints, my rubber was shot, so I decided to do my upper a arms. I also was doing my motor mounts, so it was easy for me to get everything apart. I think you should take the wheel off, take a close look at your ball joints, and decide if you can keep them, or replace. I am willing to bet you will benefit from a new upper a arm and a lower ball joint.

the a arms can be taken off, but they are not easy. this was greatly facilitated by having my engine cross member off. You don;t need to do that though.

You can also get the shock and spring out without removing the upper a arm at all...

So look and see what you need to do, and what you want to do. If you are going to go through the hassle of removing the shock and spring, fix the other stuff too.

Probably not. I've done it twice, with lift-bars. Things never go as quickly as you would like, and I find myself doing lots of WYAIT things. I've also had to order surprise parts, none of which tend to be available locally.

Yeah, this is the problem with doing things in my driveway. I know there will be other things I need to do. In fact, motor mounts is on that list, I just didn't think it would be something done at the same time. Hmmm...

Maybe I should just book some time on my friend's lift and plan on taking a few days to do it all at once there...

If you are doing your motor mounts, your steering rack will likely be off. If you need a new rack and/or tie rods, now is the time to do it. Rebuilt units are reasonable from Roger or Mark. You may also consider delrin rack bushings..
See how these things spiral out of control...

Dovetail...

Motor mounts means the lca's will be loose on the inside bushings, dangling from the springs/shocks. Take the calipers and rotors off first, put new ones back on. Ditto springs and shocks. At that point only the top three bolts are holding each spring/shock in place. Motor mount and pan gasket project nestles in the middle of this.

Even with a lot of pre-cleaning the mm opg project takes more than a casual day especially if you are working alone. The brakes and shocks are a day doing it alone, especially if you will be transporting the assemblies to get the springs compressed and removed/replaced. Lots of cleaning. Refinishing calipers? New SS brake hoses? Flushing the fluid? It all adds up.

Just finishing up mine ...... Stripped the whole front wheel wells down and replaced lower ball joints , upper ball joint boots , sway bar bushings, new pads and rotor, new brake lines , cleaned /rebuilt and painted calipers, new shocks .... I should be good for another 30 years.

While you are in there and have it all apart ,do as much as your wallet will allow.

Do your best ahead of time to ascertain whether you need to, or want to, do frame-out r&r or just refresh worn stuff. Your alignment is going to be tossed, so tie rods may be advisable, and ball joints/wheel bearings should have a close look.
Time-wise...I had talented support get mine done in about 5 hours...if I had done it myself- would've been more than a day, sad to say.

Are you doing rear as well as front? At the rear you need rotors off if you are going to slide the long shock pin out in direction where you don't end up having to align so many parts (hub, conical washers, shock eye) as you just withdraw from shock eye a short distance. Sitting here I can't picture if that is towards front or rear but you get the idea!

One wheel up at time is fine for brake work. But if doing shocks it makes it much harder as you want to unload the anti-roll bar both sides for when you're realigning parts (thinking of the drop links). I remember first time I did rear shocks getting stuck reattaching anti-roll bar (stabiliser), but it was easy once I lifted other side and had both sides off ground

I'm definitely going to need to do all four corners. Possibly, I should just tackle the easiest job first, and if I have to do redundant work later, so be it. Have to think about it. If I use a lift, it's at a friend's house, and if additional parts are needed it could be monopolizing that lift for a while. Fortunately, none of these are emergencies! It does sound like you can generally go in and find as many things to repair or replace as you want to/can afford.

If you are sure you wont track-stay all stock. If you are 100% going to track it, Eibach Springs and either Koni or Bilstein shocks (the Konis are adjustable). If you are mixed--then keep stock springs an get the Konis.

I just got my 89 with stock shocks and springs with 16" wheels. My 91 has 18" wheels but otherwise the same-rear shocks need a replacement. Just the same, I like the ride and handling just fine with the 16" wheels. I think 17" is ideal --right mix of rubber and handling.

I'm almost definitely never going to track the car. That said, I like firm and crisp handling...I drove a 3rd gen RX-7 with upgraded shocks and springs for years and the ride never bothered me. When I pull the trigger the choice will most likely be stock springs with either Boges (what I have no, although dead ones) or Bilsteins.

For a few bucks more than Boge and a few less than the Bilsteins, the Koni adjustable may be the way to go. You can always firm them up until you find them to your liking.