Wow, this turned into quite a discussion
Pete- thanks for the offer, but there is that scale of "doing it myself for cheaper" and "paying for the convenience" ...right now, I'm dealing with a paint failure, considering replacing the windshield, and putting together a dual carb setup....I think it might be worth the 90 bucks right now, as time is money, lol...again thank you
Dr Jeff...My car rides very low, almost too low, I can afford the 1/4"...also, I think there has been a discussion about strut reinforcements that many of the ricers use, if I remember, I think due to the design of our cars, we don't get as much flex...If I was racing it, I might actually consider those, especially in the front, where I could see hard cornering might cause an issue. Kinda like the same reason for using a front sway bar on the X...( and oh yeah, just got one of those also recently...got to put it on...just ain't got enough time!!)
everyone else- thanks for repair tips, even tho, I think the plates themselves will probably help just by themselves, I'm probably going to pound them down some, and weld the cracks...I did one like this years ago, then welded a fender washer over the hole for reinforcement