Long stiffening kit with cage, Is it necessary? Options

[ThePaintedMan]

Sorry for the back-to-back posts. Well its almost time to button up the passenger long after all of the work from the past two months. I read all of the comments regarding the Engman kit, and being the CSOB I am, I made my own version, which turned out pretty well. However, I'm at a crossroads of sorts. First, I was not planning on closing the outside of the long until I welded in the stiffening kit on the inside, mostly because I wanted to be able to go back afterward and rustproof/paint all of the welds on the inside, since the POR thats on there will be melted away. Then I thought, with the problems people already have with door gaps and the Engman kits, maybe I would be inviting disaster by trying to weld on the inside without the outside clamshell in place. Finally, this car will be getting a full cage at some point anyway for use in Chumpcar. If its properly constructed, will this negate any benefits of stiffening the longs anyway? Again, sorry for being a post whore and always, thanks for your input!

[pcar916]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) Both weigh too much, although strengthening specific areas may be good if you're doing something like rally driving.

A well designed cage that ties the suspension points into the cage structure does a better job of making the entire car stiffer and improving the handling than you could ever get with a stiffening kit. The handling will continue to be less precise than it can be until the shock towers are made into a one rigid structure.

Rust repairs are another kettle of fish. I'd fix those back to normal and start putting in the cage sooner rather than later since it's gonna happen anyway. The weight saved now is horsepower you don't have to buy later.

Good luckl