Share your impressions after Engman install, Inner long kit !! Options

[drive-ability]

I was hoping to get some opinions on the Engman inner long kit. We know its designed to stiffen up the center section but how does the car feel after the install. Can you feel a difference in the chassis? Sometimes I think its hard to measure a difference or judge performance because theres a built in bias when you buy and install something like this..

[PRS914-6]

The kit worked great in my car. My car was stripped when I did it with minimal weight and supported on the "donuts" with equal length blocks.

In my opinion, the key is to get the new pieces to sit perfectly flat against the original metal before any welding is done. I mean NO GAPS. The more gaps, the more opportunity to shrink and move. This takes some effort since the kit fits almost too good.

I used large C clamps and 2X4's jammed across the inside of the car to hold everything tight. When welding, don't weld the entire length on the edges which is what I believe to be the biggest error made. This just invites shrinkage and more is not better here. Just weld the holes and tack weld the edges. MIG works fast and easily. Start tacking from the center and work your way to the edges until it is held firmly to the body all the way across. Then, move around as you weld avoiding a lot of welding in one area. For instance, move to the other side for awhile. When finished, my doors fit perfect.

I did the above based on total fear of what happened on Marv's 3.6 thread who said......"pic 3 doors installed, major bummer here door gaps are shiite. the car seems to have moved while installing engman inner long kit. both doors will have to reworked and repainted to get gaps right"

That would have made me cry..... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)