If you get a welder, you'll find lots of "friends" who need things fixed also.
Paul, on your boxing plates, if you're going to end them somewhere along the frame, the recommended procedure is to have the end scalloped (cut back in the center of the boxing plate and getting thinner as they meet the frame flanges.) What that does is reduce the stress at the flange to boxing plate joint, by allowing the boxing plate to flex a bit with the flange. A sharp angle there concentrates stress and would increase the possibility of a crack starting at the joint.
