Thanks to all for the encouragement
To answer your question, one word.......skeered!
I'm not a consistently good welder, if it looks good, it's more by accident/luck than skill.
I know that more goes into narrowing a housing than just cutting the tubes and making a pretty weld.
I would do the perches ok but ill draw the line there.
There's a lot to do on the car while searching and or saving up for the rear, I must keep focus. Several mopar swap meets not too far away in both distance and time and I will be hoping to find that needle in the hay stack ( with a little help from my friends ) with tape measure in hand.
I have to do the permanant installation of the radiator, fan clutch, cooler lines and hoses. All of the underhood wiring too. Etc.
That reminded me of an issue with the Hayden fan clutch, no centering/alignment bushing was in the box and it is very loose on the water pump shaft, does someone know if I was supposed to have received one in the box or know of one I can purchase? I believe the water pump shaft is 5/8".
Thanks to all.