That did occur to me also, but the housing ends do look properly welded. And so far they have not fallen off.

Hard to tell with the back brace - it looks good except for the end tacks (that you noted in the pics), but it is definitely possible to have a nice looking bead just lying on the surface.
I'll have to see if it cracks or pops off with a few good launches.


Anyhow, there's no way I would have told them to only "remove the perches"... how was I supposed to put the housing back under the car then?

Although I'd have rather not spent the $$$ by forgetting the gear lube and ruining a brand new Dr. Diff center section, the silver lining is that I found the defective welds before anything spun and did ugly things. I had planned to install the traction bars at some later date after putting some miles on the car...