On better news - teardown on the main crossmember begins. Turns out that the drilling method sucks. Best was basically scoring across the head 2-3 times and then shearing off with a good rotary hammer I borrowed from neighbour ...
Once that was done .... I put in the front brace/spreader from IC kit. Turns out they welded the mating flange a few degerees out meaning the botls wouldnt align ..... a good C CLAMP helped realign here.