Bolt in frame connectors
I think what I was getting at was it wasn't only cheaper it was easier and faster to build them yourself but yes 10 times cheaper and probably half the time. Just like the last person who install them had to stretch them and drill them and cut them and paint them and weld them I mean how about just getting a 4-foot piece that needs two cuts and three small cuts on your rear frame.
On a bet I bet if someone dropped off an a body at my house, actually in the driveway of an apartment complex I bet in 3 hours I could buy the steel buy all the equipment have the measured cut and weld it in within 3 hours and 4 less than it cost to buy a pair of those frame connectors.
Steel $30 welder $89 helmet $35 grinder $15 cutting wheels and grinding wheels $10 an extension cord $15 is a rattle can paint $5. I can be back from the Steelyard and Harbor Freight within an hour. I can have everything measured cut and prepped within another hour weld it in in another half-hour spray-painted in about 10 minutes and I think that would leave me about 20 minutes to blow wind on my fingernails and polish them on my chest.
Honestly I find this frame connectors no less than a gimmick. I mean as far as someone buying them. If someone wants to make themselves feel cozy about overspending on something that has to be fixed to make work, really come on people just a straight piece of metal stock with some non fitting ends welded to them..
You just don't get it do you?
Not everyone has to modify the off-the-shelf frame connectors. The Hotchkis connectors I bought for my Challenger fit great. And not everyone can do the kind of work needed to fabricate their own. Even someone who is willing to do that kind of fabrication, that doesn't have fabrication experience, will take a lot longer than you did to get them made. So you don't have the "end all be all" with your example. Some people will take a lot longer than that. It took me longer than 3 hours to do mine, but I did some things with mine that involved a little more fabrication work because that's what I wanted.
And, even people that CAN do that kind of work don't always want to. I've built frame connectors and I've bought frame connectors. I don't feel one bit bad about the ones that I bought, nor do I think they're somehow better than the ones I built myself. On my Dart I didn't want the square tubing look, so I bought US Cartool connectors. On my Challenger (and all E-bodies), the rear frame rails are set at an angle to the crossmember, plus there's some floor pan height issues, making the fabrication work a little more involved. I found a good deal on the Hotchkis connectors, I liked their design better than what I was going to do on my own, and so I bought them. They look great and were easy to install. So what?
Who made that rule up? A blind, deaf, dumb retard? Welded in connectors become part of the car. They make the car safer and stronger. You'd think they would want that on a bonifide race track. Even allowing welds in two locations really sucks, because that doesn't give the option of tying the floors in for a more factory installation, such as the US Car Tool connectors.
Rules organizations do all kinds of things for all kinds of reasons. Some good, some bad, some confusing, etc. As it was already mentioned, the point in this case was to keep the class evenly matched for relatively unmodified street cars- keeping out race prepped cars. Safer and stronger is great, but safer in this particular instance may also mean stiffer, which also means FASTER. So limiting the kinds of modifications also serves to slow the cars down. That particular class also has rules about what tire compounds can be run, which limits traction, which again limits speed. It's not a top end racing class, it's for owners of street cars to have some fun. Cars with more modifications, even if they are better ones, are kept out.