There is a “tie” by the torsion bar socket that you can cut to tighten up the clearances to the adjuster if they are sloppy there too. Look up Jim Lusk on YouTube. He’s also a member here and it will show what I’m referring to.
Yeah they have a chance to last another 50 years just as well as the rest of the car. The difference is these cars are pampered now and many live in garages and are driven in good weather. They were abused when they were children.
I really dont see any negatives on adding the plates. Another thing I will note is to be careful lining up the slot for the tortion bar adjuster. Make sure there is plenty of room to get a socket on it. If your doing home made it needs to be a slot because the T-bar bolt pivots so the adjuster wont always be centered if you just do a round hole.
PPSI, what did you use to make the slot on yours? Greenlee knockout punch?
Oh and if your planning on new bushings don’t bother with the MOOG crap I went through 3 sets and all were junk just save yourself some time and aggravation and get the proforged ones.
A flat piece of metal with a hole in it will not distort like a flat piece of metal without a hole in it will.
If a piece of metal cracks. The crack continue all the way across breaking the peace in two. However if there is a hole in this piece of metal an the crack hits the hole it's stops