Closing the gap is more a priority to me than anything. The comment on spline engagement was just an aside. I am not set up to weld aluminum; so I am going about the adapter in a different way. I intend to make a 'bird cage' that bolts to the backside of the front part of the rear 1/2 of the case (confused yet?) on one end and has an adapter that bolts to the 2nd case on the other end. I think it will help with rigidity to have that part slip-fit over the snout on the front case... but doing so requires either bringing the two cases closer together or using 2" thick steel. I'd rather bring the cases closer to one another <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

I do intend to make a second crossmember to support the second case which utilizes a stock tranny mount; so that should take a good portion of the stress off of the adapter to where is handles mainly torsional forces and little in terms of weight-bearing.