The other night was a one step forward, two steps back kind of night.

I ground down the weld beads on my previous repair on the housings to check for any voids.  Ended up finding several small ones in various spots so I welded the entire seam again and ground it back down to double check.  Seems to be good now, with much better weld penetration on the back.

After welding/grinding

Back side:

Success on the first one.  I made fucking scrap out of the second one though - either I ground the weld area down too much or the cross-section at the weld joint was thinner to begin with.  Either way I could not prevent my welder from blowing holes through it even on the lowest setting.  I'd estimate the thickness was around 0.020" after inspection.  So I'm going to need to cut out the swiss cheese and figure out how I'm going to form the shape I need from sheet metal.  I've got an idea but have no idea if it's going to work or not, as I have next to zero experience with forming.