I got my control arms and front tow hook covers for them back from the powder coater. I had welded on the drop link bracket prior to PC so now it's all nice-nice in a chassis black coating.
I made sure he didn't coat the bearing surfaces, and I just checked and the RSR bushings slide right on with no issues. Perhaps Flieger you were only referring to the rear plates.
In either case, I can resume the front end assembly.
I did some searching on welding in the sway bar brackets due to Jacob's note. Actually, I couldn't find reference to welding in the triangular bracket, but there are a few examples of guys welding in a reinforcement piece of metal around the area were the bar passes through the tub. The 914 guys seem to sandwich the tub sheet metal with two thicker pieces and drill through all three to beef up the area. But in general it appears that as long as the bars adjustment are within the proper orientation, it is not necessary. It appears that when the link is adjusted near straight up or straight out and cannot articulate further, then the bar can go solid and introduce way too much stress to the bushing area and tear the sheet metal. The vast amount of users of these bars have had no welding nor any issues.
I'll post up more progress when I can get back under the car... I'm up to my nose in a bathroom remodeling project as well.