[Excaliber]

KobraKarl makes an excellent point about the more subtle mistakes. I am an experienced mechanic and it is easy to overlook something even when your doing a good inspection with the car in the air. I would not have caught the low rise manifold for instance. You can't test every bolt, screw and fastener on a vehicle. If your "over all" impression is good, thats about the best you can do.

The problem is certainly bigger than "just" home builts. The only difference is you lower your risks with a professional builder, but your risk is still there. After I started raceing my Excalibur I found several potentially serious "flaws" in the build (brake line routing, fuel line routing, fasteners, etc.). I would NOT have found them if I hadn't pushed the car hard and "worked" the suspension hard.

Ernie