I hope everyone sees the thread where he showed his poor hand all mangled like that, hopefully it can prevent future accidents, especially when dealing with ARF's.
Sorry, but in this instance I have to disagree. If Jim had built a kit to the manufacturer's specifications, and then mounted an engine of nearly twice the displacement recommended by the manufacturer, it's entirely likely that the end result would have been the same. He should have reinforced the firewall.
ARF vs kit will most likely be an ongoing issue, and I doubt that even ARF bashers can say that they haven't improved dramatically in the past few years. That's likely to continue. And as Volfy (I believe) pointed out, a kit built by a new guy could be every bit as unsafe as the ARF he assembled. It too would be covered, preventing the instructor from properly checking glue joints and reinforcement. Where's the difference in safety??
Dennis-