ARGH! Broken shift rod..., ...one step back Options

[ambergris]

In my quest to clean up the shifting action on my 74 2.0L, I decided to rebuild the tranny. My first time doing something like this, and I thought it turned out pretty well. I think I have a leak at the speedo drive, but the grinds in 2nd and 3rd disappeared. Shifting was pretty good, and I was able to hit all the gears I intended to on my test run at first. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)
But then the slop came back, and I found myself having a hard time finding 4th and 5th. I was giving the "pot of gears" a lot of stirring to find anything. I assumed I had to fine-tune my shift rod alignment. So I got back home and started playing with the alignment when POP! the shifter came totally loose. I thought I had lost a cone set screw or something, until I looked under the car.
It looks like my shift rod came apart! It looks like there's a tack weld or something that came undone. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)
So now, I have a couple of questions:
1. Is it possible that this is what was causing my shift slop?
2. Are there any special considerations when getting this fixed? Can I just take the 2 peices to any body shop and ask them to re-weld it? Or this my opportunity to buy a welder and learn a new skill (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif)

One step forward and one back again.
Oh, and does anyone know what's going on with the JWest RennShift "Extreme Makeover"? I was looking at maybe getting one once I get this taken care of, and the site has sales suspended.