Interesting! You're WAY deeper into this than I am with my race engine but I have to be VERY budget conscious (read, cheap) on mine given limited funds in retirement. It'll be cool to see how all of this works out.

Where in NC are you? I noticed the plate in the one rear shot. I'm in Wilmington and it would be fun to get together and swap lies.

You might be interested in my side-mount engine stand adaptor. It works great and keeps from hanging the engine off that aluminum plate (probably OK but it worried me). If you get over this way I'll show you the mount adaptor - my spare engine is hanging on it as we speak.

Dan