Well aware of the plates on the market. Any shortcomings with the elephant ears?

ive ran them on a couple of 10 and 9 second b- body cars but i also ran a mid plate.no problems.

Can they be fabricated and bolted directly to the head and avoid the water pump issues?

Think about which BB Mopar heads have the same bolt pattern on the front of both heads
My answer is none that I have seen or heard of going back the early 4 bolt valve cover heads with the bolt on rocker shaft holdowns
Elephant ears can cause leaks on the water pump gaskets if there not tied down really well, I've always used two bolt on the frame brackets on both sides after finding out the one bolt would cause leakage on the gaskets

I had a pair on my 383 Dart. They go behind the water pump just like a motor plate. I took my pump housing to a machine shop and had .250 milled off of it so the pulleys still lined up.

I think the 2 piece plates are more susceptible to twisting and leaks than a 1 piece. If you can tie them to keep from twisting, either on a head bolt, or the boss near the oil pump pad, it would help keep the twist motion in check.

Elephant ears in my experience cause water leaks and loosen due to engine movement. A one pc is superior to ears

Most of us old time racers ran Elephant ears for years running 9's and 10's in the 1/4. Would I now, NO. Not when nice plates like Andy's are available. I bought my 4th plate from Andy and will be upgrading the 1/4 inch piece of crap holding my small block in this Winter after I freshen the engine. I gave my two sets of big block elephant ears away.

Don't wast your money on elephant ears, been there done that. I have Andy F plates on both of my rides.

While I never had any issue with my elephant ears, I now have one of Andy's plates too. Elephant ears are in my scrap metal bin

Ran the ears on my Challenger hemi stick 538s 9 second car. Used a cut water pump cast iron. Did not have any problems with leaks. If you are starting anew use a front plate and if you can a mid plate it is just a much better set up. Ears are just easier to install putting the motor in. Attaching a motor plate to the cage and frame just makes more sense to stiffen things up and things not moving around on a pass. The plate can also be used to attach other things to it in a closer location to the motor.

Ears are 2 piece and a plate ran the ears they would constantly get loose
and move around and eventually leak.The plate is the way to go and a midplate is a big plus!

If you do decide to use the ears try using studs with them and leave the nuts loose until the weight of the motor is on the ears and frame and the tighten up the nuts, that may help you stop leaks from the gaskets moving around

Made my own....had midplate....never leaked....reverse cooling flow

That's what I did. Drove my car regularly for 10 years, beat on it, never touched the gaskets never had a leak....

This is how i did mine. i used the 2 piece ears for 15 years with gaskets made from a beer carton cardboard, coated them with grease on install & bolted them up. i ran this combo for 15 vyears, never ever had a leak at this point. I found the 2 piece was more user friendly than my current 1 piece mount i'm using on my new combo, i'm thinking of cutting them in half at the next freshen up. I had one of Andys plates but decided not to use as they limit the mounting point locations for alternator & vac pump & coil.