I made my own big block front motor plate I was thinking if the others where 1/4 aluminum that my 1/8 steel plate would work. I think thats what the mid plates are made of.
I was going to atempt to make the mid plate myself also but I figured for $65 i would just by that then I would not have the hassle of making the crank spacer.
Im not CHEAP just thrifty

The front motor plates are aluminum and I made mine out of 3/8

I would think 1/8th steel would flex to much.

Donald

I think it would handle the torque, but you will definitely need for/aft locators/links to keep the engine/trans combo from moving forward or back. To stiffen it in the for/aft direction, you could add flanges to the edges to stiffen it up. I'd still want the locators/links.

I've got a motor plate(elephant ears) made out of 1/8" steel and didn't have any problems at all. It was in the car over 10 years. I still have them and I'm considering them for another car.

I am running an 1/8" steel elephant ears set up that I built when the car was still a street car back in the late 80's. It has a rubber mount on each side between the frame and the elephant ear due to it being for a street car and also have a rubber tranny mount. I know this is less than ideal, but the car has gone from being a high 12 second street car to running as fast as 10.30's in vegas and I still use the same setup. I took care of the water pump gasket issue by dropping the gaskets and just using a good gasket sealer. I know I should change it and I will the next time the motor comes out. I like the looks of AndyF's engine plate and will probably use it.

I have another question I thought i would drag my old post up instead of making a new one.
Do any of you mont your ignition box on the front motor plate or is there to much vibration?
Im using a mallory hyfire and thought it would look alot cleaner wire wise if it was up front by the distributor

Nothings cleaner than under the dash in my opinion.