Cutting holes into aluminum plate

[kb426]

As a thought: If the coolant system is pressurized adequately, shouldn't that tend to equalize some of the pressure on the alum plate? If you put for instance, 20 lbs in the cooling system before startup, that pressure multiplied by the surface area of the block plate could help in supporting the plate. As I typed that, it occurs to me that the highest force maybe when you torque the head down because of the compression of the head gasket. Now I really don't know. LOL.