Yeah I agree the transom is probably dryer. And will be less fab work to make an aluminum bracket off the headers.
That electric pump would have been cheaper than my scenario. And probably save hp. But I’m not sure I can return it. This is how ilmor does their Ls motors. I got the kit from marine enginedepot.com and bought the Johnson pump off Amazon.
Here’s closer up pics. No weight bearing on crank but obvious loss of hp.
Mounts to block
Has a flange that the crank bolt goes through and gives mounting point for water pump.
I’ll kick your idea around but I’m getting pretty far down the road here. That’s exactly what I needed a month ago. I absolutely would have used that. But, I doubt I can return some of this stuff. Once wiring is done hopefully can fire it up once pcm comes in from tuners.