Neil,
Mistral front "Plate" (Cover) merely replaces the stock cover and provides a built in water-pump,
alternator and drive for vacuum pump (If needed) plus lets you mount the 13B directly to a standard
"Lycoming" 'Dynafocal" mount.........The engine still uses the standard bolts to hold it together....The
"Mistral" "Plate" bolts directly to the front side hsg which is why I choose to retain the stock iron hsg...
I did not purchase the internal gears for the auxiliary drive since my ship will be all electric....... The
early "Mistral" engines were basically a stock 13B with their re-drive and the mount plate attached and
were sold as experimental engines as they geared up to produce their own certificated parts to produce
a certified engine.......The early engines (13B based) were $30,000.00 + and were out of my reach but
you could purchase the re-drive , mount plate , intake , etc separately if you ordered it when they were
putting together a part order for their complete engines..........It took me almost two years to receive my
mount plate...........As they developed their own parts the mount plate was integrated into the front side
plate and no longer was directly adaptable to a stock 13B and is no longer available........
Best,
Kelly Troyer