Here are more photos.
The first two photos show the engine mounted to the nose. You can see the down-thrust in this photo. If you go to the fourth photo, you can see the way I used the washers to build the down-thrust into the installation. Now, if I need to reduce or increase the down-thrust after testing the bird, I can simply remove or add washers as needed, or shift them around. On the first photo, you can see where the firewall and engine box meet, and I think I'll epoxy some more hardwood tri-stock there for good measure. In photos 3 and 4, you can see how I used some marine-grade ply to reinforce the firewall, before I added the interior tri-stock. You can see the five layers of the higher-quality ply. This isn't the final installation, so I haven't cut the bolts flush with the nuts yet. You can also see how I used some of my old Saito prop washers from my odds-and-ends drawer to back up the bolt on the inside of the firewall. Top quality washers, they won't bend or give out, and the price was right!
The firewall bracing was done by using 30-minute epoxy, and clamping the reinforcement ply piece the firewall, to properly laminate the two pieces together.
~ Jim ~