RE: cowl and vibration reducing mount
The DuBro soft mounts are fairly stiff so the engine will not flex much. I usually make all cuts in the cowl so that I have about 2/32" margin around all parts of the engine that protrude through the cowl. That is usually enough.
There is no compression of the mount because the rubber grommets are mounted between two aluminum bushings that keep the distance to a fixed value.
/Red B.