RE: Engine Braces
I also have to say Daryl's brace is nice.
I got one each for my Pershing and Sherman, and used to sell (no, I'm not anymore) full-length external belly plates like Willy offered. I even combined an internal plate with a custom Sherman brace (Daryl shaved 2mm off it to accomodate the plate internally) as a package. Saves making cut-outs for all those suspension mountings (ARRGG)
The only thing I'd change is using low-profile pan-heads with allen-key drive instead of the larger Philips heads that Daryl supplies. You may want to beef the rear idler as well, and both Willy and Daryl have designs for those too.