That's what a friend and I were thinkingon doing essentially. Just reinforcing that spot and fabbing some new mounting studs for the MC I already have to sit on.
Here's Dr. Diff's panel...
I believe he sells the panel and an aluminum MC for $90.
If I go manual, I need to get the pushrod from him anyways, but I'm just thinking that I should work with what I've got for now, assuming the MC would cooperate with the brakes.