Front plate/ water pump question

CopperheadDart said
Right, machining the cover down is out of the question, as I have the midplate and front plate locations locked in. Machining the cover would cause the front plate to be too far forward, so I'm thinking about tig welding a dam around the coolant inlets and outlets so no coolant can bypass the pump via the big void where a mechanical pump would be.
Hopefully I can get the aluminum clean enough to do this. I'll post some pics of what i come up with.

They aren't inlets and outlets. Those are two inlets. It doesn't really matter if the water flows back and forth between them. Cold water goes into the block on both sides, flow thru the block, up into the heads and out the intake manifold where the thermostat housing is.