cracked carb plate

My RV-6 has ~140 hours and doing the 2nd annual inspection I noticed cracks in the carb plate around the carb bolt holes. Van's suggested I make a new plate and perhaps shorten the fiberglass extension to the inlet scoop to reduce vibration between the engine and cowling working against the plate.
Has anyone experienced this and is there any mods I should consider to perhaps strengthen the plate as long as I'm making a new one?

Replace the plate with a new one from Van's or make one from alum. sheet. No need to make it thicker, the cracking comes from the filter bowl making contact with the cowling, most likely in the front. Take a good look on the inside of the cowl scoop and examine that area for contact marks. The interference may only occur when you start up the engine or shut it down or may also happen in flight when the engine shifts position as a result of thrust. I have seen many cases like that and in all cases the mounting plate will break sooner or later. The filter bowl may have to be realigned or the gap between the front of the filter bowl and the scoop increased. If your cowl is hard to get off because it tends to hang up on the filter bowl you may be stressing the mounting plate everytime you try to yank the cowling off.

Martin Sutter
building and flying RV's since 1988