The areas you mention are areas where some owners have taken action.
The high end of the exhaust manifold will tend to hold an air bubble and get hot. Some owners have reversed the flow through the manifold. The hose from the thermostat then leads to the transmission end of the manifold, with flow out at the upper end.
As for the cover plate, many owners have changed out the bolted connection and installed studs in the block. Moyer Marine sells a kit for this. I made studs from brass all-thread. An alternate is to install stainless set screws as studs.
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