leave that backplate in place, that's what holds the carbs together. You might have to modify the area where the push pull cables attach as they might hit the frame. after installing them you will see what i mean
you will indeed have to make custom manifolds to fit the VM's, dont think you'll find anything off the shelf. it can be simple ones, done on a lathe, but no downdraft.
to get any downdraft you will need to cut them at an angle. I did it, but it was quite tricky. I designed the cut angles on CAD but regretfully, lost those files.
Take into account that the VM spacing doesnt exactly match the ports, again, no easy solutions.
my VM's worked fine with 10 degs downdraft, so did the CR i used later
TG