I say go for it Gavia.

If you did it like Atwater did his re-work the worst that would happen IF you went back to factory specs is you have some rivet holes to fill/hide.

I wouldn't take it out for a long trip without a short test run under load to see how it handled first and go from there.

You don't know till you try. People modify all kinds of things to suit their preferences, I don't see why this should be any different UNLESS a test run proves your ideas ALL wrong. :'(