I ran my Lrp sphere comp on the motor plate, no heat problems at all, only thing was I filed a angle on the heatsink so it doesn't touch the shell. There is a piece in the top of the cab of the shell you can cut out to allow air to pass over the speedo when it's mounted here too
Don't see the point in cramping everything up front, seems people are doing it because they can squeeze it all in for looks rather than function ?
I've loads of room spare up front that gives me options for running either the new small lipo or saddles (they are different lengths) also I've lots of room for weight if I need to add any.
Also with a low profile servo, I can run a full size stick lipo if I just pop the reciever on top of it