I apologize for the delay, but there are 3" between them. We did weld shims to the bottom edge of the RF plate on the firebox side to ensure the grease would flow towards the drain tube, so it isn't exactly 3" all the way across.
How much space is between your cook grate and your RF plate?
I do like the mods. They have made it much easier, due to the fact that the cooking chamber maintains a much more even temperature. I have to stoke the firebox pretty often to keep temps around 230-240, but I plan on buying a FiAir air blower to help out with that. Otherwise, it seems to be doing very well. You can check out my other posts to see some of the que I've done on it since the mods.So do you like the mods to your smoker? Does it hold the heat better then being a direct flow? I like what you did on it . I have a new brunfel direct flow and thinking about doing the same thing..