I ended up creating tables (which I hate, much rather use divs) and got it working correctly. my test site is
www.adcantu.com/pacer/
I am using the 1024 mod though, as you said the original would be way too small.
There are a few tutorial out there, and I tried about 3, but the apparent "one to use" for prosilver based themes was found at
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 4&t=624715
I had problems getting the div to display properly, it would either float all the way to the right of the page, or it would sink to the bottom, or other weird anomalies lol.
I assume its partially due to the fixed width, but I did attempt many variations of fixed sizes and percentages to no avail.
Anyway, have it a go and maybe you can make something more efficient
Thanks for the reply as well!