That's actually the right way to do it. Please note two things.
1) There is a copy button available when editing a Permission
level. That's the easiest way to make sure they match. Then remove the
delete permissions from the copy.
2) Be sure to remove Contribute from the members group.
Permissions are additive, so assigning a new permission level won't work
unless you remove the old one.
But it is normally better to always work on a copy when dealing with any
of the default settings.