Mudguards and Kodiak Duct

Finished up the mudguards and Kodia intake duct, except for a couple of minor things which need to wait. The mudguards were a little more challenging than I thought, as I had assumed they were a part of the wing, whereas they must be removed before a wing can be taken off, as they block access to the bulkhead/wing spire nuts. The original mudguards had rusted completely away, and the manuals don't offer any help, so I came up with what I think is a logical system. Once the mudguards were done, the supports for the Kodia intake duct could be done.


Below, an overall view of the Kodiak duct in place. The original duct brackets were rusted to oblivion. The new brackets use the original mounting points. For the rear support, a portion of rear axle safety strap was used, as it it's both extremely strong and flexible and therefore shouldn't crack, shouldn't chafe the duct too much, and is designed to live in a wheel well in any case, and so should easily put up with rocks, water, etc., thrown up by the tire. For the forward bracket, a metal strap was used, as I felt the duct should be more rigidly in place so as to not put undue strain on the wing intake flange and it's relatively soft aluminum wing skin. If this metal strap ends up cracking, then another axle strap can be used. The tire shouldn't hit the duct except in perhaps the most extreme situations, as the distance to the duct is greater than the distance from the axle top to the bump stop on the chassis.

The mudguard, with the rebuilt wing mudguard support bracket peeking over the top. The original brackets up there had corroded significantly, and looked as if they may not be strong enough for too much stress over the long term, and so I sandwiched them between two supporting aluminum plates (aluminum to reduce risk of further dissimilar metal corrosion on the original brackets) which are rivetted on. Holes were drilled in these to take spire nuts, so that the mudguards can be easily removed.

Rear of the mudguard new support brackets.

Driver's side mudguard, with removeable steering box cover. A spire nut was used at the top of the steering box cover, and the bottom attaches via a bolt (not visible here) just like the mudguard. I'm not sure yet what to do about attaching the mudguard and steering box guard to the inner wing, and so have not drilled any holes. I'll wait until the outer wing panel is on, in any case, as there's always a fair amount of flex in all these parts and it's naturally important that the holes continuet to line up! The large hole in the wing is where the original exhaust pipe came through. This may just get taped up, as I don't want to do anything permanent in case the desire to put the original-type exhaust system comes up. I've kept the original swan-necked exhaust manifold, just in case.