hey josh, for the landing gear all i did to reinforce it was add a piece of 1/8 ply with a cutout for the landing gear plate that fits over the LG plate and jams up against the lower firewall and wing mount former. The gear hasn't gone anywhere because the ply piece wont allow the LG plate to twist.
pedro, you can see my muffler earlier in this thread and my other mods. i taxi with full up elev (40 degrees) so not much problem with nosing over.

Tom