And here is a picture of the modification I'm making using GWILLIE's idea. The pink foam is going to be glued to the plywood and then fuelproofed. It'll fill the void the gear attachment makes right behind the lower firewall. I'm guessing that the improved aerodynamics ought to give the a/c maybe 30 or 40mph more top end.... at least.... chuckle

Oh, the other two pictures in the group are of the cowl "stuffing". You can see from the front pix how round it's become and from the rear pix a hint of how warped it was overall. The out-of-shape at the rear is pulled out by the fuse.