Jim,
I started trimming the right side away thinking there would be some part of the fuse left and it would wrap around the muffler. I kept cutting and cutting and finally realized there would be so little left it wasn't worth trying to save, so I got out the saw and finished off the right side. If you look at the photos you can see how the muffler strap had to be accomodated, plus the needle valve stuck right up where the side of the fuselage would go, and then the bumps on the carburetor needed clearance. The engine also has some offset to the right which moves things closer to the right fuse side. Tried to keep some of it but couldn't

I did think about enclosing the engine by carving blocks to shape around the engine (like the old CL stunters) and putting a nose ring on it. That would work fine but it would have been impossible to get to the nosewheel after it was enclosed. With my penchant for dorking nose gears I thought it would be better to be able to easily get at the adjustments.