Set left strake in postion by clecoing leading edge to lower strake and clamping aft edge to spar. Raised gear into wheel well holes until tire touched inner skin of upper strake, them removed upper strake and raised tire an additional 3/8 in to account for the increased room I will have by removing some inner skin and foam of the upper strake (where tire hits it). In spite of this, the protrusion of the tire under the lower strake seemed excessive. After discussion with Jeff K, we thought the camber of the strake molds may have decreased over the years. I went to the factory and got the original strake plug and compared the camber of the plug to my stakes. I estimated that the plug had about 1 in more camber than my strake.
I reinstalled the strake and pushed up the upper strake with a bottle jack to increase the camber by about an inch. Once I was satisfied with the camber curve, I marked it and epoxied blocks under the strake on the fuselage to set the position of the stake. (Number 2 photo below shows the new strake camber line over the old one) The same was done for the right side, however I found that the right side strake had to be raised an additional 1/8-1/4 inch to match the left. This minor mod will also allow for increased fuel capacity. After reinstalling the strakes in their new postions, I could get the gear into the well about aother 3/8 in
I glued 1/4 inch foam spacers inside the gear well and 3/8 spacers inside the wheel well and then proceeded to cut, grind, and fit the gear and wheel wells over the gear leg and tire. I want adequate, but not excessive clearances so as to maximize fuel capacity.
