Yes, heat to exchangers do run under the footboards. You can see in the picture I posted of the blue boards that the exchanger is left there and the rest of the board is opened up.
Those snofree eliminators look quite interesting. I haven't seen those before. I wonder how rigid they are with the running board cut out? They look like they would work well. Seems like it would be tough to make those edges and bends without the right tooling. Unrolling the factory edges is another option, as well as the rox sled tread type approach. I fabricated a set last year that look like sled treads that weren't too bad to make.
Got my initial design done for the boards. They are going to be 7.25" wide all the way back made of 1/4" 5051 aluminum. These suckers are going to be heavy duty. 40" long to start and will be cut to fit as I go along.
I've thought about the rox treads, but I think in the end I'll have a much more robust solution with better grip and with angled portions to stand on when things get vertical, much like the snofree design, but even more heavy duty and robust where attaching to the tunnel and overall.
A bit of an update....I finally found time to get my shocks rebuilt and install the "heavy duty" Yammie springs in the rear, and some aftermarket HD springs up front. Got it all put back together too! Now all that is left is doing some riveting, carb work, a bit more greasing, and adjusting the power valves. Easily accomplish-able by the time the snow flies!