Need Help With a Kodiak Alaskan

I went to the semi-annual consignment sale today. Since the area is home to a large Amish community there are always a lot of coal stoves for sale. I picked up a used Kodiak for $100. I had bid up and dropped out on two Hitzer's, one ds machine and a Local product called a Dennis miller coal stove. Needing a stove, I took this Alaskan stove home for my opening bid. It's not a beauty queen, but for the price I felt it was a great deal.

Can anyone provide me with some pictures of the inside of their kodiak firebox.? My stove road home in my neighbors buggy cart and all the side and front bricks were displaced. I can figure out brick placement, but there's this metal plate with a j channel on top that is a mystery to me.

My hopper is badly eroded. Will this cause any problems? Why is the erosion so bad?

NI, nice stove at a good price. I would guess that the j-channel piece goes over the exhaust pipe on the inside as a baffle. Not sure on the hopper issue,no experience with those.

i think member davidmcbeth has had som issues with his hopper on his hitzer maybe he has some thoughts on this, may be damp coal , over firing ,just a bad run of hoppers , ?? or possibly the coal at the time was highly acidict ?