Just a short update. I didn’t have a lot of time this weekend but plugged away TIG welding the tunnel extension. I decided to use TIG so I could practice my hammer welding. It was worth the effort because I got better and faster as I went along. Also filled a couple holes and repaired the ragged edge that tore when I drilled out the spot welds incompletely.
I welded it as uniform as I could and then used the bench as an anvil to hammer if flat.
I cut the weld bead down with the edge of a cutoff wheel, hit it with a die grinder and 80 grit, then smoothed it a little with the DA sander and 80 grit. It is a little wavy but not too bad.
I need to work on my organization. I got the bench so messy I couldn’t work and had to stop and clean.
Then moved on to the ragged edge. I just chopped it out and trimmed in a new piece.
Overall it came out pretty good. Passenger side is better because I did it second. It will all be under carpet and the bottom side will smooth out with just a tiny bit of filler.
I still need to figure out what to do with the shifter. The extra two gears use up more room and hits the console insert in the 1-2 gate and also going into reverse on the other side.
I can countersink the fasteners but that isn’t going to be enough. It would be better if someone made a wider insert. Anyone know where to get one? Some of the shifters have a shorter attachment, but I know other people on this site have had leaking problems with aftermarket shifters, which makes me want to keep the Tremec if possible. If anyone has solved this I would like to see your stock console solution. It is probably easy and I am just missing something !!