Procedure Part 2

6. Although it's not mandatory, I fabricated a piece of aluminum to cover the big hole, then applied black RTV gasket maker and riveted it to the tunnel floor.

If you have to remove the shifter during installation, you will need a tunnel hole big enough to allow installation of the shifter from the top. Therefore, your cover plate will need to be removable, using screws to secure it to the tunnel floor. Your tunnel insulator will need to be altered to cover the new hole as well.

7. The first picture below shows the hole cut in the center of the tunnel. I cut the hole to the same diameter of the boot on the transmission, but you don't need to fit it this close. As referred to in step #6, you will probably need a removable cover plate, so you can cut and adjust your hole size after the transmission is installed. Install your tunnel insulator and re-clamp your battery cable. Because I made my own tunnel insulator, I was able to shorten the piece going back into the tunnel, near where the yoke will be. You will probably have to do this to yours as well. You can see the back part of the insulator in second picture below. If you have a catalytic converter heat deflector plate, you might have to cut yours, like I did, to get the proper yoke clearance.