new homemade fiberglass tunnel and floor mods

     In the above shot, you can more readily see the floor mods needed to both create a flange for the tunnel to fasten to, as well as clear the tranny starter. You can also see the 6" firewall that comes straight back from the original firewall.  Also note how close the fiberglass tunnel ends at the handbrake lever. (6" further back than original).  A simple aluminum band was bent into an 'omega' shape, screwed down then hammered further into shape. The fiberglass tunnel stops within a 1/2" of floor tunnel metal. So a  thin band is all that was needed as the connection cover. The floor tunnel was cut back so far, the metal connection band actually overhangs the divot (flattened area) on the tunnel where the hand brake pivot is welded.  Oh... and as a side note... yes... with the tranny so far back, the driveshaft was now really close to touching the floor metal do to it's new position and the angle of the now shortened driveshaft.  So instead of cutting the tunnel along the floor and adding metal like some have done, I found yet another simpler solution. I placed a short section of 2"x4" lumber on top my floor jack, and quite literally, jack the car of the stand via the center of the tunnel metal. This 'stretched' the tunnel 'up'. I then (while still on the jack) reshaped the tunnel metal beside the seats as such, just a bit. This was kind of like the way I solved the rocker panel bottom of the door metal alignment issue on Big Red. 

    People have also asked about gas peddle clearance. Actually, I only ate up about 1" of the original space. My fat foot still fits between the brake peddle and firewall to hit the go peddle without a problem. I'm still considering whether it's worth torching and  bending the brake and clutch peddles a bit to the left just for some more clearance.

    I'll probably add a 'slide' panel on top the carpet. That way my foot won't have a tendency to wear out the carpet and/or get caught on the edge of the new firewall section.

    Obviously I'll also have to do some sewing to mod the molded carpet that belongs in this car. Luckily, the carpet in rolls, avail at the local auto parts store, is the same 'fuzzy' stuff as the molded carpet. So I should be able to simply lay in a matching section as needed.