I am about a week overdue with this post, but here is the latest on the progress of re-doing the 4-speed shifter hump.

Started by using magnets to hold it in place while I traced the opening on the bottom of the patch:

Compared it to one of the original pieces I kept when cutting it the first time:

There is a lip that sticks out on the drivers side I needed to deal with.  So the fun begins with measuring, marking, and trimming:

These metal marking pens are great!:

Then spent a lot of time measuring, marking, and trimming little-by-little:

I was also marking on the shell the placement of the patch for a reference:

Then I was worried that I might have cut too much for the hump to rest on, so a quick trial fit:

Then I had to bend and hammer the patch and floor so it was snug:

I determined that the magnets wouldn’t do the job, so the plan is to rivet it in place, then patch in the shifter hump – riveting that in then using body adhesive next Spring with the rivets to complete the job.

Now it is on to some pre-winter non-car projects, so the car work is on hold.  There won’t be a lot to do over the winter, but a little here-and-there.

So I was referencing the measurements of my manual 4-speed shifter hump I installed from here and realized I was off by about an inch and need to re-do my work.  Today was spent analyzing, measuring and planning next steps.  This is the piece that the shifter sticks through that I need to redo:

I re-attached the bracing and used an older console to cross-reference since I am wanting it to be as close to the stock location as possible and will be using a similar console:

I am actually impressed that I got it this close on my first try, but referencing the picture and measurements in the above link, I need to adjust the location which will mean cutting it out, patching part of the hole, and re-attaching a new shifter-hump.

I have accumulated some donor parts.  Not the top piece in brown is the original section I cut out the first time (on the blue piece):

Unfortunately, the brace is closer than I would like – this piece looks to be from a firebird, but close enough…  (on a Camaro, the brace is further back by comparing to my patch panel)

After some thinking and experimenting and a failed attempt to remove the brace, I ended up cutting it as close to the brace as possible:

Using my other donor piece as a mold, the larger piece I will be working with appears to be flexible enough that I might be able to use it as a patch piece with a little persuasion…

More to come…  Stay tuned for more…