With the link rod replaced, it was time to come up with a cover for the hole I'd made.

I cut out a section of the tunnel from a later year donor car. I cut it out oversize.

My goal was to make the cover large enough so that I could use the six places where things get bolted down on the tunnel...the shifter boot, the rear vertical brackets for the center console, and the support bracket for the 'combined heater unit'...as locater points for the new cover; and as solid tighten-down points.