2008.08.27 - UPDATE! - TUNNELING TO VICTORY!
More work tonight on the tunnel...specifically the fitment and installation of the factory mounting flange. I wasn't going to be satisfied using a straight section of rail after going to all that trouble to make the cover swoopy and curvaceous, so I gave the lower flange the same "sliced" treatment.
A couple hours later after some careful fitting and lots of small tack welds.
The hours dragged on as I filled in all those slices one tackweld at a time.... I found it was easier to pull the cover out for this step, since I wanted to avoid welding the flange to the floor accidentally. I actually did SO much welding today, that I ran out of Ar/Co2 mix and had to load up another 80# bottle!!
Once the flange was completed and smoothed out, I re-installed the cover into the truck and decided to tackle something that had been bugging me for a while. I pulled up a fresh sheet of 18GA steel, cut out a fresh cover and set it down on top of the old one...
Over time, as I'd been working with SO many individual tranny covers and so many seams...the areas that were supposed to be FLAT, were quite wavy and it would have taken forever to try to hammer it all out and make it straight again. It seemed like a smarter (and stronger) move to simply cut out a single large sheetmetal patch to replace all the problem areas at once.
Once I had the new metal in position, I tacked it down in a few spots and then used it as a guide for my 4-1/2" cutoff wheel. With practice, you can learn to "feel" the edge of the top panel against the cutoff wheel and it will steer the blade along just where it needs to go. The result is a cleaner cut than trying to freehand across a Sharpie line, and the hole ends up being a perfectly fitted match to the top patch panel. Live and learn....
Here's the result once I finished all the cutting:
A different angle that shows the finish-quality of the corner I've put so many hours into...
Here's the comparison of the "Frankenstein" center section vs. the clean new one. The photos don't really show the amount of warpage in the original panel, but I can assure you it's a real mess compared to the new, very flat one.
You will notice that I had to add one crease to the new panel as well to account for the upswept area as the tunnel transitions from the seating area to the transmission area.
The side-benefit of removing such a large section of the cover is that I now have easy access to start building templates for the bracing that will go underneath the pan. The curves add some decent rigidity to the cover, but it still moves around quite a bit..... and it would certainly NOT hold the weight of anyone standing on it to climb into the backseat area.
That's all for now... more updates this weekend.
I'll keep posting stuff up if people want to see it, but it might make more sense to wait until something more "significant" happens...
Actually, I'm willing to bet that once I get this whole truck finished I'd be able to sell it in the "Complete Vehicles" forum and easily get between $4000 and $4500 for it!!! 
