Tranny tunnel Ideas

I have a 70 CJ5 I picked up a year ago with a wonderful hack job on the floor to fit an SM465, I need to cover it up. I have a D18 twin stick in it as well. I am not a sheet metal guy. Is there anything I can purchase that will fit, like a replacement tunnel piece?

 

There is nothing that will fit directly, you will need to fab or modify the existing cover to actually fit and cover it.

 

I have seen inverted engine oil pans used, and inverted cake pans. That's two possible ways to get the doghouse shape that you need. An automatic transmission oil pan might be another possibility.

 

here was the thread that used an oil pan. unfortunately, the pictures are gone...

http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22662&highlight=sm465+cover

good luck and post pics of what you come up with. i'm currently doing (re-doing) mine. initially, i did a yj type tunnel: a basic concave tunnel out of 18 ga sheet metal. as i started test driving, i realized that i needed a flat spot under the accelerator pedal...i started reworking it but in the end i couldn't figure out the proper geometry to make it work...i removed the homemade tunnel and now i have a stock tranny cover that i'm modifying to make work...not fun.

 

Scott Milliner did a slick tunnel set up using IIRC an auto trans pan that he modified with some other sheet metal work. Might want to contact him directly (pm him). It inspired me to hang onto all the old brownie/cake pans my wife was getting rid of for future projects.

 

Here's one I made from an original T90 cover sectioned and widened. Really all I used from the T90 cover were the corners, I added flat sheet metal for the top, and used a Harbor Freight sheet metal brake to bend up flat sheet metal for the sides of the new cover. Yes, its for an SM465.


Here's how it looked after primer.

Don

 

That's exactly what I did on my t-18 conversion! Looks just like yours except for a round hole instead of a square one on top.

 

I did something similar to what djbutler did (above) but using the bottom of a 50cal. ammo box. You can buy a similar ammo box at most army surplus shops. Good luck.