Mine really looks like the manual hole found on 69 Camaro 4 speed models. A plasma cut, oval shaped hole with no reinforcement plate. In comparison, 1968 Camaro automatics just have a small shifter cable hole.
This document is referencing Camaros, but you can see the confusion:
“All 4-speeds and floor shift 3-speeds have a hole in the transmission tunnel for the shifter. The style used mainly in 67 & 68 was a clean-cut rectangular shaped hole which had a reinforcing ring welded to the underside of the tunnel around the shifter opening. The reinforcement ring was used on the following applications: all 1967 floor shift models (AT and MT), 1968 all MT floor shift, 1968's with the TH400 M11 floor shift (w/o console), and 1969 models with 3-speed manual w/o console. The hole cutout for 1969 models equipped with a 4-speed was smaller and more "oval shaped" than the other design. It was also rough cut with a torch and did not use the reinforcement ring welded to the bottom of the tunnel.”
So the question is whether my oval “69 style” hole is in the correct 4 speed location. I don’t need the reinforcement plate. At least I see no reason for it. I’m really just wondering if I’ll need to patch my tunnel and make a new hole.
