A mystery indeed. The transmission is marked as an M3, but it is clearly a 4 speed with no 1st gear syncromesh. The edge of the transmission cover seems to "marry to" the tunnel pretty well. But the cover looks like it was pounded from the underside to clear a transmission that extended several inches further to the rear. The entire tunnel appears welded in place, but looks to be original.
If not for sound, the rag was probably put there to block out heat/cold and fumes. The tune on the car was horrible when I acquired it and from what I could see of carbon buildup on the pistons through the spark plug holes, had probably been out of tune for years. Doesn't give off much in the way of fumes now that I have worked over the tuning.
Army, my three point retractable seat belts came in and the reel part is quite large - one might say huge. Do you think one might be able to mount that piece behind the cross member that supports the rear seat. And have the belt come up through the rear seat armrest area? I haven't yet gotten to the point where I can pop that rear seat out to examine. Appreciate any insight you might be able to provide.
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