Will GM 200r4 work with factory floor shift location?

Well I've pretty much finished the new lower cross member and new trans mount. Instead of making the lower cross member one piece like the stock one I decided to make it in front and back sections. It's a decision that you have to make. Since I basically lost the adjoining piece that links/connects one side of the upper cross member to the other side I made a kinka belly pan piece to act a guard in case I go over a speed bump and scrape the tranny pan (the 200R4 seems to hang a little lower than stock). This belly pan (not sure what else to call it) piece also serves another function. With the factory lower cross member gone and part of the upper cut away I don't want the force of the torsion bars to distort the floor. I installed heavier torsion bars to get the car up off the ground so I know there's plenty of force acting on the brace that runs across the belly of the car. The belly pan piece should restore the majority of the structural integrity originally designed into the cross member.
The first pic shows the forward portion of the cross member. Then other pics with the trans mount then with the rear section in place. The rear pieces still have to welded to the piece that holds the trans rubber mount (that's why there are vice grips in the pics). I figured since I don't know exactly there the trans will end up vertically I will install everything, get the trans exactly where it needs to be, tack weld the trans rubber mount piece to the two side rear pieces, remove the rear pieces and weld them solid, trim off any excess pieces of metal and reinstall. If you notice the driver's side rear piece is longer than the passenger, this is because the one bolt (inboard) on the driver's side cannot be used after cutting the upper cross member. I guess Mopar knew many years ago that people would install 200R4s in the a-bodies (LOL) because the driver's side between the torsion bar and the lower cross member) has a lot more room (3 1/2") than the passenger side (1 1/4"). This makes it easy to elongate the driver's side lower cross member piece so that you can drill for the second bolt that you lost by cutting the upper brace.
You might notice the pilot holes I've drilled in the rear cross member pieces. I did this because if you drill the hole out to size it's harder to get the exact center of the hole when you drill the upper cross member. With a small pilot hole I can install the piece, get everything aligned using the other original hole (which can still be used), then use the pilot hole to transfer the hole location to the upper cross member that way you get a good fit. Once the pilot hole is drilled you remove the piece and drill through the pilot hole in the upper brace and you'll have the exact location.

I bought some 1/8" X 3" flat stock. My next project will be to slide (maybe tap in with a small mallet) the flat stock into the gap that exists between the upper brace/cross member and the body. I mentioned this in the first page of this thread (pics also). If I can get two or three sections of this flat stock in that gap (stack them edge to edge) and weld them to the flanges of the upper brace it should more than compensate for cutting away the chunk out of the brace to fit the 200R4. These pieces of flat stock might also give me a better place to mount the lower pivot point for the shifter torque shaft. But like "fishy68" said, a cable shift would probably be a lot easier and I might end up doing that if it becomes impossible to use the manual linkage. Would hate to go through all this trouble and not be able to use my gear shift!!!
OK, I'm officially tired of writing...Back to work.

Treblig