I understand. I like the idea that I don't have to weld a seam all along the floor, but in the end a one piece tunnel welded all the way around probably is less welding in the end. Time will tell.
I don't think the 8HP tunnel is anywhere close to the size of one that fits a T56 in my case either. The T56 seems to be much taller just looking at how far up into the firewall my cuts are compared to yours.
If I were to do a one piece tunnel, I would consider a tunnel out of a late model Mopar like
@Cool Hand did
here.
But I wouldn't want it to go so far back. And it would be buckets only.
And no idea where I would even source the tunnel.