I got the gate shift back from my engineer mate this morning ..all now mounted to a round pedestal with a fixing lip at its base ...the original rubber gearstick boot is still in place under the gate to hide the workings ...
having that final piece to the tunnel puzzle meant that I could finish this area ..all fitted with 5mm panhead set screws so it can come off for access ... difficult to see , but a shortened and tweaked fibreglass tunnel has also been fitted to cover the gearbox under the dash ...