I've had this car apart for a long time. Can someone please refresh me on the purpose of the small port just beside the center tunnel on the driver's side? It's apparently a metal tube and the end of it protrudes enough into the passenger compartment that I had to modify my Engman kit before installing.

1972 1.7

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

My guess a spacer to keep the walls uniform?????

Is it threaded? Center seat belt?

Nope, the center seat belt mount is on the floor below.

That firewall hole does not look stock is the pivot for the tail shifter assembly

Yes, that's stock. The other end has a threaded boss for the shift linkage ball on an early 4

Doh, yes, the pivot for the tail shifter assembly!

One wonders if this would be a good place to run a thick power line to an amp through? My car isn't very original, and never again will be...

THANK YOU!!! That makes perfect sense.

I actually have a section of engine-side firewall from a side-shifter car which I plan to graft in so that it looks factory after the trans swap. I guess I would have figured out what that tube was at that point.

PS: The car did have a center belt and the driver side bolt interfered with the shifter rod. Was nearly impossible to adjust.

@TargaToy

- The center belt mounting point is the threaded hole on the floor(!) pan right under the where you circled in your picture.

- The drivers side seat belt mount is the one that is on the side of the center tunnel and it has a special short bolt that prevents it from protruding inside the tunnel. Most likely, you used a bolt for the passenger side in there, which is too long and does get in the way of the shift rod.

Thanks, SirAndy.

Yes and yes. I believe that when the center belt was added by my father in the early 70's, he stacked the aftermarket center belt with the driver and passenger receivers and used longer bolts. When we bought the car back some 30 years after he sold it, the belts had been changed and I believe the center belt was now gone. But the longer bolts had been reinstalled with only the driver/passenger receivers--leaving the driver's side bolt long and hitting the shift rod.