Any ideas/suggestions?

what part of the tunnel?
you should be able to lift the little plates and get a hand in there, or remove the shifter. if it is furter back in the firewall, then try and push the new one through towards the shifter, where you can get a hand in to remove the old one.

IT's actually stuck in the firewall area. I can't push it. But I'll take apart the shifter and see if I can find it there.

Thanks for the heads-up!!!

I'm not really a rodeo clown, I just stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night

TMI

how about pushing it through with piece of coat hangar?

Correct me if I'm wrong but... that would be a really long coat hanger to go from the accelerator to the firewall... or am I missing something else?

Sorry, I have not had all the plates off over the tunnel, I thought perhaps you could access it closer to the firewall.

How about a roto rooter deal, or is the tube too small for that? Maybe a guitar or piano string? I chucked a guitar string into an electric drill, threaded it into the sheath on a bug, spun the drill and withdrew to pull a stuck sheath out of a beetle one time