Well Bob, I wasn't sure, but I was almost right thinking the center bracket for the clutch tube was 2" from the hand brake.
I's 2-1/2" from the pin in the hand brake.
I use to cut about a 5" flap in the tunnel using a air chisel with a hook on it. I would cut from the pin in the brake handle 5 inches back and about 3/4 way down and bend the flap down to reweld the bracket, this would give me room to weld.
Now that I found this article written by John S. Henry, (thanks Matt) I won't have to go to my friends junk yard and cut open the tunnel to get the measurements and write the article. BO**
The only thing I do differently is use a air chisel instead of a saws all. If you use a Saws All, I would shorten the blade so you can put the foot of the saw on the tunnel and not cut into anything else in the tunnel.
If anyone would like help doing this, just give me a call. I would also follow the other suggestions & procedures that John gives for doing this job. It's really not as hard as it may seem.
HOW TO FIX CLUTCH TUBE Jack
John also has a lot of other information on his site http://www.thebugshop.org/index.htmPicture courtesy of GEOTECH