71 duster

Am I missing something ?
Yes you are;
that long-tail with the front pad will NOT fit into the tunnel of an A-body. That front pad interferes with the T-bar crossmember upper hoop, and a good part of it HAS to be ground off to get the trans high enough to fit on the un-moddified crossmember. Even if you got it in there, you still need over 2.5inches of room for the shifter. You cannot cut that crossmember out in it's entirety. I mean you could, and you could rebuild it 3 inches to the driver's side .......... but then where would you put the seat/seat tracks?
Forget about using the front B-body pad.