Tremec 5 speed, trans tunnel cover and swap to front or mid shifter location?

[Chuck78]

My old crashbox SM318 sounds to have some gear damage in first now, so it's time to swap in one of the two Tremec 3550's (predecessor to the TKO) that I have for the 62 GMC Panel and the 71 Camaro... My first question is, do I need to switch to the taller hump trans tunnel cover? It doesn't seem that I do, but just wondered.

Secondly, going from a three on the tree, I really like the ability to haul long pieces of lumber in my panel truck with the barn doors shut, all the way to the firewall. Now I was wondering if anyone had ever ran the front shift location in a Tremec 3550 or TKO in one of our trucks? I figured maybe I might have to get a custom shifter lever in place of the Tremec kit's, something with more of a kickback, but wondered where this will really put it. I kinda wanted a fairly tall shifter anyway, reminiscent of the Rat Fink hot rod look, but not quite so obnoxious. The mid shift location says it's for most truck retrofits. I know that the rear location doesn't work for bench seats. The mid location is probably 4" to 7" more forward (16.75 or 19.5" depending on mounting forwards or backwards) vs the 12.75" mid shift location, and I think I remember the front location being about 7" from the front of the transmission/bellhousing mounting surface. Wondered what this would do for me, and if it would just be way too far forward.

Also, will a really long shifter make the shifting really funky? Obviously, the taller the shifter, the more travel my arm will need to do to get the same shift vs a short shifter. It's not a hot rod so much, though it will look like a cool rat rod, but I still use it as a truck to haul and tow, and it's most likely going to keep the monster GMC 305 V6 since it's got so much torque and is a very cool and unique engine. Although I have two spare 400 small block chevies in the garage if the big block 305 V6 ever goes caput. Although a GMC 351E (has all the Magnum parts) or 401M (Magnum) V6 would be even more cool to throw in there! Parts are hard to get quickly for any of these, and the SBC, even the 400, is such a universal thing, but so common and overdone... But I can find parts easily when on a road trip...

Also, should I just be looking for an auto trans crossmember to use when swapping in this Tremec? The 3 speed manual doesn't use a crossmember, it just hangs from the bellhousing, where the bellhousing has rubber mounts to the rear of the engine crossmember. The SM318 is so small that it doesn't need any rear mount apparently.