[eschaider]

Glen,

Your shifter location is determined by your transmission’s tailshaft cross-member mounting point. The distance to the shifter locations from the tail shaft mount is the same for TKO and TKX transmissions. It may not be (most likely is not) the same as a top loader.

The rearmost shifter location on a TKO (or TKX) approximates the transmission tunnel entry point for a top loader, but, and this is important, it does not duplicate it. It only approximates it. The upshot is your shifter location position top loader to a Tremec (TKO or TKX) will be different than your original top loader and very likely require modifying your tunnel.

The center shifter location will provide you a shifter position near the front edge of the driver's seat and approximate a 289 car’s shifter location, but again not duplicating it. The center location will use a simple vertical shifter with no bend. If this is what you want, both Hanlon and Forte offer the necessary hardware to position the shifter in the center position.

The center position makes for a more natural shifting experience but does not look period incorrect. For that matter, some of the awkwardly bent shifters for use in the rear position do not either! In the for what it is worth bucket Kirkham has used the center-positioned straight shifter configuration option for customers since the billet car they built for Larry Ellison of Oracle fame and possibly earlier. I believe you need to ask for it. I don’t think it is the default shifter position. Predictably Kirkham’s center shifter is a Kirkham-originated design. They may or may not offer it for sale, I simply don’t know.