What if anything goes in this hole?

Transmission cover where shifter rod comes through floor board. Can't find this piece in the Lincoln Chassis Parts catalog. Help please. Thanks.

Transmission cover where shifter rod comes through floor board. Can't find this piece in the Lincoln Chassis Parts catalog. Help please. Thanks.

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There is a sponge rubber seal that goes between that and the top of the transmission. I used the one from a Ford Truck, I believe it carries a 78 prefix. Got them from Mac Ford Parts. Bought 2 of them and glued them together to get the proper thickness. There is also a metal shield that fits over the shifter tower that the seal sets on , I will post a picture of it later.

Here is a picture of the metal shield / support for the seal. I made mine from an original.

Is there a pic or p/n in the chassis parts cat. for these pieces? Does the metal piece just set on top of the tranny as shown or does it fasten to the bottom of the tranny cover with the boot pinched between the two?

The metal piece just sits on top of the transmission as shown, it gives a platform for the rubber to sit on then when the cover goes on , the sponge rubber gets samwiched between the two. Its my belief that the original seal had the metal ring vulcanized to it and was part of the seal,thats why it doesnt show up in the parts catalog. We discovered this when we removed the old seal from the transmission in a friends 39 Zephyr, to begain with it just looked like a piece of very old and deteriated rubber untill we noticed it had a rusty metal ring attached to the bottom of it. The seal we used from Macs is part # 78-7012130 37-39 passenger and 40-41 commercial vehicles. Im thinking we bought 2 of them because 1 wasnt quite thick enough.