Those are a good points.

Danny,
The heat is fairly inadequate already, perhaps I ought not to make it worse. St. Louis weather can be cold, but it never gets all that bad here.

Walrus,
I do have two spare M41s - one lost 3 of 4 gears, but the cover is good. The other is 100% great. I also have the installed unit I can check. I'll check them over for this 4th gear plug you mentioned. Both of my B18s have the alternator ear, so maybe I'll luck out and find the removable plug too. If I can't find it, I'll get in touch. Thanks

One reason I'd like the short shifter is because the short seems to have very nice tight shifting. the long shifter on the M41 feels all over the place.
It's the so-called "engine wobble indicator"

However, switching covers would make the whole installation easier and preserve my molded center console tray...

--
1967 P220 (My every-other-daily driver...), 1971 P1800 (The Parts Car), 1972 145S (1993-1997), 1977 245 DL (1993-1999), 1983 245 (1998-2001), 1986 745 GLE (1997-2005), 1990 740 GL (2003-4), 1995 945 (2005-Present)....