Blast you, Bub. Just as I had decided to go with the long shifter, you come up with the short/remote shifter answer I was looking for. Now I will have to reconsider the whole bloody thing again. But seriously, it's a beautiful solution. I spent the day in the boneyard pulling the M41. The shifter on this thing, however, looks different from the one in your pix. For one thing, the stem is the same width from top to bottom an, for another, it is not held in place with a screw cap, but with a rectangular plate-like gizmo held down with four small allenhead screws. Nevertheless, your approach may work, maybe, with a bit more machining. I'll have to take it apart first to see how it's put together. Thanks for the input.
Bob S.