<VV> floor stiffening re-work at shifter opneing

[rich dixon]

Hi; Happy Holiday to you....here's what I need some help with....need to stiffen the floor area around the shifter base on my late model coupe due to rust (surprise) and I do not want or need to replace the entire floor section, it's not that bad. I have made patch panels before and seem to work fine, but I wanted some suggestion or ideas on this area. There is to much flexing at the shifter base, due the floor having rusted out on the drivers side at the shifter base opening, that it will not allow it to go into reverse.

My question is has anyone made a patch panel specifically for this? Should I make it so the shifter base is actually "sandwiched" between the patch piece and the shifter based and long rod tube? This seems like it would provide the most stiffness, but I am concerned about increasing the "stack-up" of the shifter, and how might interfere with the final adjustments? Or perhaps cutting a piece of steel panel cut to fit along the outside perimeter of the shifter opening in the floor, and using body adhesive attach this around the shifter opening in the floor. I plan to secure this piece using sheet metal screw and once it's all adjusted and working properly, that use a 3M body adhesive to secure it. Sorry to be so long. Hope my question is clear - thanks as always. 

Rich