Here is the Pelican article on the conversion you are working on:
Pelican Technical Article: 914 Shifting Improvements
The original side shifts do NOT have a bracket in the tunnel area. If you want to make the shifting much better you can do the following: replace the firewall bushing with Jim Patrick's heavy duty bolt in available from Patrick Motorsports in Phoenix, then replace the coupler with one of the sealed aircraft U-joints that race shops have been converting for Porsches for years and finally replace the rear bushing with either a bronze or heavy duty nylon one.
No longer available I hear are the J West shifters which are worth their weight in gold but there might be one available somewhere. Jim also made a complete bolt in shifter assembly but I just used his shifter and with the other mods I mentioned above I could shift into 1st at 25 MPH during races and never miss a shift!