1974 Cj5 W/ 304. Clutch Shift Linkage - Bell Crank Issue

Hi guys,
Heh guys, my new purchase and project is above. Been replacing leaky timing cover & bad distributor gears, oil pump, new timing chain and gears and also replaced the motor mounts on this 304 motor. I decided then to also replace the clutch shifter bell crank & all associated linkage from the pedal to the manual transmission.

On assembling the new bell crank into position, I now find I am almost 1" short of reaching my L-bracket on the transmission. I thought this has to be related for sure to changing the motor mounts and so I even loosened all the bolts from motor to frame on both sides and with a big cheater bar tried to move the motor over. I gained maybe a 1/4".

I got pics attached showing the new mounts, new bell crank in position and even old pics of this linkage. Both new and old bell crank are the same length. The new motor mounts are also the same thickness and appearance as the old ones and the mounts and brackets are all positioned and located properly I believe. Matches the pics I took before disassembly. Not sure what happened.

One things I see is that this appears to have a Dana 300 transfer case so I was thinking this was not original and maybe they changed the transmission location, I added a pic of the transmssion cross member bolt locations.
Anyways, I may have to extend my L-bracket by welding an extension piece on the end and drilling two new holes in it. Or just covert to a hydraulic setup. Thought I would run this by you guys first though. Thanks and any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Forgot to add the new drivers side motor mount pic. Prior shows the old drivers side mount which matches the design of the new one.

 

If the old clutch linkage was working properly before the change, then the transfer shouldn't matter.
In your first picture, tube to bracket distance, sitting here 1300 miles away, it looks like that bracket tab is angled.
The tab where the ball stud would attach. Shouldn't it be straight up and down ?
Once again, from a distance if that tab were straight up and down, it would close the distance.
Tell me if I'm wrong.

 

I don't have any knowledge of this vintage of Jeep's clutch linkage, but the oil pan on the transfercase looks like a Dana 20 which would be original to the Jeep.