Brian -

Looks like a pretty straight-forward job. Seems like something worth gaining that skill you lack, if you ask me.

From what I know of the cost to do this kind of thing with even Pat's in with Elliot, I can almost bet you could afford to pick up a nifty little welder like mine and give it a whirl. Then you will have the pleasure of doing it yourself and a tool you can use out into the future.

If it were me I would also look for a box somewhere already stamped out that will cover that hole to make that a simpler job than fab'ing it up yourself (even guys like me who have been doing this sort of thing for 30+ years like a short-cut here and there). Just got to start looking around. Consider an ammo box, for instance.

Raising it 2.5" will be pretty simple as well after you have it all welded together. Then you can strategically slice it in two and weld in a patch piece. You can do this with overlap spot weld (like the floor you saw me do in the Ranchero) and then do a nice texture paint job to make it go away.

And finally - is that a seatbelt bolted to this cover?