ok I welded a piece of angle iron across the inside of the firewall and ran two pieces of angle iron to the dash where I have two 1" "tabs" of angle iron to bolt the two pieces to. Just that seems to had added quite a bit of strength. I think I still want to add either two pieces angled up from the dash to the firewall or just one in the middle if it clears the speedometer. the angle iron across the firewall doubles as a place to attach the wiring running from the passenger side and maybe a place to mount the computer behind the glove box.

Thanks!