Thanks guys the encouragement means alot.
Here is a brief spilling of my thoughts on how the next few steps will go...
The engine will be mounted on a front and mid plate. Then the firewall will be sandwiched in between the trans and the bellhousing, essentially a third plate. The middle of the firewall will be a removable piece, properly angled to allow for the engine to be angled down a couple degrees. The removable firewall section will also incorporate a shaped piece of 1/4" plate that will cover the bellhousing as a scatter shield. So if we need to we can pull the trans from the inside and or underneath, pull the rear plate and access the bellhousing and clutch without disturbing the engine. The firewall itself will be braced by tubing in several spots for rigidity.
If you look at the pics, I will be building the dash bar as one straight piece between the two plates that I welded in up near the top of the firewall. From that straight bar I will extend legs down to the bar at the base of the firewall and up along the A pillars to connect to the halo bar or all the way to the main hoops if that ends up working/packaging better.
All of the work that I am currently doing is being done in such a way so as to allow the body and frame to separate later so that I can finish welding the hard to reach parts.
The step pan that we made from 1/4" plate will eventually be cut into at least 3 pieces once we have the floor structure laid out. Probably one piece under the driver, one under the trans and driveshaft and one under the passenger floor.
Pretty soon we will need some beefy 4 link brackets, rod ends etc... so we can start laying out the rear suspension and frame section.