ok here's a pic of what I did to fix the issue hopefully permanently... just srilled holes completely through the uprights, and use nylock nuts to secure the bolts. used 6-32 x 1" for the bottom and some spare small block exhaust screws with engine mount nuts for the wing brace up top, came out really well, now just need to see how well it holds up

if it works out I may just do the same thing for the front shock tower to add some strength since it just screws into the uprights on the diff case in the same manner. seems like these are higher stress areas which create an unecessary point of failure. easy fix though...