Neutral safety switch, reopen a can of worms

[Redneck-Mafia]

This weekend I tackled the project to shorten the steering column to get the wheel out of my lap( I installed 99 Denali buckets with 3 point seatbelts and they are much larger than stock seats).

Ok, so the only problem I have is the NSS! The hole location moved to outside the firewall and the firewall mounting bracket goes right over the top of it. I looked at cutting a new hole and re-mounting the switch higher up the column inside the cab, but it looks like the tab the switch rides on is punched out of a piece of steel and stands up only inside the original hole.
Currently I have the NSS screwed to a piece of metal under the dash and connected to drive the truck but want a more permanent solution.

Can the switch be mounted elsewhere on the column, and how?

What years van tilt column should I look for to upgrade to tilt?

Thanks for all the great info guys. I'm sooo glad I found this site.