Under dash help..

3 holes at column support. The upper 2 have studs from dash down through plastic bushings. The 3rd lowest one gets a bolt up and into a caged or captured nut above a hole. I'm not sure that is the hole in your picture though.
One thing I do know... you don't want to cross thread the bolt that goes up into the captured nut. I'll never take the air ratchet under the column again.
As for the firewall plate, I never repainted one so I always had scars in it where the bolts came from.
Notice the 3 in the column support have lengthwise adjustment. That is about centering the guts of the box coupling in the box. How to details are in factory service manuals. Much more critical than where that firewall plate lands.