[Uwon]

I am new to this forum and am amazed at the knowledge that you all share. So here is my project and issue I need some help with. *I am building a 72-73 RS "of sorts" out of a '78 SC tub. Front bumper *will be fiberglass from GT Racing. *I am being told time and time again that I need to replace the front vertical nose plate in order to accommodate the long OEM steel *hood which I already have. *I would rather not replace it because I want as much space as possible for a big oil cooler and the earlier nose plate appears to extend further forward into the bumper cavity by about 4".

Using an old scrap long hood and working from underneath through the gas tank cavity, I note that the long hood does match the contour of the side and rear trunk top lips except for the nose section where there is a space that can easily be filled with a rubber *moulding. It *looks like I can also use an early latch by making an L bracket mounted on the outside of the nose. As an alternative it looks like I can also use a later latch on the inside by attaching a bracket to the hood but this will require the rubber hood draw latches as the standard safety latch would be too far away to reach with your fingers.
So, (1) has anybody successfully used the early hood with a later nose section? And,
(2) if the above deodorant ended work, which latch system is better ( I suspect *the early latch)?
Cheers and thanks in advance for your comments.
Uwon