I have confirmed that I indeed have a location for a third bolt from the outside, just no bolt has been installed there. When I purchased the truck it was partially assembled and I suspect the outside bolts were not there and I never questioned it. The lack of a bolt installed is probably not related to my hood alignment but I will need to install them at some point.
Jon, at this point I do not have the anti-rattle strip installed as I was planning to hold that until after paint. My hood seems to lay pretty flat/tight to the top of the cowl which may result in too much contact when the strip is installed later.
I have noticed that regardless of how tight I get the gap at the back of the hood to the cowl that after opening and closing the hood a few times the gap increases. Again, not sure that it relates to my fender fit issue but trying to be as descriptive as possible about my efforts.
