After three days of moaning and groaning and fussing my friend and I finally got the hood to shut right.

We finally decided that our problem involved the new hood hinge on the passenger side. We installed the old hing in place of the new one and after a few corrections the hood lays down nice and pretty.

Helped a lot to get the measurements for the fender braces and all.

But we also figured out the passenger side had been repaired at one time in the past is does not quite match the drivers side where the hood hinges go.

But it looks good now, and my friend is happy with it.

Thanks for the help.