Turned our attention to the hood latch. The two side latches were installed but a secondary latch is advisable, one for safety and another probably for inspection. I did not check with the DMV on whether or not one is needed for a specially constructed vehicle but for our own piece of mind decided to install one. The grille is stock sheet metal but the hood is fiberglass. So mounting the latch was no problem but getting it to hold down the hood was entirely a different matter. The glassed in cross support is higher than the steel hood, therefor the latch was not long enough. Also just cutting a hole in the support would not be strong enough, and the fiberglass would eventually rip out, defeating the

whole purpose. Started out by marking on the support where the latch contacted it and cut a slot. Another slot was cut into the backside of the support to slide in a piece of 3/16 thick metal, also with a matching slot for the latch to reinforce the fiberglass acting as a backup plate. A tab was tack welded to this piece for holding purposes. Holes were drilled to pop rivet the piece to the inside, then a stainless steel sheet metal piece was fabricated to finish off the outside which then was drilled for four button head cap screws. Those holes were marked on the fiberglass then drilled through the fiberglass and the backing plate and tapped for the screws. The latch itself had to be lengthened by cutting

 and welding in a piece of same thickness. The top of the latch had to be trimmed for clearance and the hook modified through trial and error. It took alot of trial and error. When everything was working properly the tacked on tab was broke off and the back slot will then be fiberglassed shut.