Although moving at a snails pace....I'm still moving forward. Hopefully this thing doesn't rust out before completion!
Here is a shot of the grill support I had to make. I ended making about 1.25" wider than the factory one. Without the factory latch and support in the middle the original one was a little flimsy. This area in the middle is extremely tight now with everything I had to compact in there, not to mention I lost the area for the latch. Probably overkill but I made it out of 16 gauge. It is plenty stout now. Plus about 8" in on each side I ran a bar down to the frame for additional support. With no room for the latch I decided to use hood pins, although I didn't want anything seen outside. You will also notice the 5/8" holes in the support about 4" in on each side. The pins themselves will mount on the hood, go through the support and I will pin them through the grill opening. I'm starting to work on mounting the pins now.
With the air intake there was no way the factory hood support would work - not to mention they are a little ugly IMO. Fortunately I was also able to use the hood support that EMS makes. It clears the air intake by about 3/8". Got lucky! Very nice piece. I'm suprised it took this long for somebody to step up and make one. For the forward support bars I ended making a bracket for the hood and used tubing with LH & RH rod ends.
