[Pete pa]

Don't cut the cross brace, drill out the spot welds where the brace meet the hood on both sides, drill straight thru both the hood and the brace, this way you have the holes to align the brace when you put it back in. In the center of the hood where the brace meets the center seam of the hood is a L shape bracket, drill those out also but leave the L shape bracket still welded to the hood. Kube was talking about the rear edge where the sheet metal is rolled over and meets the hinge bracket, those have to be cut with a cut off wheel. Also while you have the brace out, after you straighten and replace the Tee nuts mount the brace on the hinges and do your bending for the brace to fit the cowl, then make the hood fit the brace and weld it back in. Hope this helps