'73-'80 Fiberglass hood, trying to make it work

[USSkoval]

For you guys and gals with a fiberglass hood on your '73-'80, what are you doing for hood springs? Can they just be heated with a torch to weaken them?

Also, I have the inside hood release, and the hood (I think it's a Harwood) does not have the provision for the safety release hook. The previous owner simply left it off. I was thinking of cutting the correct shaped hole and making some sort of striker plate for the safety hook to ride against. This would keep the release hook from chewing up the fiberglass. Has anyone else tried this?