deano I was thinking of fitting bonnet pins although haven't got any further as to specifics yet, I will check out your suggestions, I also liked the traditional chrome bonnet pins however don't think they are allowed on a registered vehicle anymore.
I still have plenty of body work to do (it's not called rough for nothing), have turned it around in the shed to do the rear end repairs.
I also need to sort an engineer who'll let me increase the track by more than 25mm from standard, has anyone managed to find any loopholes to get around this? I know the X packs in the UK has a substantial increase in track would love to hear anyone's thoughts on this.

Thanks JR if I go down that route that would be good. 

Wont know until we get the final estimate, I would be expecting $100 to $150 a pair for the brackets. The locks you buy from rare spares etc

New sections made and grafted in.
 

spud15
Great reading!

My thoughts exactly. Love seeing people make their own repair panels.

Hi Wiggy looks like you are having fun there.
 
Unfortunately the said CAD drawings have been become waterlogged due to the large rainfall lately and I failed to upload the CAD file to my scrap book.
 
On a serious note, will you have to remove the scuttle end to repair the hidden section underneath like mine?
 

Finally finished scraping off the huge amount of underseal, the person who put it on used it to cover a multitude of sins and poor repairs so it was really thick and everywhere.
Also had to make a new seat mounting plate as the original had previously been hacked out with the rusty floor.
I had the fuel tank cleaned while it was out which started me thinking about other things other than cutting out rust for a change.