I don't have the original spring assemblies anymore. Even so I would have to modify my battery location as well as modify the driver side, which I don't want to do. Besides, I really want to keep the front rod arrangement I have for holding the hood open. I've had problems in the past with old truck hoods (not Ford) that would bend when the metal got weak using the stock spring assemblies & just prefer a simple rod. I did insert thin bushings on a couple of the outer hinge pivots today & it made a little improvement. There's no metal-to-metal contact between the hood & cowl, it's just the combination of slop on all the outer hinge pivots that cause the hood to rattle on the pivots on rough roads. Tomorrow I'll try putting a strip of weatherstrip on the existing cowl seal & see if that doesn't further snug up the hood, per someone's earlier suggestion. I'm probably making a bigger deal out of this than necessary -- I'll lose some of the ambiance if I get rid of all the rattles Thanks again for the tips.