55.2-59 Hood latch fitting issue

[unclebrad]

I took the hood latch off the truck (‘55 series2) and can’t seem to get it to go back on.

When I line the holes up and start tightening the bolts, drawing the latch up, the "clock spring" hits the latch frame, or "shroud" preventing the latch from tightening up. The spring sits too high.

If I shift the latch so that the spring will clear the hole in the shroud, the bolt holes don’t line up.

I’m guessing that the previous owner just tightened everything up and “squashed the spring up under the shroud, but that can’t be right, can it?

Thoughts?