Some reworking of the nose rack

Well, it occurred to me that the proper way to hold down the rear of the nose rack is to break the rack in two. Figuratively, of course. The idea is to make the rear brackets into a separate piece with a length of steel connecting them together across the engine compartment. This will make the rack easily drop into place and then bolt up to the bracket piece.
Simple enough?
So I cut off the rear brackets leaving enough on the rack to allow it to bolt up to the new piece.
I then ground the brackets I removed into shape (had to replace one since it was a little short and a bit ugly). I then measured out, cut and welded in a length of flat 1 1/4" steel.
The rack slides in real nice now - no banging and cursing the headlight assemblies, and no fear of damaging the headlight wiring.
I drilled three holes to mount the rack to the bracket piece - one on each side and one right down the middle.
I then welded on the tabs to the rack that will connect the battery hold down straps (these are the steel strips that run across the top of the batteries so that they don't pop out on a big bump (or when the car flips over)).
There wasn't room for the tabs to go horizontal in the front (the rack wouldn't fit) so the front ones are vertical and the rear ones are horizontal. I welded the rear ones on a little high so that the rack could used them to rest on top of the "bracket bar"
Much better