Suggestions putting hood back on my 64 Valiant?

I took mine off and never put them back on 'cause I went with a fiberglass hood, but it seems to me it might be a little easier to wrangle those torsion bars into place with the fenders off the car. Of course in order to do that you have to drop the front valance, inner fenders, etc, etc....

Regarding that gap, you have some adjustablilty at the hinge bolts themselves where it secures to the hood, and as I recall there is another little adjuster in there somewhere. That gap doesn't look too bad. You should be able to work it out of there. Tape off all of the edges around the hood though so you don't scratch your fenders or cowl or elsewhere.