Somthing doesn't sound right, there is a steel bar that is caged in your hood. It has two holes drilled and tapped into it.
If you snapped it, you never would have gotten your bolt out. My '69 H P hood has a compromised cage on the Rt side, the slug slid out and ended up stuck in the front of the hood during hood removal. I had to bang on it to dislodge it and get it to slide to the back of the hood, then fish it into place , get a bolt into it to hold it, then remount the hood. The slug then sripped a hole, drilled and tapped it up to 3/8th. I bought a fiberglass hinge type hood for a replacement. It's 50 years old and rusted in there, plus the hood had been in an accident and was popped a little in the center, so I went that way instead of buying a steel repop. I guess that what I am saying, there is no nut in there.
