Pre hood swivels I would connect all the poppers & studs and then get in the car and draw up the hood rails. That worked for me but I know some hoods are very difficult.
John
That's the way I did mine last time. Have not been able to get the hood sticks in place like that before. Maybe my hood is stretching a little after it's reproof 5 years ago...

Still thinking about how to modify hood swivels to fit a car with bench seat.
Cheers,