Well folks, I'm going to buck the trend regarding the method for fitting the hood (on a 2009 4/4 sport at least).
I don't have hood swivels and I was concerned about putting too much force on the windscreen when stretching the hood over the lift-the-dot pins, so I tried reversing the sequence of fit between the front and rear and I have found it a much easier process to fit and remove the hood.
So the sequence I use is as follows:
1/ Fix the hood to the top edge of the screen (making sure the seal strip is positioned behind the window frame).
2/ Lift the frame up into position and lay the hood over it.
3/ With the doors open, reach into the car and push the rear lift-the-dot fasteners on to the pins.
4/ Make sure the hood frame is as far up/forward as possible once more before stretching the side of the hood over the three turn buckle fasteners (just behind the side screens) making sure the seal strip is sitting on top of the top edge of the body.
5/ Snap on all the remaining press studs and close the doors.
Hood removal is done in reverse.
The logic behind the reversal is that the lift-the-dot fasteners fix and release in one particular direction and basically all I am doing by using this sequence is finding a sequence that works both with these fasteners and also stretching the hood material as little as possible forward to rear so as not to put undue forces on the windscreen.
Not sure if the hood fixings are the same on other/older models but it works very well on my 2009 4/4 Sport.
