Thanks for the replies guys... perhaps I wasn't clear though in my original post.

I was able to remove the hood already, as I was able to unlatch it and pull the hood up just enough to get to the bolts which hold the hood to the hinges.

Now it is only the old bent-up hinges that remain and that I need to remove. They are so bent backwards that they do not clear the cowl area and so I cannot raise them to the full vertical position.

If these hinges were not bent at all, totally normal, what would be the method for taking them off safely with regards to the tension on the springs? It seems like those springs are too beefy for me to just pull on them and unhook them off their hooks on the front of the springs. Don't these springs have to be released somehow so that I can undo the bolts which hold the springs in?

Is the normal method to bring the hinges full vertical (by releasing those little tab things at the elbows) so that enough tension is reduced enough to unhook them? If that's the case, I'm stuck because I can't raise the hinges to full vertical.

Hopefully you understand my situation now?

Thanks!