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I posted almost two years ago about the Eddie Motorsports billet hood hinges with needle bearing and pneumatic cylinders. Below is a link to the older thread and this continuance is my experience with these great hinges. They are smooth and very easy to maneuver: https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...r-hood-166811/ The trouble is that when we installed then today, they are waaaaaay from the point of well fitting adjustment. Below are some photos: As best I recall, when I recently installed them, I adjusted the hinges as far down as possible! When we put the hood on today it shocked me about how far it sits up all over. We looked at it a while and messed with it a little bit but I said that I was hot and frustrated and needed to calm/cool down before I fooled around with it. I can't see where there could be enough play in them to adjust them into a realistic position?? Any experience and suggestions for these? I really want them to work. Things have pretty close to "on track" with the 442 but this has derailed my plans. That passenger side with the inner fender installed and the AC equipment will be a nightmare to work on!
I have a set on my 71, the only issue I had was we had to make a shim to fill in the gap at the back of the hinge where it didn’t match up with my aftermarket Glastek hood.
The only change I made was to use a 1/4 longer rear bolt because the original that came with it seemed to just barely catch the threads of the hood. The parts that the hood bolts to look thinner than the ones on mine. Are your hinges Eddie Motorsports brand?? I'm pretty sure that I set the hinges as low as they would go on the mounting slots? If you go to the link in the above post and go there, you can see the thickness of the top parts? I'm really kind of bummed out about this.
Last edited by OLE442; Jul 13, 2024 at 03:13 PM.
Reason: added text
The only change I made was to use a 1/4 longer rear bolt because the original that came with it seemed to just barely catch the threads of the hood. The parts that the hood bolts to look thinner than the ones on mine. Are your hinges Eddie Motorsports brand?? I'm pretty sure that I set the hinges as low as they would go on the mounting slots? If you go to the link in the above post and go there, you can see the thickness of the top parts? I'm really kind of bummed out about this.
First question: Do you have an original hood with a steel underside, or a full fiberglass aftermarket hood? If it is a full fiberglass hood, your cylinders may have too much pressure. I left a few long responses in the thread you posted above. To add to that, here are a few suggestions:
1. Try raising the hinges in the rear. This actually allows them to go down more at the cowl.
2. Take the cylinders out and lower the hood with no pressure on the hinges to see if they will go down far enough to close. FYI, this is a two person job as the hood it very heavy with no cylinders holding it up.
Yes, it is the original W25 hood that the car left Arlington with!!! I went out a little while ago and looked around under the hood. When I installed the hinges maybe a month ago, I put them down without the struts and they closed flat on the top of the firewall! I peeked around and, now with the struts on and the hood on, it will not close flat for some reason?? Tomorrow I’m going to look for something that is physically blocking the hood (which I doubt)! I’m also going to unhook the struts to see if they might be limiting( those damn little clips and the contortions you have to go through sucks)! And if nothing changes I’ll loosen the bolts holding the hinges on and see if that does anything! I really like the Eddie Motorsports billet hinges and hope I can keep them! They move the hood like they’re made of butter!
I have a set on my 71, the only issue I had was we had to make a shim to fill in the gap at the back of the hinge where it didn’t match up with my aftermarket Glastek hood.
In looking at my hinges, the part that the hood bolts to is thinner on the inside than the outside. I was not thinking correctly when looking at your photos. My bad!
First question: Do you have an original hood with a steel underside, or a full fiberglass aftermarket hood? If it is a full fiberglass hood, your cylinders may have too much pressure. I left a few long responses in the thread you posted above. To add to that, here are a few suggestions:
1. Try raising the hinges in the rear. This actually allows them to go down more at the cowl.
2. Take the cylinders out and lower the hood with no pressure on the hinges to see if they will go down far enough to close. FYI, this is a two person job as the hood it very heavy with no cylinders holding it up.
Mine is a GM hood and the cylinders are like 360 # whereas I think yours are 460 IIRC! I will re-read your previous post in the other thread and also use your suggestions at the bottom of your comment. I want to make this work. To raise the hood with the Eddie Motorsport hinges and smooth as silk! I don't want to go back to the stock hinges if it can be avoided!
OLE442
Last edited by OLE442; Jul 14, 2024 at 06:17 AM.
Reason: added text
To me, the hood doesn't have a full range of motion. Not sure what that says but we all know it doesn't go down far enough (from the photos) but it seems to me that the original hinges would let the hood raise up another 6 to maybe 8 inches. The hood has maybe 3/4 to 2/3 of the normal range of motion. And, that could be any number of things. I'll be spending a lot of time in the garage to day seeing what I can see and loosening things up and moving the hood around!
Last edited by OLE442; Jul 14, 2024 at 06:23 AM.
Reason: added text
You said in a post in the thread above that I put the link in for that you bought 300 lb struts. Did you buy them from Eddie Motorsports or another seller?? Since I'm going to take the clips and struts off to adjust the hood, I think I'll have EMS send me a few of each clip just in case I lose any. I dropped them a few times when messing with the hinges and some spares would be nice since eventually, I'll lose at least one of them. At almost 72 with years of manual labor, my hand dexterity isn't what it used to be.
Sometimes another set of eyes can help and I'm only offering my observation comparing what I see in the photos from the different cars.
In your other thread your fender is attached directly with no spacer and where I point out the gap/space your car is level with the edge of the fender fold.
The flat surface of the top of the hinge doesn't match the horizontal surface of the fender. The back is too high up.
Do I really want to start stacking shims under my fender bolts when the fender alignment looks like this? Just curious since I'm no super mechanic/body man and think the alignment looks pretty good?
As far as the height of the hinges compared to the top of the fender.......Yes, I thought I had the hinges as low as the would go but I was mistaken. I will lower it to see what that does. I have a feeling this is going to be a PITA!
Thanks for your observations and thoughts,
OLE442
Last edited by OLE442; Jul 15, 2024 at 02:30 AM.
Reason: added text
You said in a post in the thread above that I put the link in for that you bought 300 lb struts. Did you buy them from Eddie Motorsports or another seller?? Since I'm going to take the clips and struts off to adjust the hood, I think I'll have EMS send me a few of each clip just in case I lose any. I dropped them a few times when messing with the hinges and some spares would be nice since eventually, I'll lose at least one of them. At almost 72 with years of manual labor, my hand dexterity isn't what it used to be.
I bought the struts from Eddie motorsports website.
I think they were $90 each when I bought mine. Now start at $135 each. Not sure if you can buy just the clips.
I just talked with them and you can buy the strut clips for $5.00 a pop. I'm gonna order 6 of them. The odds of me losing some is pretty good. They are on back order but expect them to come in in a couple weeks.
Well, first time since last Saturday I've really messed with the W25 hood! got it lined up a better from side to side and the gaps are a bit better BUT, to loosen the hinges and lower them at the back I believe I'll have to take the inner fender wells back off and I'm not looking forward to that. There's a mounting bolt in the middle of the hinge that you can only get to with it half closed and I don't think big old Pappa will fit! That will be tomorrow!
And Loaded68W34......In one of your posts in the previous thread, you mentioned this below and that might save me from taking the inner fender wells out! One thing that is nice is that if you ever need to remove the hood, you can simply remove the allen screws that hold the arms to the upper hood bracket allowing you to leave the bracket on the hood and it will go back on exactly how you took it off with no adjustment issues.
I may try this and put a comforter on the roof so we can set the W25 hood on the roof and out of the way!
Well, I've tried and tried and I give up on the Eddie Motorsport billet hinges. They move up and down smooth as butter and will hold in any position BUT, I can't seem to get all four corners aligned at the same time. I was close the other day but the back passenger side just wouldn't co-operate! I really wanted them to work out! It's probably my almost 72-year brain and my poor dexterity but I tried. I want to drive this car. Sooner or later they'll end up in the classifieds. Not going to sell them until I see that I can get the stock one's to work.....LOL!
when my 65 hood sat high at the back with stock hood hinges it was recommended to put shims between the hinge and hood to help the hinge go lower and pull the hood down, it worked
I have the stock hinges installed, and the hood fits well enough to drive it but will need more attention to make me happy. It still sits high when I close it and I have to push the rear down on both sides. The passenger side hood pin is harder to latch than the left. It took me forever to get the EM hinges adjusted because the bolts are easier to adjust on the stock hinges due to my car having AC on the passenger side and the driver's side being pretty tight. The stock hinges in no way move like the "on butter" Eddie Motorsports billet hinges (one handed up or down and held wherever I stopped it). The billet hinges are superb but I guess at almost 72 years old my patience and skills aren't up the EM hinges. I have the billet hinges in the classifieds for sale so they can be used by a better mechanic than I! I'll be losing my buns on them!!
So sad!!
Last edited by OLE442; Aug 11, 2024 at 06:05 PM.
Reason: added text
