Eddie Motorsports Billet Hood Hinges

MAXIMUM DRIVE STAFF October 03, 2022 All Feature Vehicles

Eddie Motorsports Billet Hood Hinges

If a hot rod is made up of a thousand beautiful pieces, then the hood hinge is the ugly stepsister. A stock hood hinge is fine with a resto, but the stamped steel monstrosities woefully detract from a nicely turned out engine bay.

Include the fact that a stock hinge is going on 50 years old, and they’re simply worn out. When your rumpty 502 is idling, you don’t want your hood banging back and forth and wrecking your paint job, do you? A third strike against them is really for the racers: The stock units weigh a ton. Taking even a few pounds off, especially a highly positioned source such as hood hinges, will lower the center of gravity and theoretically improve handling characteristics. Three strikes and you’re out.

Enter Eddie Motorsports (EMS) with its billet hood hinges. Made from CNC-machined 6061-T6 billet aluminum, these EMS hinges feature sealed bearings and a stainless steel shock. Stainless steel mounting hardware is included and available in a variety of finishes, including polished, machined and what EMS calls Fusioncoat, which is Eddie’s powder coating process.

With the Eddie Motorsports billet hood hinges, you get the solution to all of the aforementioned problems. They also look pretty cool. The shock is stainless steel for long-lasting good looks, and the bearings are sealed for longevity, too. These heavy-duty bearings ensure that movement and action only occur when the hood is opened and closed, with no side-to-side action while driving.

They look good and work well, and they’re also very light. The EMS billet models weigh a lot less than the stockers do, and that means better handling given that this weight is as high as it is.

Made from CNC-machined 6061-T6 billet aluminum, these trick-looking hood hinges feature sealed bearings. A stainless steel shock actually raises the hood while stainless steel mounting hardware is included with every kit for quick and easy installation.

Utilitarian is the only way to accurately describe the stock hinge. It’s actually a testimony to the original design that the thing still works as well as it does after nearly 50 years. But everything needs to be replaced eventually.

Less weight up high means a lower center of gravity, which means less push through the corners. When you’re talking about tenths of seconds making the difference between winning at an autocross event or not every pound counts.

For all of their upsides, installing them is simple, too. For this ’64 Nova, it wasn’t even necessary to remove the hood entirely. The crew at Pomona Valley Customs simply did one side at a time. To allow the hinge to move freely, Jimmy Sleeper removed the shock from the hinge and bolted it into place while the hood was held steady. The entire installation only took about 10 minutes (per side) to do. Of course, once the other side is done, it’s time to align the hood, but thanks to the EMS design, there is plenty of room to move the hinges where they attach to the car and hood.

EMS produces many cool items for your hot rod, like steering wheels, air cleaners, valve covers and serpentine belt kits, air vents, hood pins and neat billet aluminum washer kits.

We want to thank the crew at Pomona Valley Customs (PVC) in Montclair, California. They made quick work of the installation and alignment process.

For more information on how to install and align these hinges, go to Appliedartsprods.com to watch the complete video. In it, the product is discussed and installed at PVC, followed by an alignment session at EMS, where the staff also tells us all about their hinges and operation.