The Hugger goes ZL-1....

[JKZ27]

Hakan, I think I'm wrong. There may not be a hose with a molded curve for 69 BB. I was thinking different year and I should've checked before mentioning, sorry. 

[hgger69]

Hakan, I think I'm wrong. There may not be a hose with a molded curve for 69 BB. I was thinking different year and I should've checked before mentioning, sorry. 

No worries, John!

[hgger69]

Well, we´re struggling on with the missing parts for completing the build..... 

We realized that the ZL-1 Camaros used the 4-rows radiator with the curved-neck so we did a rebuild of the 3-row big block radiator that came with the car. We think it will be ok with just a 3-row cause the ZL-1 engine maybe needs less cooing and I don't have an AC!? My friend att the local radiator shop once again stepped in a made a nice work on the radiator:


We think we got the angles ok:


With some fresh paint on it and test munting of the new fan shroud it looks like this:




I had to order new fan shroud clips from USA to complete the rebuild since one were broke and the other one missing:




I´ve also finished the work on adapting the down pipes to the exhaust system already mounted on the car.
I started to cut the pipes to get a rough shape of them. Then I made some cuts in different places on the down pipe to rebound the pipes where I needed.
Some bits of the pipes that I don't needed:


Test mounting on car:




It the passenger side pipes that needed most work. Then I took the pipe to my friend who did som welding on it.


Complete with paint it loks factory, huh? ..and yes, we had to weld another lambda probe mount while the old one was in the way of the steering gear arm!


Before mounting on the car I got hold of very nice pieces of joints and clamps from our local speed shop.

[Kelley W King]

You guys are very creative. Looks good.

[hgger69]

You guys are very creative. Looks good.

Many thanks, Kelley!

[69Z28-RS]

Those exhaust clamps appear to be nice heavy duty units.. 

[hgger69]

Those exhaust clamps appear to be nice heavy duty units.. 

Gary, they truly are! 

[hgger69]

During wintertime it´s a lot of other things do to with the family so I have to sneak out in the garage for my quality time...

Due to the failure of my old distributor I had to order new parts from US & A and they finally arrived the other day. My choice was a HEI from PerTronix and their FlameThower model D71000 with the latest HEI III module and adjustable rev limiter. Got a set of matching cables from Taylor mad to go over the valve covers:




Also got the ugly green gaslinkage return spring:


While my combo of a ZL-1 and a TH350 not are the most common thing to do my old bracket for the kick down cable didn't fit.... I couldn't find anyone to buy so I decided to do my own! With some old school paper work I got myself a good looking prototype.


Ludde TMW, The Magic Welder, my pal made one ZL-1 inspired from aluminum.


Did a test fit together with the ugly green thing and it turned out ok, I guess!


..after some adjustment and a sand blast it turned out like this:


Before mounting the HEI I changed the internal springs to most correct ones for my application and set the rev limiter to 7500 rpm!


Then I realized that I hadn't test mounted this very masculine distributor in the Camaro, oops...will it fit between the air filter and firewall...?




It did! ...and now I realize that maybe the engineers at Chevrolet already planned for a HEI when they made this cowl air cleaner or is just the OEM:s that are done this way?

With the knowledge the the HEI would fit I adjusted the oil pump gears and found a still position for the HEI, mounted the cables and voilá.


Sure, it's a lot of lack of space but hopefully it will work.




The radiator has gotten som fresh paint and been mounted in place together with the new fan shroud:


Talking about the shroud you can se how bad it fitted at the top as a "bolt-on"...but after some adjustment I think it will work great!


Also mounted the correct upper hose together with the correct, and quite useless, clamps.



That´s all for the moment, folks!

[Kelley W King]

I like your day two Edelbrock but for what you are doing I would use the L72 Al intake. They are not that expensive and they do sell a repop, Your setup just looks so factory installed.

[hgger69]

I like your day two Edelbrock but for what you are doing I would use the L72 Al intake. They are not that expensive and they do sell a repop, Your setup just looks so factory installed.

Many thanks for your kind words, Kelley! 
I’ll stick with my day two intake cause I like it but I’ll consider your advice for the future...
My goal with the car is that should look almost factory but with modern touches were its not obvious...

[BULLITT65]

I agree on both points. Factory intake when possible, but very nice installation so far.

[hgger69]

I agree on both points. Factory intake when possible, but very nice installation so far.

Thanks, I really appreciate your comments!:)

[hgger69]

Yuup, been a while but I'm back with a small update! 

One of the ignition cable retainer broke during the dyno-test so I ordered a new complete kit from HBC. It came in an envelope so it just took a week to get here from USA, impressive! It wasn't until I read the AIM i realized they were a total of 6 retainers...


Mounted:




Lower radiator hose with clamps:


Finally mounted the heater box hoses. Many thanks for the guiding from this forum!




Also the PCV-hose got the right clamp:


...and today the battery and new cables were mounted:


I´ll be back asap when something new happens to the Hugger! Thanks for stopping by!

[BULLITT65]

keep up the progress! When will it hit the road?

(BTW I think only the early cars had the GM logo on the heater hose, most other cars had the ribbed hoses. *Also -They make a better repo of that GM hose)

[hgger69]

keep up the progress! When will it hit the road?

(BTW I think only the early cars had the GM logo on the heater hose, most other cars had the ribbed hoses. *Also -They make a better repo of that GM hose)

Thanks!
It might be the fact but these were the ones I found when I was searching around.... they will do the job I guess, and they look great!