The Hugger goes ZL-1....

[Kelley W King]

So have you driven it yet?

[hgger69]

So have you driven it yet?

Thanks for asking Kelley, but no. 
I’ve  been busy with vacation on the French Riviera, skiing and other stuff so I haven’t even started it yet with the new ignition. Hopefully I get more time during May! 

[hgger69]

Finally photobucket.com has reached point of no return and now all my former pictures held as hostage are back! The new annual price is fare and immediately after paying all the pics in my threads worldwide are back!   

[BULLITT65]

very cool. I hope many other pics held hostage are freed. Since they are now showing, can you copy and save them differently so photo bucket doesn't have control over your pics?

[bcmiller]

Finally photobucket.com has reached point of no return and now all my former pictures held as hostage are back! The new annual price is fare and immediately after paying all the pics in my threads worldwide are back!   

What is the cost? About $25 per year?

[hgger69]

very cool. I hope many other pics held hostage are freed. Since they are now showing, can you copy and save them differently so photo bucket doesn't have control over your pics?

It is! 
You can always download them to your own computer,  it I haven’t tried yet,

Finally photobucket.com has reached point of no return and now all my former pictures held as hostage are back! The new annual price is fare and immediately after paying all the pics in my threads worldwide are back!   

What is the cost? About $25 per year?

It’s $20 annually.

[hgger69]

It´s been a while but here are the latest update for the ZL-1 and The Hugger! It´s been a real struggle just to get the motor up and running again...

The first goal was to get the car through the Swedish Vehicle Inspection. It´s a new rule this year and that's that a car from 1969 or older doesn't have to be checked upon any more if it passes this years test..

Our problem was that the ZL-1 wouldn't run after it had been put back in the Hugger. Despite the new HEI-FlameThrower from PerTronix the engine wouldn't run other on the acc pump. Finally my friend and experienced drag racer P-A sugested that we would check for air leaks and then we found a problem! When we ran the engine on the dyno I had a distance block between the carb and intake and I had to remove that when installing the engine in the Camaro. Instead I had bought a FelPro gasket with rivets round the holes but when the carb was torqued the rivets prevented the gasket to compress and seal the space and we got an air leak!   
A new standard gasket was mounted and the engine started directly!

With that problem solved and quick adjustment of ignition and idle I went to the Inspection and hoped for the best..


Maybe you can't read Swedish but the next inspection time is schedules to 31/12 2099! 
You can also notice a rather low CO-level and that's been adjusted after the visit.

With that inspection behind us its easier to concentrate to get the engine to run better. We realized that the PerTronix HEI doesn't work that well with this ZL-1 so P-A lended me his mechanical HEI from his 1969 Chevelle and then the ZL-1 started to roar! 


This is how the engine bay looks today and I couldnthelp myself with that decal, It will please someone and make others angry! 




The problem I have right now is that the engine stops when I put it in D or R gear and the engine is cold...
Maybe I have to build myself a correct carb adapted to this ZL-1 and cam or maybe even look at the converter? I will spend this summer testing and then evaluate the next step.

Maybe I get back here with some videos cause the ZL-1 is really moving the Hugger in a really scary way I can tell you...specially when reed a little, holy macaroni! 

[Kelley W King]

What rpm is your converter dragging it down to? If it is 600 to 700 see if the engine will run that low in neutral. My stock converter in my Chevelle took the LS6 cam down to 600 or so and it would barely run. My CX converterin my camaro comes down to 700 or so and the L78 will idle there.

[bcmiller]

You can try messing with the idle speed, but may need a different torque converter.

Had a really wild 406 small block one time that was a bear to deal with when it had a stock converter, so an aftermarket converter was installed.

What converter is in the car now?

[hgger69]

What rpm is your converter dragging it down to? If it is 600 to 700 see if the engine will run that low in neutral. My stock converter in my Chevelle took the LS6 cam down to 600 or so and it would barely run. My CX converterin my camaro comes down to 700 or so and the L78 will idle there.

I have idle at 1000 and it drags down to like 800. It work ok when the engine has normal running temperatur.

You can try messing with the idle speed, but may need a different torque converter.

Had a really wild 406 small block one time that was a bear to deal with when it had a stock converter, so an aftermarket converter was installed.

What converter is in the car now?

I've changed the main nozzles two steps larger and will try tomorrow again.

I really don't know the what converter that's in it right now, it came with the car but it´s not stock. I was told it was a low stall speed converter. I painted it silver cause it was rather odd looking but here it is:

[hgger69]

BTW does anybody have any experience of the distributor from Performance Distributors? It seems to work really well.. 

[Kelley W King]

I have never had one but my next one will be from them. I understand you can give them your cars specs and they will curve it for the performance
You want. And the price is reasonable.

[hgger69]

I have never had one but my next one will be from them. I understand you can give them your cars specs and they will curve it for the performance
You want. And the price is reasonable.

Thanks for your answer Kelley, that’s even better then I thought! 
You mean the engine specs like cam card, compression, volume etc?
Interesting cause that’s exactly what I’m considering to to with a new custom built carb based on the original Holley 850!

[janobyte]

Nothing to consider, right way to do it Any reputable carb builder is gonna ask for cam specs,gears,weight of car,etc... I will say I have heard nothing but good about the Holley HP line.  One of my friends was telling me they were making great numbers with one on the dyno..right out of the box. Slightly lower then the custom carb,which by the way is a great piece. AND the Holley is a couple hundred dollars less.

Another old friend, who is into big cube SBC's in Cobras, has been running the distributer you have pictured for years. Good unit, supports an 800 hp small block with around 7800 shift points with no issues. I was going to ramble on about setting your curve, when you want it "all in", but John Z's article does a much better job! none the less, this will be based on your cam specs. ALSO, Transmission Specialties out of Aston,PA builds bullet proof convertors. Accurate stall. Once again based on your car and engine specs.Get a SFI rated flex plate! If you currently just have a stock one.

Bty, I'm in the camp that loves your engine bay, great job.

[Kelley W King]

The adds I have seen for PD or DUI said they will take car weight,cam and ect. and curve the dizzy before shipment. I can do it but it would nice to open the box and the paper says total advance, total in at what RPM, ect while getting a good unit at a fair price. If I had a SUN machine I would do it but leaning over a hot motor playing with springs and weights kind of gets old.