The Hugger goes ZL-1....

[hgger69]

Your welcome! Amazing quality! Im building a similar build (with a '69 Mustang, powered by a modern Can-Am 494/Boss 429 engine) Im always intrigued on these aluminum powered monsters. Hopefully, one day I will build a 1969 Camaro, and I would build it just like yours. Keep up the excellent work!

Wow, that sounds like a beast! 
Stay tuned and hopefully I’ll keep the pace and get ready to this season! 

[hgger69]

Not much are happening here at the moment....

I´m waiting for the desire to work on the car to come back again and still missing some parts from the US.
Hopefully we will get the tranny down but it's not going to be easy when you have a small garage without a car lift.
At least the Hugger is placed on four jack stands, the tranny is empty on oil and the drive shaft is done so now its just the rest left to do.

The starter is back from the starter shop and it has been overhauled big time and hopefully it will work better this time. The bendix gear has been replaced and is now made from Brazilian (!) steel, apparently the best a man can get!? All bearings and wiring has replaced as well, among other things.




I also got the new aluminum oil pan for the TH350 tranny from the US and I really think this raw cast look will match the ZL-1!

[janobyte]

Heads up, may have to notch out the tranny cross brace for the pan to clear. I did. No big deal, not alot of material need removed. Picked up another one,in great shape via ebay,,,cheap.cut one is now garage art.  Might want to drill and tap your new pan for a drain plug.

[hgger69]

Heads up, may have to notch out the tranny cross brace for the pan to clear. I did. No big deal, not alot of material need removed. Picked up another one,in great shape via ebay,,,cheap.cut one is now garage art.  Might want to drill and tap your new pan for a drain plug.

Thanks for kind words! 
This is not a deep pan and should work fine and it already has a tapped hole for a drain plug!
...but some adjustments may be needed, we'll see! 

[hgger69]

It´s been a while but now we´ve started to work on the Hugger again!

It´s time to get the tranny down, change the converter and check the status of the TH 350. I really don't know it it´s possible to do this kind of work in a smal home garage without any lifts but we´ll at least try!

The tranny was emptied on oil, as good as it gets, weeks ago and now we started to disconnect everything and took the bolts out between the engine and tranny. It´s a very tight fit with a CBB in a Camaro so we hade to remove the distributor before we could reach the three top bolts. The distributor is to be changed anyway so. I'm very lucky to have a very suitable friend helping me with work and he's in a perfect shape for getting in the engine area!


My kustom-buddy Ludde has made his own wheel stands and as they where almost perfect in color match I just had to try them! Hugger Orange is never wrong! 

After some work I got the Hugger up in the air:






I do hope the height will be enough for this work but it will show, I guess! 


....to be continued!

[hgger69]

Well, it’s a touch down for the TH350! First time for me. 

Turned it upside down for inspection and maintenance:


Looked good under the pan:


It’s quite a difference between the new blue converter compared to the old one:


I just had to try the new aluminum oil pan, thinks it’s going to be great when finished.
 
Can anybody decode the 350 based on this numbers:






Next steps are changing the filter, mount the oil pan, change the converter shaft seal, fill the converter with oil and mount it.
Are here something else you should do when the tranny is out? It has been gone through just before the car was imported to Sweden by me 14 years ago and it doesn’t have large mileage on it.

[hgger69]

Well time for an update I guess....
Changed the filter and almost every seals on the outside including the ones by the speedometer gear, hopefully att least of the annoying dripping will end now! 





If you don't have the correct tools you have to make one yourself!
This one is for easier mounting of the seal for the front and rear outgoing shafts, work perfect!




The starter got a new and improved heat shield, the original ones are too short.


Here is a pic of the oil I used, paid like $76 for a box with 12 quarts.The converter got a bottle before mounting.




Filled the tranny with like three bottles and I will check the oil level later after running it. We dropped and mounted the complete TH350 home in my own garage just with a good jack and a rug!


Also got the drive saft in place and the beginning of the exhaust system so now its just the rest to mount and tune as the new custom built carb and HEI. 

[janobyte]

👍

[olddragracer]

I have just read your recent post on replacing seals to stop dripping fluid from your 350 transmission. The number one source of dripping fluid when a car with a 350 transmission is parked for a period of time is the front pump "O" ring. The next most common leak sources are the selector seal, speedo seal and "O" ring. The filler tube seal is also a common cause of leaks. The pan gasket is often blamed for the leak but is not usually the cause. I think you may be disappointed in your choice of torque convertors. A stall RPM of around 3000 in a first generation Camaro will make normal driving feel mushy on acceleration. That feeling is worst on initial pull away. 3000 stall works well at full throttle like in a drag race. The lowest stall that enables you to spin the wheels on pull away is the most efficient for the car, engine combination. A stall speed of around 2500 RPM usually works well in a first generation Camaro when the car is street driven.  Just my opinion 

[hgger69]

I have just read your recent post on replacing seals to stop dripping fluid from your 350 transmission. The number one source of dripping fluid when a car with a 350 transmission is parked for a period of time is the front pump "O" ring. The next most common leak sources are the selector seal, speedo seal and "O" ring. The filler tube seal is also a common cause of leaks. The pan gasket is often blamed for the leak but is not usually the cause. I think you may be disappointed in your choice of torque convertors. A stall RPM of around 3000 in a first generation Camaro will make normal driving feel mushy on acceleration. That feeling is worst on initial pull away. 3000 stall works well at full throttle like in a drag race. The lowest stall that enables you to spin the wheels on pull away is the most efficient for the car, engine combination. A stall speed of around 2500 RPM usually works well in a first generation Camaro when the car is street driven.  Just my opinion 

Well, I have to test drive and make my own opinion first but maybe you’re right...but the choice has already been made! 

[olddragracer]

I am only trying to help. On street driven cars the lowest RPM stall that will enable the driver to spin the rear wheels is the most desirable. Higher stall may spin the tires more,will reduce horsepower between the engine and the rear wheels and lower fuel efficiency under cruising conditions. On some cars the stall has to be modified to enable the car to idle in gear. A reminder as to what stall speed is. It is the maximum RPM that can be obtained from the engine when the transmission is in gear and the rear wheels are locked.  Reasons for changing the stall on a race car are different and have a lot to do with the type of racing.

[hgger69]

I am only trying to help. On street driven cars the lowest RPM stall that will enable the driver to spin the rear wheels is the most desirable. Higher stall may spin the tires more,will reduce horsepower between the engine and the rear wheels and lower fuel efficiency under cruising conditions. On some cars the stall has to be modified to enable the car to idle in gear. A reminder as to what stall speed is. It is the maximum RPM that can be obtained from the engine when the transmission is in gear and the rear wheels are locked.  Reasons for changing the stall on a race car are different and have a lot to do with the type of racing.

No problem, I always appreciate help but I had to make a change and this converter has been used by friends so it was highly recommended...but you never know what you have until its been tested so I just have to wait for the first test run! 

[olddragracer]

Nice car!   Wishing you a safe test drive and good luck with your car.

[hgger69]

Nice car!   Wishing you a safe test drive and good luck with your car.

Many thanks! 
I really appreciate your thoughts and I sure will need alla support I can get! 

[hgger69]

Well, its time for an update again.......

The new carb from SMI and the new HEI distributor from Performance Distributors are in place.
There are some differences between the new and old carb especially the size increased från 750 to 850, an interchangeable second step, electrical choke and a bunch of stuff that you really can't see:


I had to change the fuel line to the second step while the old one was too short!




I really got the feeling that the guys at SMI know what they are doing...the carb is really well put together and suposed to been built after the unique spec of our ZL-1, hopefully it will function! 

Everything in place, the first step of carb filled up with fuel, checked the plug wires, checked all the hose clamps, checked the firing order again and we are ready to start
I barely let go of the starter key before the ZL- 1 fired up immediately, nice!

Had some fuel leak with the new fuel line top connection, but nothing that a O-ring couldn't stop. After that were got that thing right we could adjust timing and adjust idle a bit.
Thd engine is sooo much more quicker in respons now, it´s a completely different engine, wow!!  The throttle respons is almost lika a motorcycle...I really think the engine is more to 500+ in hp now! 

We did not get enough time to mount the new exahust endings so it had to be a quick solution so I can drive it to the big car mest tomorrow!
I can tell you guys this...it´s loooooud! 




I also had some issues with the TH 350 but when the oil level was correct it started to work beter than I ever experienced before actually, despot the new 3000 rpm converter!! I just get down 3-400 rpm when you put it R or D and runs smoothly through all the gears!
We have to drive some more before we can tell you some more but for the moment it works perfectly!

The last pic is from yesterdays shakedown I took with my son to a local weekly car meet. I just got there to show who's in charge!

...and yes, I ´ll drive the AR 200S this season! It´s fun to change appearence and also get a little bit more traction!