I finally found my source for 1966 production numbers (which was R. Perry Zavitiz's book Canadian cars 1946-1984) and it actually lists 1966 Pontiac Production at 85010 and Chev at 140512 for a total of 225,523. I guess my memory isn't so good. This also seems to jive with a table I have seen elswhere in this forum. So 3200 divided by 225523 equals a 1.5 percent installation rate for L35 396's in 66.

I still think my guess for the 66 GP numbers might be in theballpark though. I'd love to hear thoughts.

Anyone have any info on 427 installations in 66?

ken

I have owned two 66 GP 396 cars, 1 factory 4 speed and one TH400.

-- Edited by Carl Stevenson at 00:34, 2008-12-01

you are forgiven

That should be a nice combo. The Grande Parisiennes are beautiful highway cars. I always had people compliment me on my car when we went to Winnipeg in it.

How is the 4 speed auto geared?   I like the 350 I have, but with 3.73 I am always looking for another gear

mine likes to run 3000 with 3.73 and 3 speed auto

We put a 700r4 in my friends 56 Nomad a couple of years ago. It has an original 265 power pak with the original 3:55 gears. We also changed the  transmission oil and rear end oil to synthetic. With 3 adults in the car with our luggage we went to the 50 anniversary of the 56 Chev held at the  GM tech. centre in Detroit. 99 percent of the driving was highway. The miles we travelled were checked with a GPS against the odometer to verify the odometer readings were correct. The car averaged 27 mpg travelling at speeds on average of 10 mph over the speed limit. The conversions were all done with a calculator when converting litres to gallons and the Americian gallon to the Imperial gallon. The difference between the original cast iron powerglide and the 700r4 is incredible not only with mileage but with acceleration and no more irritating powerglide hiccup oil burbs after shutting the car down.

Al

To get mine built here in Edmonton to handle the 396 (strengthened up to 400 horse) was about $ 1900. It'll looks to be a bolt in except that I have to get it to adapt to the Powerglide console. I was thinking of just not having it shift into the bottom two gear positions.  I really don't want to mess with he Powerglide shifter and I want to keep it looking totally stock.  Not sure how that will work in practice, but I can't really remember the time when I needed to actually drive in 1 or 2 shift position .

It looks like I have to move the tranmission crossmember back a bit.   I'm planning to bend a spare one back about two inches.  (I'm keeping all the powerglide stuff and the original crossmember  and driveshaft in case i ever really want to restore it.  It must have  been a farily beefy Power glide to be put behind a 396 and live for 10000 miles as it did stiill work whe I ripped it out.

I had to get a new driveshaft built that was shorter.  I have yet to put it all in so it' still kind of theoretical.

I know I'll also have to use a special mount for the shift cable at the manifold and hook it to the quadrajet but I got what I need for that (I hope) from Classic Industries.  I hope it looks factory and will act that way.

ken

Yeah it had the PG from factory.  Apparently the 400 turbo was another option (and the 4 speed. I'm not sure if you could get a big block three speed)  The othe thing that was choseable on the L35 396 was that you could have gotten it with either the Quadrajet or a Holley.  Mine had the Quadrajet (still does) which I think might be better on the highway.

I don't think you could have gotten the PG behind either 427.

Here is a scan of the GM documentation, if you're interested.

Hey guys,it's running!  I spent most of my Christmas Holiday when I could sneak away cloistered in my garage trying to figure out how all the pieces fit back together.  Finally on Jan 3rd at about 1030 pm she chortled to life.  I actually drove it with a temporary radiator and wiring rig up and down my road today.  Felt great although at 30 below and pushing about 4 inches of snow it was hard to tell how much jam it has.

I had to tell someone who would care as my wife just looked at me over her glasses, quite unimpressed, and went back to her book.

Still, it is pretty motivating literally and figuratively to actually be able to drive this beast in and out of my garage.  Now all I have left to do is the wiring, the interior and the body.  Hardly nothin!

Here's a couple of snaps.

66 Grande guy wrote:

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Howdy guys I was told by George Zapora of GM some years ago that total 1966  (L35) 396 installations for Canadian Chev and Pontiac was  3200.
He said they had no records that could break it down more than that.
Having no better info, my guess is that since total 1966 Canadian Chev and Pontiac production was about 120,000 (from what I can recall)and doing the math, it would have meant an installation rate of about  3%.  Since most of the installations would have been in the higher priced series I would bump it up to maybe double that % in the Grande Parisiennes.  That would mean that there were about 300 L35 installations in that model.

Does that sound reasonable or does anybody out there have better numbers?
I'd love to hear.

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 George should be able to break the L35 option down further for you, I have seen docs for a 67 L35 M20 2dr caprice, and it stated only 11 were made with this combo. I have older docs for my biscayne that never showed a break down of how many L36s per the 15411 model #, so I resent the vin # to him and this time he was able to give me a # of how many L36's per the 15411 model #. I would resend him your info and talk to him and tell him that you want a breakdown of the L35 option per your model #. It sucks but you will have to pay again most likely.

66 Grande guy wrote:

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Hey guys,it's running!  Finally on Jan 3rd at about 1030 pm she chortled to life.  I actually drove it up and down my road today.  Felt great  at 30 below and pushing about 4 inches of snow??? it was hard to tell how much jam it has.

I had to tell someone who would care 
Still, it is pretty motivating literally and figuratively to actually be able to drive this beast in and out of my garage.  Now all I have left to do is the wiring, the interior and the body.  Hardly nothin!

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       CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!   Be carefull in the snow!!!   good work..Give your wife a hug, from us all !!!