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Post Info TOPIC: 396's in 1966 cars


Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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396's in 1966 cars


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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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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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

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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



A Poncho Legend!

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Here is 1 original 396-325 4 speed    and 1 of 2     427-425 out of Fredericton N.B.

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A Poncho Legend!

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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

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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles 

1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars



Poncho Master!

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I owned a 1966 GP four door hardtop that was parted out in 1985. It was a 396 turbo 400 12 bolt single track. Frame was rotten behind drivers door and the car had quite a sag to it. Bought it for $400 back then and got $1000  for the engine and tranny. The black interior was excellent but sadly it was crushed , no demand for them in 1985.

Al

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A Poncho Legend!

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you are forgiven

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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Hi guys, you're both lucky to have had those baby's.  The one I have is the only  one I had ever seen.  Just opening that hood and seeing that big rat laying there was worth a lot.  I remember having this big grin on my face.
In Northern Alberta the most you could ever hope for was a 327 car, which is not a bad thing ,let me hasten to add, but it seemed that the big block was just a rumour or they had already been taken out  to use in something "more desirable".

What I really want to find out is how liveable it will be.  I've had it balanced etc, and bored to 402 (which I had to do) and a slightly more aggressive low rpm cam put in.  Along with the 3:21 stock gear and the orginal remanufactured quadrajet (The Carb Docter in Stony Plain) and the 700 R4 I'm hoping for  a car I can drive every day or at least for longer trips.

Do you think I'm dreaming?

ken

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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



A Poncho Legend!

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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.

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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles 

1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars



Poncho Master!

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You will have an excellent combination. The 700r4 with the gears you have will get you really good gas mileage and with the low 1st gear in the 700r4 you will have good acceleration from take off. A very good all around combination in today world. 

Al

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A Poncho Legend!

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

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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Got to watch thoe typos. Its a 3:31 gear actually.  As for the 700R4 to the best of my recollection it has about a 2.7  to one first gear, about 1.7 to one second and direct third and about 30% overdrive in fourth.  I know in the 39 Buick I have with a 327 I was getting about 23 miles per real gallon which isn't too bad.


Definitely a worthwhile way to go if your engine likes to run at 2000 rpm or so.

Ken

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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



A Poncho Legend!

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mine likes to run 3000 with 3.73 and 3 speed auto

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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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I just noticed that when my 327 kicks down into overdrive it just kind of mumbles quietly and happily to itself, and then when you want to pass you just slip it down a gear and go like jack the bear.  I really don't miss the 350 at all.

ken




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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



Poncho Master!

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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



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A Poncho Legend!

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66 Grande guy wrote:

I just noticed that when my 327 kicks down into overdrive it just kind of mumbles quietly and happily to itself, and then when you want to pass you just slip it down a gear and go like jack the bear.  I really don't miss the 350 at all.

ken



        I defintely like the "Jack the bear " part biggrin     Actually I have it now idea        Looks  like  I better check out,  a OD trans    thanks guys..smile



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Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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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

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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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I probably missed it, but was your car a factory 396 PG? I always understood that the PG was available with the 396 in the SS Chevelle and the full size cars in 66 and 67, maybe 68 too. In fact,  Andy, 427Carl's friend in Moncton, owns a 66 Bel Air 2 dr post, former police car that is - if I'm not mistaken - a factory 396 PG car.

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62 Catalina 2 dr post project

69 Parisienne 2 dr ht 427

55 Bel Air 2 dr post 265PP/PG

68 Bel Air 2 dr post BB project

 



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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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.


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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



A Poncho Legend!

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Wow, thanks Ken. That is very cool. My first 66 documents I"ve seen and then it's a factory air car to boot!



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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles 

1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars



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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.



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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



Uber Guru

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sweeet! wink

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Poncho Master!

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66 Grande guy wrote:

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.



 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.

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1967 2dr Biscayne. L36, M40, G80, K05, F41. #'s.
1967 Impala convert. 283, glide. Parked in the garage since 74 and hasn't moved. Soon to be BB 4speed.

 



Canadian Poncho Superstar!

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Sounds encouraging.  I'll give it a try!

Ken

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ken from northern Alberta

38 Willys pickup electric

39 Buick (327 with 700 r4)

66 Beaumont 4 door hardtop

69 Chevy CST pickup

1976 GMC 23'  motorhome

1994 Impala SS (temporary, according to my wife)



A Poncho Legend!

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66 Grande guy wrote:

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 biggrin
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!



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



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Poncho Master!

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Way to go. I'm impressed that you took it outside. The significant others quite often don't appreciate "the guts and the glory".
thumbsup.gif

Rick

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1967 Parisienne 2+2
1967 Grande Parisienne

1967 Laurentian
1967 Strato Chief


Remember, "The Government" only has money confiscated from us.

 

 

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