I like the car a lot. 

My car was a complete write off above the  floor boards.

it was in a shop fire. 

23 years later, I finally got paint on it last winter. 

Is the 2+2 396 how many made?

it would be good to find a straight six or 307 donor car...

good luck !

ps: i really like that fender Emblem ( it should be reproduce too)

Do it Eric !!  Just DO IT !!

hehe.  I know you have the talent !

 

The cowl tag has "L66". That is the 2 barrel 396, correct?

I looked at a gold 396 2+2 in SK years back, but have never heard of this one! I always thought of the 396 as a great station wagon motor, and an odd choice in the 2+2. Here's an article (with copyright attribution at the end) about the L66 you might find interesting:

Why? "In a word, torque. The 350 small block was fairly new from 1967. It was being retooled for 1969 as a new bigger main bearing block so availability was going to be a bit limited at first. It was replacing the older 327 engine as well. As good as the 350 was, the torque picture falls a bit short when compared to the plainest 427 made.A hole between those two engines existed and it was easily filled by using a two barrel carb and tuning it for low end power. This meant a Rochester 2GC paired to a cast iron intake and exhaust manifold delivered the magic 400 ft lbs of torque desired. That allowed automatic transmission, air conditioning and trailer towing. This engine was created to stand in until the intended engineered version debuted in 1970. A proper small block Chevrolet 400 with siamesed bores, the whole kit and caboodle.

The L66 option had definite limitations. This wasn't the big block for Saturday Night grudge racing. The air cleaner was a single snorkel job finished in black and horsepower was rated at 265. Putting that inside a car shaped like a brick didn't make you Don Garlits.

The L66 was a single exhaust engine but duals were offered if you wanted it or were trailer towing. The gearsweren't the best ratios either. Standard was a 2.78 with 3.08 or 3.31 as optional. You did get a 12 bolt carrier however, same as the 427 cars. As for internal hardware, these were slanted towards endurance instead of screaming horsepower. Think two bolt mains with a nodular iron crankshaft and add oval port cylinder heads. Chevrolet as it turned out, made quite a few of these cars. It accounted for approximately 6 percent of total full size production in 1969. Doing rough calculating, we know that 753,900 V8 powered full size cars were made along with 14,415 convertibles. Remove the 2,455 SS427 cars made and we have 76,586 left. If we take 6 percent of that figure, it leaves us with 45,951 L66 cars. If we get pushy and use the convertible figure and deduct our 6 percent, it gives us 864 L66 convertibles. These figures are an estimate but we now have an idea how many were made.

A vintage road test of this model in a four door pillarless sedan was done by Bud Lindemanm in late 1968 for television. The car was noted to be a poor accelerator and inadequate in braking. Several sliding stops and lane drifts were experienced. It wasn't tested for trailer towing or multiple passenger carrying which was it's main purpose. All L66 Chevies were supposed to be air conditioning equipped which suggests highway cruisers. It's my bet that most of the cars were sedans and four door hardtops with the odd coupe and ragtop thrown in. Finding these will be easier in the United States than Canada because our cold climate will have wiped out most of them with salt use. The few that survived likely were parted out to restore more desirable SS and other performance Chevy builds ups.
*Article copyright 2011 by Patrick Smith. Images by PHS Media Archives."

Two what? 2+2s with 396s, or what specifically? I've never seen that number before, did it come from GM on one of the Heritage documents?

Yes,2+2 396 4spd.There is a Silver one local.That's what his paperwork said.

Here's a pic of the 396 2+2 I looked at years ago in SK.  Might have sold to someone on the board, not sure.  

 

Congratulations!!!!!  Anything good to harvest off it?  Is it a disc brake car?   At least you can use the holes on the side as a template on where to mount the 2+2 louvers.

I could use the driver's side stainless piece that separates the vinyl from the paint. I had a track light fall off and mercifully bounce off that piece of trim, no paint damage... Let me know if you're parting it!

Well, if it's a red 2+2 with a black top in Regina you want, I've got that! Well, I used to. I kept it in Regina for summers but each year it aged a little more from storage, so ultimately I sold it... for $6K ten years ago.  Should have kept it, but you can't keep them all!

-- Edited by davepl on Friday 12th of August 2016 07:04:35 PM

Congrats Eric ! Enjoy every moment of this nice project ...