I Have A 66 And I Am At The Point Of Picking A Power Plant Can Any One Tell Me What Were The Power Plants And Trans For A 66 Was A 327, 396. Ect Offerd In That Car. I Am Looking To Build This Car As A Resto Rod. I Would Like To Put The Bigest Motor That Thay Offerd. I Have Done The Front Disc Conv- And Put A 12 Bolt With A Complet Hotkines Set Up Out Back A Nice Pacage Put Out By Ho Racing In Cal. Any Help Woul Be Nice. Thanks

Stock they came with 396's......I would put the biggest big block I could afford...and...at the very least, I would use a 427 since it's a resto rod........SS427....way too cool.......

Buy a new GM 502 crate motor. Put regular valve covers on it and tell everyone it is a 396. Most people, including myself, won't know the difference.

Thank You For The In Put I Agree That Thers No Replasement For Displacment. How Ever I Have A 79 Z 28 For That Stuff I Can Bend And Cut All I Want On That Thing But The 66 Na Any Idea Wheir I Can Find Out More Detail On Option Packages Offerd? Thank Again

We can probably all agree, it will cost as much or more to buy a correctly date coded 1966/396 ci.,block, heads, intake, carb, exhaust,ect. (from e-bay) and rebuild it to factory specs and you will have maybe,a factory rated 360hp engine.......or......you could buy a good 4bolt 454 block, forged 427 crank, pistons,& rods,/ camshaft, heads and intake manifold of your choice and you will possibly see close to 450hp(or more) and just looking under the hood, you can't tell the difference, anyway....It will sell better, when that time comes, and be more fun to drive in the, meantime......The car will NEVER be a number matching SS car .......That is just my opinion.

First do you have a Malibu or a SS?

Standard engine for a 66 Malibu was a 6-cyl. A second 6-cyl was optional as well as two 283 (195/220) engines, one 327 engine and three 396 engines (for the SS only).

Transmission depended on the engine:
Standard 3-speed with both 6-cyl engines, both 283 (195/220) engines and 327 engine.
A 3-speed w/OD was available on both 6-cyls and the 283/195 engine.
The 396 engines came standard with a heavy duty 3-speed (and that trans was available only in the SS model).
Three different 4-speeds were optional on all the V8 engines.
The Powerglide was available on all engines except 396/375.

Dear Sir Now Thats What Im Looking For. Facts Facts So If I Understand The Malibu Came With A 396 And Four Speed. I Cant Thank You Enough For The Info As It Seams Most People Just Want To Voice Ther Opion. Wich Is Cool And All But For Me The Stright Skinny Is Better. So With Taht I Belive I Build A 396 Forged All Theway And Toped With Some Nice Alu-heads. I Have Build Many Small Blocks In Fact Thats What I Run In My Z-28 355 425 Hp 350 Trans 3:73 Out Back And A Tiny Demon 650 Car Runs 12.0 On Et Street Tires. This Big Block Will Be My First. Cant Wait Thank Again

if your car is a Malibu the Vin starts with 136 then the bigest engine was the 327. if it is a SS vin starts with 138 then the 396 big block was used

This is right up the street from you, ;) if your car was an SS this will work.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1966-CHEVELLE-SS-396-BIG-BLOCK-L-35-325-H-P-ENGINE_W0QQitemZ4618728182QQcategoryZ34202QQrdZ1QQ cmdZViewItem

Thank You For Look Out Sold Allready Im Realy Not So Worried About Period Correct. My Car Was Not A Ss But Is A Coupe. Im Just Trying Not To Stray All To Far Frome What Was Offerd From Chev At The Time. Thanks Again.

Dear Sir Now Thats What Im Looking For. Facts Facts So If I Understand The Malibu Came With A 396 And Four Speed.

Actually, the SS model came with the 396. Like whats been said before, the Malibu's biggest engine was the 327. Just wanted to clarify.:)

say chris was it a small block or big block? Thank you.

say chris was it a small block or big block? Thank you.
the 327 was a small block

Thank You For Look Out Sold Allready Im Realy Not So Worried About Period Correct. My Car Was Not A Ss But Is A Coupe. Im Just Trying Not To Stray All To Far Frome What Was Offerd From Chev At The Time. Thanks Again.

Non SS car, (Malibu coupe), as others said, 327 was the largest engine...

BUT, (here's some of that "opinion" you don't care much for)...

1) Aluminum heads were NEVER offered in 1966 (On ANY Chevy V8, small or Big Block)...

2) "correct" looking (but newer/bigger) SB engine will be less noticible than any aluminum headed version... In otherwords, a leter 350 Small Block, done up to look "correct" for 1966 will look much more authentic than ANY engine with aluminum heads... Even IF you painted the aluminum heads "Chevy orange", it will still be more noticible than IF you had a different block (350, 400, etc)... Basically all the same externally, except for the cating numbers which are in the back and hard to read once installed...

3) Big Block wasn't available in a Malibu, but should look right at home. Again, ANY 396/402/car 427 (non-tall-deck truck block) will look the same. Most 454s also look the same... Many newer 454/502 look slightly different, but it something that 99% of people will probably never catch... You can even use the factory "396" decals on a bigger engine, to make it appear "stock"...

4) the ONLY automatic avaiable was the 2-speed Powerglide, regardless of engine...

Im Just Trying Not To Stray All To Far Frome What Was Offerd From Chev At The Time

To each his own, just seemed kind of weird that you want something that was "offered from Chevy" at the time, yet you want aluminum heads, Hotchkis suspension, disc brakes, etc... as stated, the BB wasn't offered, but will look at home...