Opinions on 396 engine

[Stepper86]

During my hunt for a new rear end I found a complete 396 engine lurking in the corner of a garage. The owner says only problem he had before he pulled it was that it was burning oil, what I understand from the engine code is that it´s an LS-3?
I don´t have much experience with Chevy big blocks so help me out here guys. Is it worth the effort to drag it home?
The engine has everything on it, the guy says he wants 600$ but I think I can get it down if I wave some cash infront of him.

[68Timber]

Personally I'd pass on it. They're more expensive to modify than a traditional sbc and the fuel mileage is pretty bad. If it were a 427 or 454 I'd consider it, but not the 396. I'd rather have an LS motor if I were to bring another engine home - all the power and twice the mpgs.

[russgt]

Depends on what you want out of your truck. A 396 can be made into a stout engine but in typical big block fashion, the mileage will suck. If you can pick it up for 4-500 do it. If it codes out to a high horsepower engine with rectangle port heads then its worth quite a bit more.

[tucsonjwt]

I would search for the value of a 396. As I recall from my youth, the 396 was sort of the orphan big block when the 427 and 454 came into existence. I don't think the 396 was made for more than a few years in the mid 60s. The people I know who had them from new complained of bad gas mileage. They were somewhat popular in the 65,66,67 Chevelle SS and a couple years of Corvettes in that range.

[legendman]

I had one in my 71 camaro it was bored .30 over making it a 402, with a four speed muncie and 3:73 gears I didn't expect great mileage but it was fun to go through the gears and had plenty of power to spin the 10 inch wide rubber I had on the back.

[1955 mancave]

i'm sorry i did not catch the year of the eng. just to let you know i just sold a 68 396 325 hp put it on CL and with in and hour it was gone $950.00 and it was tore down, so ! i love the 396.

[Stepper86]

Milage is not a big consearn, I don´t use my truck as a DD. I go to the local club meetings and try to catch one or two bigger events each summer. Im more of a fabrication guy, I enjoy driving but I love building/restoring as long as it´s not a deadline project( I have enough of that at work)
The engine is from 1971 ,so it´s all so a 0.30 overbore engine (402)
It should be one of these:
LS-3: produced 1970-2, 10.25:1 (1970) or 8.5:1 (1971) compression, hydraulic lifters, nodular iron crankshaft, and two-bolt main caps. It produced 330 hp (250 kW) (1970), 300 hp (220 kW) (1971), 210 or 240 hp (160 or 180 kW) (1972 net horsepower, single or dual exhaust).

My guess is that it´s 210hp, but I only looked at the casting number so I can´t tell for sure untill I have a look at the Vin / Engine code.

[Firebirdjones]

I've never had a bigblock that got "bad" gas mileage. It's more related to the size of the engine. The 396/402 BBC wouldn't do any worse mileage wise than a 383/400 sbc. Most of these medium sized engines I squeak as much as 16 mpg out of without overdrives.

The 396 is a good little engine. It's limited with it's cubic inch potential because of the maximum bore size, and the lower portion of the cylinder walls are not clearanced for the longer stroke cranks (4" and above).

But they make a nice package if 402-408 cubes is enough to satisfy you. I had a couple of L78's, runnin little boogers that like rpm

Gen 1 BBC stuff is quite collectable among the BBC crowd too since the Gen 1 stuff hasn't been made for a while. Good blocks for a building foundation aren't as easy to come by like they were 20 years ago. I'd say his asking price of $600 is very reasonable, he shouldn't have trouble selling that if he gets the word out in the right places.

[bigarmzz]

man, i've been looking for a good 454 around here and cant find anything good....you guys are lucky, seems like alot of you guys are tripping over them

[Firebirdjones]

The 454 blocks are a little higher demand. They can be bored more and they easily accept a 4.250 crank for a very common 489/496 stroker combo.

[86c20]

legendman is that a real 425hp? as i have only seen one and acording to gm they where never made in a 396 only a 427???

[legendman]

Originally Posted by 86c20

legendman is that a real 425hp? as i have only seen one and acording to gm they where never made in a 396 only a 427???

No just a sticker, it was out of a 66 Impala

And a tad more than 425hp

[BigBlocksRule]

Find someone with a Chevelle, Impala, Camaro, etc. that is a purist and wants it for restorationm you can generally make some decent coin. $600 as a starting point is too high to leave you any wiggle room if there are problems with it. If there's anything like Craiglist in Europe, you could advertise it everywhere and find someone that really wants it. I occasionally ship a 396 to London, but the 454 is much more in demand.
The small bore of the 396 (same as a stock bore small block 400) shrouds the valves pretty bad since the edge of the valve is so close to the edge of the cylinder.

[Firebirdjones]

Originally Posted by 86c20

legendman is that a real 425hp? as i have only seen one and acording to gm they where never made in a 396 only a 427???

396/425hp was made in 65 and rated at that HP in the corvette but it was short lived. May or may not have been rated 425 in the impala but in the chevelle that same engine was rated at 375hp (aka Z16's)

The following year (1966) the 396 was dropped from the vette line and the 427 was introduced in 390hp and 425hp forms.

The high horse 396 was still available in chevelles and impalas (and camaros starting in 67) and was rated at 375 hp from here on out (coded the L78) I had a 69 chevelle and camaro with this engine. Excellent running engine, liked rpm and 4.56 gears

[Stepper86]

So I spoke to the owner of the engine today, he pulled it from an old race car that he bought, but the only reason it was in there was becuase they needed an engine in the chassie for registration, were it comes from originaly he did not know. The cylinder heads have casting nr:3993820 that means normal oval port heads, right?

[74 stepside]

Those heads are 1971 402/454 heads with 2.06 & 1.77 valves with 113cc oval port. Check the casting number on the back of the block and the suffix number on the front. That way you can find out if it is a 396 or a 402. I had a 396 Impala with 325 hp. Was a nice cruiser.