Won a 69 Chevelle SS 396 project off harbertsautosales.com

congrats on a real one. post the pad stamping and the partial VIN derivative on the block and i can help you confirm the 396 was born with the car. on a 69 you want the suffix code on the pad in front of the passenger head, and the last six of the VIN stamped on the deck and on the pad. if both match the trim tag you are golden and that car is worth a lot more than what you paid.

one note since you mentioned the cowl tag. the 69 Chevelle does not carry an engine RPO on the cowl tag, that is a common myth. you confirm SS 396 through the documentation, the build sheet if you can find one stuffed in the seat springs or over the gas tank, and the casting and stamping. do not let anyone tell you the tag alone proves the engine.

16 grand for a documented car you can drive while you sort it is a buy. i would have bid that car to 22 if i had seen it on harberts.

16 grand for a documented SS 396 four speed car that you can drive while you fix it is a fair buy in this market, do not let anyone in your buddy circle tell you otherwise. the four speed cars bring a real premium over the automatics and they are getting hard to find with the original M21 still in them. a lot of these got the trans swapped out decades ago for a turbo 400 or a TKO.

since you have a real Muncie pull the side cover this winter while the car is apart and check the gears for chips before you trust it on the road. on a car that sat the synchros can be tired and the fork pads wear. cheap to go through now while the trans is easy to get to, miserable to do later with the body painted. that is your one easy job that will save you a headache.

good score Marty. follow your plan, floors then drivetrain then paint. you will be driving it next summer.

the pop rivet floor patch is a rite of passage on these cars, every A body i have owned had at least one. cut it out and weld in real OPG or Dynacorn pans, full one piece if you can swing it. while you have the carpet out and the floor open take the chance to clean and seam seal everything and shoot some cavity wax in the rockers. illinois and ohio cars all have the same story, the rockers and the trunk drop offs rot from the inside.

that cowl rust you mentioned, get on it before paint. drill the spot welds on the upper cowl hat, clean out 55 years of leaves and mud, treat it, and reseal. nothing worse than painting a car beautiful and then having water drip on your feet every time it rains. ask me how i know.

i went the resto mod route on my 70 with an LS and a 4L80 and i love it, but i will say this. if it is a numbers correct SS keep it factory spec. those are getting rare and the four speed cars especially. you can always build a clone or a restomod out of a plain Malibu, you cannot un ring the bell once you cut up a documented SS 396.

that said, nobody will fault you for sensible upgrades that bolt right back to stock. front disc conversion, a modern dual circuit master, an aluminum radiator behind the stock looking shroud, and a discreet electronic ignition. all reversible, all make the car safer to drive, none of it hurts the car. since you are an hour from me in Dayton give a shout if you need a hand setting the floors, i have a rotisserie and a decent MIG.

i pulled my 68 Mustang fastback project off harbert's too, glad to see another guy went that road. the shipping coordination on their end was the part i was nervous about and it turned out smooth, they had a list of haulers they work with and let me arrange my own, which i preferred. mine came open trailer from texas to kentucky and showed up exactly as described.

started a separate thread on the fastback since i did not want to clutter your Chevelle build, link is over in the garage section if anyone wants to follow a Ford project for once instead of all this bowtie stuff (kidding Marty, the Chevelle is gorgeous).

one thing i will echo, assume the worst corner is worse than the photo. on mine it was the torque boxes, classic fastback problem, and i knew to budget for it. went in eyes open and it was still a great deal from the waco lot.

this is exactly the build philosophy i preach, driver first paint last. you will enjoy it ten times more than the guys chasing concours points who are scared to take it out of the garage when it might rain. a car you actually drive is the whole point of having a 396 between the fenders.

my advice from doing three of these, do not let the build balloon. write down what driver quality means to you before you start, tape it to the toolbox, and when you are tempted to chase a thousand dollar correct date code part for a car you are going to drive in the rain, read your note. that discipline is the difference between a car done in a year and a pile that sits for a decade.

following this hard. i have a 72 Malibu i bought from the waco lot last spring and the floor situation sounds identical to mine, pop rivet patch on the passenger side and a soft trunk corner. this thread is making me feel a lot better about diving into the floor pans, i had been putting it off because it scared me.

marty when you do your pans are you doing full one piece or the three piece sections? and did you brace the body before you cut so the door gaps do not move on you? first real metalwork for me so any hand holding is appreciated.

this thread is why i finally registered. been wanting a first project forever and watching harbertsautosales.com listings every night before bed like a weirdo. i am not ready to drop SS money but they get plain Malibus and Cutlasses and a few Mopars come through that look like sane starter projects. seeing a real person on here walk through the whole thing from bid to teardown makes it feel doable instead of terrifying.

marty any chance you can tell me roughly what your buyer fee ran on a 16k car? trying to budget realistically before i bid on anything. thanks for documenting all this, lurkers like me learn a ton from build threads like yours.