True Connections

To finish up our 1965 Chevelle anniversary tribute we are dedicating this article to the L-79 option. In 1964 the BOP boys had their GTOs, 442s, and Gran Sports available with a high performance option and Chevrolet was feeling left out. So they decided to add the L-79 option to the Malibu SS in the 1965 model year. This option was based around an engine that is a high performance 327 rated at 350 horsepower which was basically the same as the 1965 Corvette 327 rated at 365hp, but a hydraulic cam was installed instead of the mechanical used in the Vette. The L-79 engine was topped with a single feed Holley carb, aluminum intake manifold, high pressure fuel pump, 8” harmonic balancer, and a special chrome dual snorkel air cleaner that was similar to the one used on 1964 409 cars. Since this was basically a corvette engine, it did have a few frills such as chrome valve covers, chrome fuel lines, chrome choke tube, and a few other bits and pieces that were chromed also. The water pump had the standard corvette bypass, and the coil had a special bracket which mounted the coil on its side to allow the road draft tube to connect to the air cleaner. As far as engine internals the heads were the 2.02 double hump heads, and pistons were domed to make an 11 to 1 compression ratio. Combined with the more aggressive camshaft this little 327 cranked out 350 horsepower at 5800 rpm and 360 ft/lbs of torque at 3600 rpm. With that kind of power this Chevelle easily smoked the tiny 6 inch meats that passed for tires in those days, but with that in mind it still turned a quarter mile time of 16.0 seconds at 90 mph in a road test. Other options that were available with the L-79 were power steering and power brakes but this car was not available with air conditioning. The only transmission that came with the L-79 option was the Muncie 4 speed and a 12 bolt rear end with 3.73 gears and a posi. Even though this was a potent combination in the mid-sized Chevelle, it still could not keep up with the big blocks being used by the other GM divisions. This problem pushed the inception of the big block Chevrolet engine in the 1966 Chevelles. With the restoration market in full swing, many of the hard to find parts that are on the L-79 engines are now available reproduction. Other pieces such as the balancer and fuel pump can still be found laying around at many swap meets around the nation. For the next few articles we will be discussing the installation of a variety of wiring harnesses and then on to our tribute to the 1966 Chevelle.