All About The Engines That Powered Chevy's 1969 Chevelle SS

The Chevrolet Chevelle is an iconic name in American muscle history. Throughout its years of production, many different variants were available with various engines and packages, including both two-door and four-door options. The pinnacle, however, is the Chevelle SS which stands for Super Sport, and it was the hottest Chevelle offering of them all.

In 1969, Chevrolet opted to change the SS offering into an option, rather than a specific model. This meant it was available in a few different configurations and could be added to any two-door model from the Chevelle and Malibu lineup. The SS 396 package, as one might assume, comes with a Chevrolet 396 cubic-inch big-block V8 under the hood. However, there were a few different offerings within that category available to buyers. Let's take a look at the different variants of the 396 V8 engine Chevrolet offered for the 1969 Chevelle SS 396.

We'll start with the "base" offering for the 1969 Chevelle SS 396. The standard variant of the 396 that served as the starting point for the Chevelle SS 396 was known as the L35. It was certainly no slouch. With a Rochester four-barrel carb setup and a 10.25:1 compression ratio, it put out a plentiful 325 horsepower and an impressive 410 pound-feet of torque. The L35 is identifiable by its black "side-snorkel" air cleaner, wherein the filter is entirely contained in the black housing with a long snorkel jutting out toward the driver-side headlight assembly. Stepping up to any of the available optional engines came with an open-element air cleaner assembly where the filter is plainly visible all around the air cleaner stack.

Of course, in the world of high-performance cars, "enough" is never really enough. In that light, the first optional engine offering for '69 Chevelle SS 396 customers was the upgraded L34 engine. It's very similar to the base engine except for an added steel crankshaft and a more aggressively cut camshaft. This bumped the power output to 350 horsepower and 415 pound-feet of torque. Stepping up to this option cost buyers a cool $121.15. In today's money, that's a little over $1,000. You've got to pay to play when it comes to big-block power! 

The next upgraded engine option came in the form of the L78. This variant of the big-block 396 came with upgraded rectangular-port cylinder heads and a Holley 4150 four-barrel carburetor with an aluminum intake manifold. In addition, it came with an even more aggressive camshaft and saw an increase in the compression ratio to 11:1. This bumped power to 375 horsepower and retained the 415 lb-ft. torque rating. In today's money, this upgrade set buyers back nearly $2,200.

Finally, the most expensive engine upgrade was the L89 variant. At $647.75, it works out to just under $5,600 in today's money. That's a substantial price increase. However, it netted buyers a set of aluminum cylinder heads. That, of course, saves quite a bit of weight in comparison to cast-iron heads. However, Chevrolet officially gave it the same power figures as the L78 at 375 horsepower and 415 pound-feet of torque.

Devout Chevy fans may note that the 425-horsepower 427 cubic-inch big block is missing from this list. However, the engine was not officially offered by Chevrolet as an option for the Chevelle. Instead, dealerships were capable of ordering the 427 for dealer installs on customer cars. If you're really in the know, you'd note that Chevrolet upped the displacement of the 396 engine offerings by the end of the 1969 model year. However, the name scheme remained the same and all literature still displayed "396."