carnut70ls4 wrote:

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 What is a Big Block?  

 "What is a Big Block"

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          Both small and big blocks are V-8 engines.

         The engines have a cylinder block with eight cylinders configured in a V-shape, with each arm of the "V" block having four cylinders.

         Big block engines are about 30 percent heavier than small blocks

        and contain larger dimensions, usually about five inches wider and six inches taller than small blocks.

 

       Small blocks are for regular folks   Big Blocks are for special boys     

 

 

The term was first used to describe Chevrolet V8 engines as either "small block" or "big block" in the late fifties with the introduction of the first Big Block engine the 348. CLICK HERE  The term gain popular use and was eventually used to describe rightly or wrongly other manufacturer's engines.

This is actually a very interesting topic, as the term, Small Block and Big Block, weren't invented until some time after 1965.
I've been searching old car magazines and trying to figure out who coined the terms, and it seems to be Chevrolet might have some time after 1965. I have a 1963 Hot Rod Magazine where they did a tear down on the 427 Mystery Engine, later to be referred to as the Porcupine, Rat and eventually Big Block. Since the engine had no official name at the time, Ray Brock, Hot Rod technical editor, referred to it as the Heavy Duty, or H-D 427, to differentiate it from the Z-11, a W based 427 engine.

The 348 and 409 engines were referred to as the W series, not due to their unique valve covers, but it was one of three experimental engines Chevrolet Engineering were working on, the X - Y and W. The W design was selected, and is the one that was built, starting in the 1958 model year.

I would like to hear from anyone with any old magazines, where the term Small Block or Big Block is used, to try and get a feel for when the term originated, and who might have coined the terms.


Thanks
Randy

Big Block has become used incorrectly to describe any large displacement V8, but in the evolution of any V8 it is more correct to view each design as being part of or evolving from a family of engines.

Chevy made a 366 big block for medium / heavy-duty trucks but a 400 small block for cars and some light trucks.

It has been used rather loosely over the years, but I believe Big Block started with the Mark IV Chevy 396 in 1965. The 396 was physically a larger engine in all dimensions, having a larger space between bore centers, thus allowing for larger future bores. It also had much larger main webs & bearings in the block (2-bolt big blocks are plenty strong), plus a large semi-hemi valve arrangement with the valve arranged at angles to allow better breathing and larger valves. The angled valves gave rise to the nickname porcupine head. I have seen an ad in a 1965 Hot Rod magazine for a stroker kit to turn your 396 into a 454 in conjunction with an overbore. This was in 1965 mind you! Chevy produced that exact displacement big block as a production engine starting with 1970 models.

The Oldsmobile big block is nothing more than a tall deck 330 / 350, but due to the taller deck vectoring 45 degrees each way it makes the block physically wider as well, hence the big block term being applied to the 400 / 425 / 455, correctness be damned. The later 403 was a small block by that loose definition, being a large bore on a low deck 350.

Buick really had small & big blocks, sort of. The nail valve 322 evolved into a 364, then 401 and 425. New heads were added to replace the nail valve configuration for 1967, and they became 430s & 400s. The 455 grew out of that. A small version was developed for 1961 and cast in aluminum with a small 215 c.i.d. It was later enlarged to 300 for 1964 and cast in iron, growing later to 340 and then 350 by 1968. 

Mopar had the A engines, starting with the 273, later expanding to 318 (dont confuse it with the earlier pre-67 318 polysphere B block), 340 and 360 cubes. The B blocks ran through many displacements and I dont know them all, but mainly the B blocks were the 361 and 383. With a raised deck the B block became the RB block, comprised of 413, 426 & 440. The 400 came out for 1972 by boring the 383, but I cant remember if it was considered  B block or an RB block.

Ford had the FE series that ran from 332 through 428, the small block Windsor ran from 221 through 351 and also spun off the Cleveland series in both 351 and 400 variants. Then there were the earlier Y-blocks that followed the flatheads...

AMC engines were all variations of the same blocks, ranging from 287, 290, 304, 327, 343, 360, 390 & 401.

 

rabbit64cs wrote:

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I was driving my 65 Lemans yesterday and the fellow at the drive through ,,commented  "nice carwhat does it have in it?  I told him a 455 pontiac.. ..  NICE.. a BIG BLOCK ..he says"  smile and nod.no sense explaining that there really is no such distinction with Pontiac engines ( the 301 doesn't count lol)

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 Interesting point.

Big block = BBC, meaning a Chevy engine. My handle, red rat is for my red car with a rat engine.

Argued one day with a clown that told me my small block isn't a 383 and Chevy never made one. It's a dodge motor he goes, I gave up and said it was a 283 and proceeded to leave.

CdnGMfan wrote:

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GLHS60 wrote: AMC 250, 287, and 327 engines had nothing in common with the later 290, 304, 343, 360, 390 or 401 engines.

Thanks
Randy

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 Good catch Randy. I should have known about the AMC engines as they all switched to thinwall casting for 1967... Pass the Frank's Red Hot, I need to put it on my boots before I put them ... you know. 

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This is actually a good point, as many engines we now call small blocks, were referred to as "thinwall castings", before the small block/big block terms were even invented. Chevy 327, Chrysler 273, Ford 221, 260, 289 and many others were thinwalls.

 

Thanks

Randy

Mercury and also the Canadian Monarch Lucerne had 383 power around 59/60.

Some people don't believe that Chevy made a 302, but they did even before Ford introduced the 302 Windsor (they made a 302 Y-block for big trucks in the late 60s - early 60s however.)

Ford & Studebaker made 289s, International and AMC made 304s (and so did Studebaker with the R-2 special).

Cadillac & Chrysler made 331s.

Cadillac & Ford made 429s.

Pontiac & Ford made 428s.

I could go on but people's eyes are going to roll back in their heads.

~35 years ago, I was at the Barrie fall Flea Market...when it was still the real deal, for car people.

I clearly remember a "one liner" explanation of the term Big Block, from a muscle car seller.
- below is what he said, to another chap that asked about the drive train:

And I quote - BIG BLOCK - BIG COCK, they both go hand in hand !!

^^^^ Simply put - he kind of summed it up, for the potential buyer.

 

 

-- Edited by Beaumont67SD on Friday 19th of September 2014 08:17:22 AM

GLHS60 wrote:

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This is actually a very interesting topic, as the term, Small Block and Big Block, weren't invented until some time after 1965.
I've been searching old car magazines and trying to figure out who coined the terms, and it seems to be Chevrolet might have some time after 1965. I have a 1963 Hot Rod Magazine where they did a tear down on the 427 Mystery Engine, later to be referred to as the Porcupine, Rat and eventually Big Block. Since the engine had no official name at the time, Ray Brock, Hot Rod technical editor, referred to it as the Heavy Duty, or H-D 427, to differentiate it from the Z-11, a W based 427 engine.

The 348 and 409 engines were referred to as the W series, not due to their unique valve covers, but it was one of three experimental engines Chevrolet Engineering were working on, the X - Y and W. The W design was selected, and is the one that was built, starting in the 1958 model year.

I would like to hear from anyone with any old magazines, where the term Small Block or Big Block is used, to try and get a feel for when the term originated, and who might have coined the terms.


Thanks
Randy

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 Randy, all excellent points and thanks for sharing them.