Big vs. small V8s

A classic arguement: Big cube V8 or high reving small block V8. What's your preference?

SB V8, mostly because that's what i grew up around, it was the 350 SB my dad was always using in his cars that got me hooked. I just dont like the BB engines

A classic arguement: Big cube V8 or high reving small block V8. What's your preference?


I love both... but why not have the best of both worlds?

427 Big Blocks have large Bore and a short stroke... makes for a pretty rev happy motor. Just balance and stroke it and you've got a high rev motor.

My friend built a 454 that can turn 9,000rpm... yeah it cost a lot build but my god does it sound pretty.

Depends on the car mostly, but I'd rather have a nice, big, torquey motor.

if i was to build a beaut streetable dragster id stick a big block in it, but if its to race around a track id choose the small block, no question about it.

For me, I'd have to go with the big block. Afterall, it's the rat trap that makes you say damn, not the mouse trap!

I like the big block i currently have. It`s a 390 and it moves the old galaxie along very well.

SB because you can get 454 cubes out of them! And still have a light engine, good for racing.

they are both good. it depends what you are looking for. a sb and bb for the most part can both put out big horsepower. in the quarter mile its that bb grunt....torque that will get you off the line not rpm. then agian i have seen some very fast sb. on a whole the bb is the better motor although much more expensive to keep going....just my opinion

Heavy car, big engine. Light car, big engine... Either will stomp the same car with a smaller engine. While you can get big cubes from the small block, you can't get the same level of torque production. The head design, weight of the rotating mass, and length of the connecting rod make a big engine more "user friendly".
For an all-out racing effort, there are arguments for both sides. For a street engine, it takes one helluva small block to run with a relatively stock big block.

Umm, no. You can get 600 streetable pump gas naturally aspirated HP out of a small block 427. 454's are insanely expensive to make, 427's are much cheaper and still produce a lot of power. Yes it's easier to get out of a big block, but here comes the weight advantage again. Say what you want about weight, the really fast cars are light. My Daytona runs high 12's (see my mods in sig) at only 270 WHP, all because my car weighs 3100 pounds (w/driver, a relatively heavy 4 cylinder car) VS a muscle car at 4000+ pounds that takes 400 WHP to do 12's. Lighter is better, substitution for torque is weight loss.

Mopar 340.

Mopar 340.

Well yes I'm a mopar nut as well, but it's just insanely cheap to build a small block chevy. I can get 500+ HP out of a small block chevy for the same price as building a 350-400 HP small block chrysler.

for what it's worth, the Shelby Cobras with the small block 289 consistently did better on the track than it's big block counterpart.

Stanger, you must be refering to road racing tracks, right? A 289 Cobra handles much better due to less nose weight. At a drag strip, the 289 wouldn't know what hit it. 500 plus horsepower versus 300. Do the math...

obviously i meant the race track...not the drag strip.










Edit: sorry, that was rude of me.

I prefer the small blocks, to the BB. SBs handle better, and since I want street cruisers, instead of strip monsters, the SB is the way to go.

Stanger42, a drag strip IS a race track... I was trying to be more specific, and wasn't obvious...

I would have to say big block, the bigger the block the more room there is to push out more power, and the weight thing with the big block can be done away with with an aluminum racing block, even though they are more expensive they weigh alot less. Just my :2cents: .

Depends on the car mostly, but I'd rather have a nice, big, torquey motor.


same here, too bad "L"s dont come with BB's. Oh what firebird do you have 400? Im in love with Gen 1 "birds".

I am probably going to be swaping a 454 into my 77 chevy k10...it has a 400 sb in it right now but has been giving me so many problems....blow by, loss of compression...and i think think the block might even be cracked because of white smoke out of the pipes. My question is will I be able to just swap in the 454 without any fear of trashing the tranny...I have a th350 w/np 203 t-case. I have read abunch of threads saying that you need to beef up the th350 for people that have 600hp big blocks. But, I am not looking to drag my truck, I just figure if im gunna get another motor I might as well go with a big motor that is gunna sound mean. All I plan on doing is just boring out the block to get whatever lip is there and then just go with a basically stock piston, new gaskets and headers. Will this pretty much stock 454 be alright against my new/stock th350?

I will stick with my 396. More torque = more fun!!!

well, the old addage , "there is NO replacement for displacement" rings true most of the time , there are expections , I prefer the small block FORD!!! , For the HP/Lb of weight , the Small block Ford surpasses the chev, but it takes TALENT to free those ponies! IMHO

Big block all the way for me (two of my cars have them as a matter of fact). Its just so nice to see someone on the street and they ask "whats under the hood" to pop it and the entire engine bay be filled with nothing but motor. You can have a 500 horsepower small block and a 500 horsepower big block, but the big block is going to be more "street friendly" BECAUSE of the high RPMS your going to have to turn to get 500 horses out of a small block. You can get 500 horses out of a big block relatively easily and still remain very streetable. The 454 in my Nova should dyno in the 515 horsepower/540 torque range (its a new motor, so these are desktop dyno projections) and I still get around 9-10 MPG on mid grade gas. To each their own, but for me, its a big block.

Rob

Edit: To the guy that said 454s are "insanely expensive to make", thats not true at all. TOTAL I have about 2400 in the build of my 454, and it makes 500 street friendly horsepower. 1000 dollars of that was spent at the machine shop getting the rods fitted for ARP bolts, crank turned, etc etc. It was basically gettin a brand new engine back from the machine shop. If you do your homework they are not that expensive to build at all. You would have a VERY hard time building smallblock that turned enough RPMS to make 500 horsepower on that budget (believe me, I have tried).

This is getting redundant but I am gonna say it too. They are both good. It depends on the application. I am a small block guy but I totally respect big blocks too. I would say small block is better but thats cause I am bias on them.

Everything needs a BIG BLOCK!

I'd go with Big Blocks... Street use isn't going to see over 6K rpm's for that long.... unless you're in Germany...lol.

Me personally.. I'll stick with my 455 that weighs less than a stock Chevy 350.... Buicks Rule.