Horsepower Nation: Chevrolet's small-block V8 celebrates its 50th birthday

[Jaguar D-Type]

autoweek.com:

Horsepower Nation: Chevrolet's small-block V8 celebrates its 50th birthday

BILL McGUIRE

Posted Date: 6/17/05

Okay, so Henry Ford built 15 million Model T Fords, and put America on wheels. Then Chevrolet introduced the small-block Chevy V8, and gave us the power to spin them. This year, Detroit’s most storied engine celebrates its 50th anniversary, with more than 90 million produced, representing a total of 27 billion horsepower. It’s a wonder any tires have survived.

Chevy’s universal V8 first appeared in 1955, when a group of engineers led by Ed Cole took only 15 weeks to deliver this revolutionary design from the drawing board to the production line. It’s revolutionary because this engine was built around an untried green-sand foundry technique that allowed 75 percent fewer casting cores, and on extremely compact architecture with a deck height of only 9.0 inches and bore spacing of 4.40 inches. It was lighter and smaller than any V8 before it, and with an appetite for rpm no one had ever seen. The first version was rated at 162 hp at 4400 rpm from 265 cid, barely scratching the surface of the engine’s almost magical potential. Eventually, production versions would be offered with up to 375 hp.

For 1957 the V8 was bored out to 283 cid; with Rochester fuel injection it was rated at 283 hp, the first American engine to achieve one hp per cubic inch. In 1962 the V8 was stroked to 327 cid, while 302 and 350 cid versions appeared in 1967. In 1970 came its final expansion to 400 cid. The small-block V8 was offered in 10 different displacements in all, offering a degree of interchangeability seldom seen in production engines. And flexibility: Chevy’s V8 would be used by every General Motors car and truck division except Cadillac.

Hot rodders and racers perceived the Chevy V8’s potential almost instantly, as it became the powerplant of choice for every form of motorsport from sprint cars to sports racing. To this day it remains the most successful engine ever in NASCAR, NHRA and USAC, and still rules the streets. While the small-block V8 in its original configuration is no longer available in showrooms, it lives on in crate-motor form through GM’s popular performance parts line, and in NASCAR, where the SB2 version took yet another Daytona 500 victory this year. The Gen III V8 introduced by Chevrolet in 1997 used only the rod bearings and valve lifters from the original small block. Now evolved to Gen IV form, it displaces 7.0 liters and produces 505 hp in the 2006 Corvette Z06. But with a deliberate bow to the legacy of the original small-block, the new Chevy V8 does share its 4.40-inch bore spacing. Even engineers can be sentimental.

To celebrate the bowtie V8’s 50th birthday, GM has put together a traveling road show with cars, engines and a panel of famous speakers from NASCAR’s Junior Johnson to former GM racing boss Herb Fishel offering testimonials. The party began March 11 at Amelia Island, with stops planned at Goodwood and Monterey among the selected venues.

[Jaguar D-Type]

A group of engineers led by Ed Cole, above, took only 15 weeks to deliver this revolutionary design from the drawing board to the production line.

[public]

Excellent.

[tom3]

Do they still use the actual small block in any Chevy these days? I think the last updated version was the LT1 in the Vettes and Fbody cars, but there were some standard engines in the vans for a while. Can't imagine they are calling the current LS type engines a small block comparing it to the original. Other than eight pistons and 16 pushrods, nothing is the same.