History Happy 70th Birthday To The Small Block Chevy!

Too new…long live the Flathead!

 

Happy Birthday Old Buddy!

 

Happy Birthday to my old 400 4 bolt dont rev it over 5000 rpm main.....Kaboom..

 

Happy birthday 350 4 bolt ....

 

Love flat heads however SBC are easy, run hard, are nearly indestructible, a dime a dozen, and relatively cheap to buildA Boner surely you’ve owned a small Chevy, hasn’t everyone?
Dan

 

In case you need to make some room in your garage, I am willing to take this engine off your hands and give it a good home, and will take good care of it. Just in case...

 

I've been messing with SBC's since the mid-late 70's, especially 327's. They are great engines. Here's the last two I built . Happy birthday

 

with all of the blown small blocks! And I'm currently stuck with
a bone stock 1958 283 2 barrel small block. AND it's 4 years younger than I am! Probably in better shape as well...

Okay, so there's a 327 at the engine shop, but it doesn't count, it's not glued together yet!

 

it can happen..Everything for sale

 

Oh man! Why are you doing this to me? I don't think it'll fit the whatever project concept! But, so so tempting!
Here's another one in my past:

Just a stock bore and stroke 350. Reed roller cam, Mondello 492 angle plug heads, 2-1/16 Hilborns, and approximately 14:1c/r on methanol. It could run with the unlimited displacement big blocks of the day.

 

The engine that made the flathead obsolete overnight in racing,
Opinions may vary.

 

well-olds did it first but......

 

I think the hemi did that in '51.

 

Caddy, Olds, Chrysler, Studebaker, others, all had overhead V-8 engines before Chevy and Pontiac. But they were all designs based on old casting technology, i.e. heavy. Chevrolet took a big gamble with the small block, thin wall casting, stud mount rockers (probably stolen from Pontiac), making components do more than one job (intake manifold doubling as the tappet chamber cover, amongst other duties).

And all of the next generation small block engines from every other manufacturer learned from the design. But I think it's fair to say that none have ever equalled it. Are there engines that can produce more power? Yes. Are there engines that are lighter now? Yes. Are there engines that have an architecture that lends itself to ANY application? In my opinion, no! But that's just a matter of opinion

 

A point of interest: Oldsmobile and Cadillac both came out with ohv engines in 1949, Chrysler in 1951. Studebaker had an ohv V-8 in 1951. Ford Xd the flathead after 1953, bringing out the Y-block in 1954. Considering that we're talking 70 years of the small block Chevy, and the rest only had production lives of 10 to 15 years max, it's safe to say that Chevrolet really did produce a once in a century design. And with crate engines still being produced, as well as the aftermarket copies, it's also not unreasonable to believe that the small block Chevy engine will survive as long as we can get the fuel to run it on. I'll be gone before it is

 

There's one in every crowd ...

 

That's why they're opinions , not fact

 

Yeah, never mind the fact that the Ford flathead was the original "belly button" engine.

 

Yes, the rocker arm setup used by both Chevrolet and Pontiac was developed by a Pontiac engineer...at home in his garage, because the higher ups at Pontiac wouldn't pay him to do it on company time, since it was such a stupid idea that couldn't possibly work! That ended up being to his advantage, since he patented the idea and then SOLD it to the people who could have owned the rights to it for nothing.

 

"The 1954 Ford Flathead V8 had 110 horsepower at 3,800 rpm."

"The 1954 Chevrolet small-block engine had a horsepower rating of 162 with a two-barrel carburetor, and 180 with a four-barrel Rochester carburetor. The Corvette version of the engine had 195 horsepower."

........ 'nuff said.......

 

To all the SBC haters..... RACE? Lets do it!

 

Thank you Mikey for putting it so beautifully!

 

I got my first SBC in 1966 when I bought my mom's '57 Belair from her and dad. She replaced it with a '55 Buick Special since my dad was a Buick guy. I had the '57 until I got drafted in 1969 and then put it away until I returned home. Then in 1971 I traded it in on a 1967 Chevelle SS with yet another SBC engine! A whole lot more since then, and today all 3 of my hotrods are SBC powered.

 

Beauty. And a significant piece of drag racing history. Thanks for sharing that great SBC picture with us. Much respect.

 

I got one powering my Model A Coupe for the past 32 years.

 

Nice car love the paint
Dan

 

Thank you, much appreciated

 

A couple of mine and a couple that belong to a super nice guy named Bob Panella