History Tell me again the SBC isn't traditional...1963 Hot Rod Annual

Ummm...yes. I didn't even realize this was an issue.

I'm not agreeing with StudeTruck that an SBC is never the right choice in a Ford hot rod, but I am agreeing that the engine is the heart of the hot rod, and the engine choice will make or break the entire build. I've built plenty of cars around an engine, but I've never built a car then searched for an engine! More often than not, an SBC in a Ford will ruin the entire vehicle, at least for me. In fact, I've not purchased hot rods that I otherwise liked that had SBC's in them for that very reason.

By the way, I do like the way your SBC looks in that Vicky.

 

I can't believe this thread is still going... How many of you guys remember the sound of the first GM sbc solid lifter camshaft?? What was it?? The "097" cam?? Hasn't that reminded you guys that it was a hotrod motor??? Nuff said!

 

We are going to have to just agree to disagree on that statement. I think it is completely wrong. In most (but not all) cases, using an SBC is cutting corners. And, absolutely no other single part of the overall build matters as much as the choice of engine.

 

I've put just as much time into my '56 265 Chevy motor as I would any other engine. No cutting corners what so ever and you bet your ass it's just as fucking cool as any period motor.

 

The sbc came out in 1955. They are "traditional" after that. Pops' 301 powered duece around 1958-59.

 

opinions are like small block chivys ....wait bellybuttons are like assholes....no wait.....how does that go again??

 

265, 283 maybe even the 327...cool. 262, 267, 302, 305, 307, 350 or 400...not traditional or cool...my opinion.

 

I'm hopping up the original 4 banger in my coupe, not because i'm some kind of "Greaser Fonzie" Rock-a-silly dude. I'm hopping it up because it interests me. I could hop it up with some modern VW webber carbs, but Strombergs interest me more. I'm interested in squeezing something out of an engine that isn't common. It costs a lot more. It goes a lot slower. it makes no sense. But owning an old car makes no sense. If you wanna go fast, go buy a new Vette. That too will get you down the road fast and win races. But you are interested in the old car body. A fiberglass shell would be lighter, all new components would be better, a 454 would be a better choice than a small block if you want to go faster... you can go on and on if your argument is "Being Traditional is about SPEED"

To me, Hot Rodding is about SPEED. TRADITIONAL hot rodding is about restoring an antique hot rod, or copying an antique hot rod and the way a certain car was done in the past. There were a lot of cars from the past that had old less efficient parts. A lot of guys are just wanting to feel what it was like to own something like that. Other guys want to feel what it was like in the mid 60s to have a really hot SBC. We are all doing the same thing.

SBCs are cool. Have fun. But don't feel like if you run something other than a Small Block Chevy, you are some kind of sceenester. That's silly.

 

I wasn't stating an opinion. I was stating fact.

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=430018

 

Pardon me for repeating myself, but to restate what I wrote earlier in this thread:

 

Its not a matter of being a non-trad motor at all.

I've got pics of cars taken back in the '50s that were running the SBC.

I think it comes down to the fact that the street rodder types have done it to the point of bordom. I mean face it if you are a no talent check book type of a fellow you can order a crate SBC cheap and spend all the rest of your childrens college fund on looks and posing. You might even have enough to pay for botox injections of your fund would have covered an ivy legue school.

Nothing in the world wrong with a well built SBC, gets even better if you chased down the parts and screwed it together yourself. Most of us don't own an automitive machine shop so I'll give the didn't do your own machine work to the majority.

 

It feels like there is one new thread aboute chevy s/b "to be or not to be" every month.
And they all go: bla bla blaaaaa......

 

You should be pleased with the outcome as this is a sweet looking motor. THIS is not your belly-button SBC just like somebody else's.

That said, I'm not a Chevy guy in any way. My first hot rot in the mid-sixties was going to have a small block Ford,... to be different from everybody else. I have a flathead for my roadster project and I'm putting a 7.3L Powerstroke diesel in my 48 F1 pickup.

Its YOUR car build it YOUR way to please YOU and your idea of traditional.

I'm done and I'll climb down from my soapbox. I don't care for these drama threads.

 

WWMD?



what
would
Milner
do
?




The key to getting away with an SBC is not to paint it orange... and maybe add some of those fake Oldsmobile valve covers... heh heh heh...

They built 90+ million SBC's from 1955 moving forward... so they mustn't be that bad of an engine

 

BRAD...who told you their not traditional? and actually the caddy and old's OHV killed the flathead. and some may argue the chevy v8 ohv killed old's but in my view NO BODY killed the caddy. it died of old age...POP.

 

Let's see.............half the cars there had sbc's in it. That alone is reason enough for me to want to put something different in mine. Nothing wrong with sbc's, if you want to follow the crowd. I choose not to.

 

SBC are cool. Being sober is not traditional nor popular...........Try it. Really.

 

Well I am a die hard mopar guy (much stronger engines in my opinion) and I think the sbc are good engines but when i go to a show or cruise in and see half the cars have a sbc it gets old pretty quick. for me the fun in shows is figuring out all the pieces and parts used to put the car together.
As for the sbc being cheaper as a few posts pointed out, small block mopar parts aren't that much more money and even cheaper in some cases.

 

SBC's are just dumb........

 

That motor is blue. We are talking Chevys, not Fords here.

 

i have to agree wirh DRuss32 and 64 Wildcat

 

HA! So thats what happened to the motor in my 61 Corvette

 

You can bet your ass that the SBC is traditional. Define what period of time you are talking about. ? I read on one post that no one says WOW that's a SBC . Since when.??? Now days?? Yeah. There were many , many years that the SBC was the thing to put in , and had the WOW factor. Just not today. It got too cookie cutter. The older sbc's look bitching dressed up. What goes around comes around. With that said , who has that old Nicson 2x2 sbc aluminum intake that they want to throw out. ??

 

I installed my sbc in 56, it was a 'wow' engine at the time. It was a completly new style of engine, light ,sturdy,and at that time we didnt know how good it really was. But it wasnt the fastest, biggest, etc. we just didnt know, but one thing was learned, it was like it was made to adapt to almost any car. My buddys [3/8x3/8 296 120 mph] powered duece roadster just blew my 265 sbc, 30 A sedan off the road, [after his tires stopped smokin, and he caught up to me]. at the time if you nailed a nailhead to the floor in your 40 ford you didnt go anywhere cause yer tranny gears were sprayed all over the street.And if you had a chrysler hemi and you were runnin fuel you probably could be top liminator at the local dragstrip. , if you had a hot runnin studebaker ohvV8, and you ran fast you were a good tuner, and if you were blown off the road by a Packard V8 powered rod, so what, you just didnt have the cubes, If you ran a hot 4 barrel Abone probably nobody could catch you for half a block, 'bakntheday' 1957 to be exact the 270 hp sbc came out and my buddy,s duece got blown away by a 57 chevy 2 door sedan, and to me that was the day 'the flathead died' and my hot rod became a streetrod,so take yer choice 'every engine fits a niche' its all relative guys.

 

"poor engineering"? i guess the 40+ year production run on what was basically the same design shoulda clued us all in to what a poorly engineered peice of machinery GM had foisted off on us..... golly, after having been enlightened i feel like a simpleton....

 

They built Ladas for a long long time as wel.

 

1964 283 for my coupe! and i love it!!

 

Hey guys, what's going on in this thread?

 

i would say they are not traditional because for me tradition goes back further then when it was mainstream. what the pioneers used and the extremists is that i consider tradition. that is to say when hot rodding was becoming super mainstream, the sbc was made!

The exception which i like is the drag racing motors, like my golden rocket j2 and my 409. always room for that tradition!

For me everyone has one, and that takes away from its tradition.

I feel its like having a fiberglass car. just not authentic for me.

I have a:
235 straight six in my 51 deluxe
372 j2 golden Rocket in my 40 ford
48 flathead in my 48 coupe
409 W motor in my 34 chevy coupe
413 wedge motor in my 38 plymouth coupe

i would go to extreme lengths to not have a sbc in my car. Its just not what i see traditional being, its more trendy.

but thats just how i feel about my cars, not saying its right for everyone.