56 years after its introduction, GM has just bolted together its 100,000,000 small block motor.
"The small block is the engine that brought high-performance to the people. There is an elegant simplicity in its design that made it instantly great when new and enables it to thrive almost six decades later," said David Cole, founder of the Center for Automotive research and son of Ed Cole, chief engineer at Chevy for the development of the small block.
Unfortunately, this 638-horsepower beast chosen to represent the milestone motor isn't destined for some Sunday toy, instead it's going to sit, sad and unused, in a corner as part of GM's historical collection. Some sacrifices for history / science just aren't worth it.
This very, very large number includes not just V8s, but a number of 4.3-liter V6s that were just small blocks with two cylinders lopped off.
GM also took this opportunity to discuss the next (fifth) generation of small blocks currently being developed will, as we already knew, feature direct injection.
There's a lot of unnecessary hate for the small block in the current automotive climate. Possibly because it's still a pushrod motor. But they're reliable, relatively inexpensive, make tons of power and get decent fuel economy, who cares where the cam is?
coolb944 says:
02:41 PM, 11/29/11
Agreed. If the engine gets the business done, is a reliable and inexpensive design, and offers tons of opportunity for modification, where's the downside? The fact that they can get pretty decent economy numbers out of it is great too.
There's no reason to change something if it works this well and still can be improved after 6 decades!
gregnv says:
03:07 PM, 11/29/11
Personally, I like the idea of a simpler engine. The LS engines are powerful, compact and simple (compared to DOHC/Mutivalve engines), plus they sound awesome. Congrats GM.
gregnv says:
03:17 PM, 11/29/11
R&T had a nice comparison of the LS and its new rival from Ford.
http://www.roadandtrack.com/auto-news/tech/rival-vees
Each has its advantages.
bodyblue says:
11:06 AM, 11/30/11
gregnv, thanks for linking that article.....It was very entertaining and informative. IL needs articles of this type.....
csubowtie says:
11:39 AM, 11/30/11
Wow, that's a lot of motors. Keep up the good work GM. My vote for best engine line ever.
explorerx4 says:
06:05 PM, 11/30/11
I'm a Ford guy, but I would have liked to be one of those 2 assembling the engine.