Big Block - Original Muscle Car

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Big Block

A Big block engine is generally a North American  V8 (though can be other cylinder arrangements) in a family of engines which generally have greater than 5.9 L (360 cubic inches) of displacement; factory engine sizes reached a peak of 8.2 L (500 cubic inches) in Cadillac's 1970s range. Since then manufacturers have responded to the need for superior engines, as well as the need to replace surviving worn-out, decades-old big-block racing engines which have been rebuilt too many times. In 2002 General Motors released the carbureted Chevrolet 572 Crate engine (9.4L), available for installation in most vehicles which have enough room under the hood, both in a 620 hp (460 kW) street version, which runs on premium gasoline, and a 720 hp (540 kW) version, which requires racing fuel. Mopar (Chrysler) recently released the 528 Hemi (8.7L) and 540 (8.8L) crate engines. Smaller V8 engines are known as small blocks; some members of small-block engine families may exceed 6 L, blurring the distinction somewhat. The distinction came about in the early 1960s when the large full-size cars needed a bigger V8 than the smaller mid-size and compact cars. Before that, manufacturers normally had only one V8 engine line. A good example of a "Big-Small Block" is the Chrysler 360 LA engine. The term is normally used only for engines from the "Big Three" (Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Chrysler Corporation) since the other companies did not keep two V8 engine size families. Big-block V8s were most commonly used in full-size and luxury cars, rather than performance vehicles. Many big-block engines were less technically sophisticated than their small-block counterparts, and their power-to-weight ratios were often lower.

However, they did see performance applications. Performance-tuned big-blocks were used in NASCAR racing, and homologation requirements saw these engines sold for road use. Because of NASCAR's 7 L engine size limit, many high-performance big-block engines, like the Chevrolet's 427, Ford's 429, and Chrysler's 426 Hemi engines, were built to this size. In the mid to late 1960s, the explosion of the muscle car market saw performance big-blocks fitted to intermediate-size cars. By the end of the 1970s, they were no longer to be found. However, these engines remained in use in pickup trucks and other non-car uses.

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