Gimli
11-01-2005, 07:37 AM
All Hail the SBC!
http://www.autonet.ca/Parts/Components/story.cfm?story=/Parts/Components/2005/10/31/1286411.html
by STEVE MERTL -- Canadian Press posted October 31, 2005
VANCOUVER -- Awash in red ink and losing market share, General Motors Corp. still has had something to celebrate this year -- the 50th anniversary of perhaps the most popular engine in history.
The small-block V-8 motor debuted in the 1955 Chevrolet sedan and will always be identified with Chevy.
But the compact, lightweight but powerful "mouse motor" would eventually proliferate throughout GM's divisions for economic reasons.
More than 90 million small-blocks have been produced.
It's undergone three redesigns but retains its basic layout, including the angle of its cylinder banks, cylinder-bore centres and a camshaft buried in the engine block that works the valves via pushrods when other automakers have gone to overhead-cam designs.
"That initial efficiency and package size has really stood the test well over time and has let us keep evolving this engine for well over 50 years now," says Sam Winegarden, GM's engine development chief.
GM marked the anniversary last summer with touring presentations at automobile shows and vintage car events.
Buffs such as the Florida-based Classic Chevy Club staged their own festivities, including a vintage cruise through the streets of Detroit.
"It's really fun to have the old classics and just get out and cruise around town, enjoy them yourself and share the enjoyment with others," says Canadian Scott Matthews, who owns two vintage Chevys.
The anniversary has a bittersweet quality, too.
The small-block's origins in the era of poodle-skirts and ducktail Elvis hair evoke a time when General Motors and its domestic rivals Ford and Chrysler dominated the North American auto market.
In the early 1960s, one out of every two vehicles sold in America came off a GM assembly line, compared with about one in five today.
When the small-block debuted, imported cars were a noisy nuisance and Japan was better known for cheap transistor radios.
Today imports have close to half the North American market and as in the oil-crisis decade of the 1970s, some observers wonder about the future of V-8 power in an era of buck-a-litre fuel prices.
The small-block V-8 and the cars it powered epitomized the American good life -- gobs of horsepower, effortlessly produced using limitless supplies of fairly cheap gasoline.
Ford was first to offer eight-cylinder power -- once reserved for luxury cars -- to the mass market in its pre-war "flathead" motor, favoured by gangsters like John Dillinger.
After the Second World War, U.S. automakers raced to develop mass-production V-8s. Ford's version arrived first and Chrysler developed its fabled "hemi," now back after decades out of production.
But the Chevy small-block would produce wide, continuous ripples.
It was created in just 15 weeks by Chevy's legendary chief engineer Ed Cole. He capitalized on the latest metallurgy, casting and manufacturing techniques to produce a compact, lightweight but strong package.
The first version in the '55 Chevy displaced only 265 cubic inches (4.3 litres) and produced 162 gross horsepower -- a figure that unlike modern net horsepower ratings doesn't include power lost to engine-driven devices such as the alternator and power-steering pump.
But its displacement quickly grew, with the most popular size being 350 cubic inches (5.7 litres). And with it, power.
The small-block's size made it ideal to shoe-horn into compact 1960s' muscle cars while its strength has allowed it to produce prodigious amounts of horsepower for today's trucks and SUVs.
A 427-cubic-inch (seven-litre) version in the 2006 Corvette puts out 505 net horsepower in stock form. A 300-hp version powers the current Pontiac Grand Prix GXP.
Racers have always been able to coax even more power from small-blocks, which helped its image among ordinary buyers.
"When something is popular and the hot-rodders get to it ... the old slogan used to be win on Sunday, sell on Monday." says Matthews, a Toronto bank mortgage and lending manager. "It was very, very true."
Matthews owns a '55 Chevy hot-rod with a 1969 Corvette small-block in it and a highly collectible stock 1956 Chevy Nomad wagon.
"I have no problem getting some grease under my fingernails, sort of a complete difference from what I do during the day," he says.
"It's a very straightforward motor. It's not that a 10-year-old can take it apart but if you can do things methodically and systematically, things come apart and go back together -- with the right tools, equipment and knowledge -- without a lot of difficulty."
That's also the key to its longevity, says Winegarden.
"Because it's a relatively simple design from a cost perspective, it's pretty hard to beat this thing for what you get," he says.
Many observers thought GM would finally retire the overhead-valve small-block when it introduced the overhead-cam Northstar V-8 in the 1990s, which could rev higher. But the old design, reworked three times in the last 15 years, has had remarkable staying power.
"The small-block revs pretty much where most overhead-cam engines are today until you get to the really high-revving stuff that goes over seven grand," says Winegarden.
Drivers, especially SUV and pickup owners, also prize its torque -- low-speed pickup -- when they're towing boats or trailers.
The 1970s' oil crises and the primitive emission-control technology of the time conspired to strangle all V-8s' power.
They never really recovered in the domestic car market where they once dominated. But computerized fuel and ignition systems that triggered a performance renaissance by the 1990s made small-blocks essential to the surging popularity of GM's hefty trucks and SUVs.
Automakers are using electonics to address the V-8's inherent thirst. GM uses what it calls "displacement on demand," which shuts down one bank of a V-8's cylinders during steady cruising.
"You get the V-8 performance and basically four-cylinder fuel economy when you don't need the V-8 power," says Winegarden.
GM is also looking at other approaches for the small-block, such as gas-electric hybrid V-8s for its trucks, and gasoline direct-injection, which allows very precise fuel metering.
Winegarden says there could be a fifth-generation small-block by the end of this decade.
As for what's in the pipeline now?
"I'm not going to give you a lot there, for obvious reasons," he says. "Let's just say the Corvette never has enough power, so you can draw whatever conclusion you would like from that."
http://www.autonet.ca/Parts/Components/story.cfm?story=/Parts/Components/2005/10/31/1286411.html
by STEVE MERTL -- Canadian Press posted October 31, 2005
VANCOUVER -- Awash in red ink and losing market share, General Motors Corp. still has had something to celebrate this year -- the 50th anniversary of perhaps the most popular engine in history.
The small-block V-8 motor debuted in the 1955 Chevrolet sedan and will always be identified with Chevy.
But the compact, lightweight but powerful "mouse motor" would eventually proliferate throughout GM's divisions for economic reasons.
More than 90 million small-blocks have been produced.
It's undergone three redesigns but retains its basic layout, including the angle of its cylinder banks, cylinder-bore centres and a camshaft buried in the engine block that works the valves via pushrods when other automakers have gone to overhead-cam designs.
"That initial efficiency and package size has really stood the test well over time and has let us keep evolving this engine for well over 50 years now," says Sam Winegarden, GM's engine development chief.
GM marked the anniversary last summer with touring presentations at automobile shows and vintage car events.
Buffs such as the Florida-based Classic Chevy Club staged their own festivities, including a vintage cruise through the streets of Detroit.
"It's really fun to have the old classics and just get out and cruise around town, enjoy them yourself and share the enjoyment with others," says Canadian Scott Matthews, who owns two vintage Chevys.
The anniversary has a bittersweet quality, too.
The small-block's origins in the era of poodle-skirts and ducktail Elvis hair evoke a time when General Motors and its domestic rivals Ford and Chrysler dominated the North American auto market.
In the early 1960s, one out of every two vehicles sold in America came off a GM assembly line, compared with about one in five today.
When the small-block debuted, imported cars were a noisy nuisance and Japan was better known for cheap transistor radios.
Today imports have close to half the North American market and as in the oil-crisis decade of the 1970s, some observers wonder about the future of V-8 power in an era of buck-a-litre fuel prices.
The small-block V-8 and the cars it powered epitomized the American good life -- gobs of horsepower, effortlessly produced using limitless supplies of fairly cheap gasoline.
Ford was first to offer eight-cylinder power -- once reserved for luxury cars -- to the mass market in its pre-war "flathead" motor, favoured by gangsters like John Dillinger.
After the Second World War, U.S. automakers raced to develop mass-production V-8s. Ford's version arrived first and Chrysler developed its fabled "hemi," now back after decades out of production.
But the Chevy small-block would produce wide, continuous ripples.
It was created in just 15 weeks by Chevy's legendary chief engineer Ed Cole. He capitalized on the latest metallurgy, casting and manufacturing techniques to produce a compact, lightweight but strong package.
The first version in the '55 Chevy displaced only 265 cubic inches (4.3 litres) and produced 162 gross horsepower -- a figure that unlike modern net horsepower ratings doesn't include power lost to engine-driven devices such as the alternator and power-steering pump.
But its displacement quickly grew, with the most popular size being 350 cubic inches (5.7 litres). And with it, power.
The small-block's size made it ideal to shoe-horn into compact 1960s' muscle cars while its strength has allowed it to produce prodigious amounts of horsepower for today's trucks and SUVs.
A 427-cubic-inch (seven-litre) version in the 2006 Corvette puts out 505 net horsepower in stock form. A 300-hp version powers the current Pontiac Grand Prix GXP.
Racers have always been able to coax even more power from small-blocks, which helped its image among ordinary buyers.
"When something is popular and the hot-rodders get to it ... the old slogan used to be win on Sunday, sell on Monday." says Matthews, a Toronto bank mortgage and lending manager. "It was very, very true."
Matthews owns a '55 Chevy hot-rod with a 1969 Corvette small-block in it and a highly collectible stock 1956 Chevy Nomad wagon.
"I have no problem getting some grease under my fingernails, sort of a complete difference from what I do during the day," he says.
"It's a very straightforward motor. It's not that a 10-year-old can take it apart but if you can do things methodically and systematically, things come apart and go back together -- with the right tools, equipment and knowledge -- without a lot of difficulty."
That's also the key to its longevity, says Winegarden.
"Because it's a relatively simple design from a cost perspective, it's pretty hard to beat this thing for what you get," he says.
Many observers thought GM would finally retire the overhead-valve small-block when it introduced the overhead-cam Northstar V-8 in the 1990s, which could rev higher. But the old design, reworked three times in the last 15 years, has had remarkable staying power.
"The small-block revs pretty much where most overhead-cam engines are today until you get to the really high-revving stuff that goes over seven grand," says Winegarden.
Drivers, especially SUV and pickup owners, also prize its torque -- low-speed pickup -- when they're towing boats or trailers.
The 1970s' oil crises and the primitive emission-control technology of the time conspired to strangle all V-8s' power.
They never really recovered in the domestic car market where they once dominated. But computerized fuel and ignition systems that triggered a performance renaissance by the 1990s made small-blocks essential to the surging popularity of GM's hefty trucks and SUVs.
Automakers are using electonics to address the V-8's inherent thirst. GM uses what it calls "displacement on demand," which shuts down one bank of a V-8's cylinders during steady cruising.
"You get the V-8 performance and basically four-cylinder fuel economy when you don't need the V-8 power," says Winegarden.
GM is also looking at other approaches for the small-block, such as gas-electric hybrid V-8s for its trucks, and gasoline direct-injection, which allows very precise fuel metering.
Winegarden says there could be a fifth-generation small-block by the end of this decade.
As for what's in the pipeline now?
"I'm not going to give you a lot there, for obvious reasons," he says. "Let's just say the Corvette never has enough power, so you can draw whatever conclusion you would like from that."