The design of which was ripped off from Chevy.
(That oughta get something started.)
LOL no argument from me. All the smallblocks were great.
“The design of which was ripped off from Chevy”
+1
There are some technical inaccuracies in the article; the 348/409 was an interesting motor, but a technological dead-end with its combustion chamber in the piston and the head being essentially flat. This was called the “W” engine, not the “rat”, which was the 396/(402)/427/454. The W engine’s pistons were incredibly heavy and the engine had zero rev potential. It was big and torquey, though, fine for a truck, which was its original purpose.
The greatest innovations of the small block IMO were the stamped rocker arms (cheaper than dirt and they worked very well/lasted forever on a street engine) and the block being strong enough to avoid an oil pan “skirt” (basically, the entire oil pan was stamped), saving enormous weight.
They saved a lot of money on those rockers, leaving lots to spend elsewhere on the engine.
Yeah, since Ford intro’d in ‘54, GM in ‘55
A man walks into a bar carrying jumper cables. The bartender says, “Hey! Don’t you try to start anything in here.”