New Ford 7.3 V8
I see people calling this a “big block” engine. Is it part of a series of engines of different displacements based on a common “big” block?
Forum Discussion
Boomerweps wrote:
Jeeze Louise, big block vs. small block V8!
It's not that hard to understand, ladies.
Makers would take existing designs, I.e., the existing engine block, and change its bore or piston stroke length or both to increase displacement and hopefully gain power. So most makers based engine designs on few basic castings, like two sizes, hence big and small block terms. Ford, for example, started with a 260 cu. in. V8 and took that to a 302 small block. 390 and up into the 500s were the big blocks. I THINK the 351 was based on the small block but I'm not sure. In GM's case, small blocks from the factory were 350 cu.in. and below. 396, 427, 502 were based on the same engine block.
For GM that was sort of prior to the last 8.1
You can now get a 527 C.I. LSx based engine which is still a small block.
