Some of you may be seasoned enough to remember when Chevrolet first introduced the Chevy Small Block V8 engine in 1955  — back when it had its own engineering team. At the time, the original V8 engine produced 195 horsepower (a big deal at the time) and offered an optional four-barrel carburetor.
Though today Chevy no longer has its own engineers, the Small Block has continued to evolve through the years into engines like the 436 horsepower LS3 as seen in the Corvette. And within the time frame of the remaining months of 2011, the 100 millionth Small Block will leave the assembly line.
Comments
I hate to complain, but why does my 2007 Silverado 5.3 have a severe case of piston slap yet my 1977 Impala 305 sound as quiet as the day I bought it?
I do’nt know Gerry
But I would be willing to guess that the 1977 305ci probably wont’t make it to 300,000mi without a new cam lifters and timing set. the 5.3 on the other hand will knock and slap for 300,000+ with nothing but regular oil changes.
To me that’s progress, oh yeah that and the 320hp with 21 mpg, your Impala weighs maybee 700 lbs less than the Silverado and has much better aerodinamics, and it probably would loose 0 to 60 to the truck and not do much better than 16 or 18mpg on the open road.
Godspeed and enjoy the V8 Chevys
I have a 78 Pontiac. I love the 305 I have 🙂
It’s a stretch to call the Gen III/IV an evolution of the SB when only the bore spacing is the same. It’s at least a 95% clean sheet design. Didn’t production of the SB stop in ’03 at 98M? Surely another 2M service engines will be sold, and then we can start counting with the ’97 Gen III (LS1) as Job 1. Let’s get real!