Ridicule me if you want. Talk about the search button. Tell me I should know that.
But, is the 370 ci a big block?

it would be considered something like a "mid block"... as the 350s 360s and 351 of the old years... not a 289 but not a 426...

the gm 6.0 isnt a big block either (just for reference)

You could also call it "NASCAR size"

nascar fast-car son-of-a-%*$&# :)

no its not a big block but if someone ask say ya

it's not a dumb question. I know of a 460 some odd cubic inch chevy small block. I dunno what differentiates between small and big though!

Its the block itself which differentiates whether a big or small block. Its not cubic inch at all. There are 454 small blocks (and bigger) and there are 454 big blocks... the 5.7 and 6.1 are small blocks.

Can you describe what the "block" is? Is it the bottom half of the engine?

Can you describe what the "block" is? Is it the bottom half of the engine?

Correct the engine block is the main part of the engine that everything attaches to. Engine blocks generally house the crank, cam and other parts and you bolt your heads to the engine block.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinder_block

I didn't read through that link but i'll assume it will be beneficial in this thread

I heard a magazine review call it a big block just yesterday.

The problem is that you're trying to put a simple naming convention that applied to motors of a generation ago to a displacement measurement of today's modern V8's.

Its not apples to organges, its more like apples to grapes.

The term "big block" and "small block" came about becuase the three classic american auto makers, Ford, Chevy, Chrysler, typically produced vehicles with two sizes of engine blocks availble in their repitoire of parts. Although there were a few exceptions, the naming convention of big and small block held true for most vehicles of that Era, all the way up to the early 1990s.

Today trying to apply that convention isn't really relavant. Like MattFab said, its not what the displacement of the engine is; but becuase the automakers have downsized to the amount of material they put into their blocks considerably, there isn't a way to relate it.

You could call the 4.7 Magnum a "small block" and the Gen III Hemi 5.7/6.1 a "big block", thats essentially the same thing they were referring to two or three decades ago, except back then, the cubic inches were much more. Its simply a reference to which sized engine block the manufacturer put in that they had available, the 'big one or the small one'.

Wow. Those are some mixed answers.
I guess I am asking because I realized that 6.1 is the biggest V-8 Hemi made, right? So, how did they go to build a line of performance v-8s and not build one bigger than a 370 ci? They basically skipped from a small block to a V-10!

If you really get down to the facts, the V-10 is based off the old "LA" small block architecture. It has he same crank to deck dimensions, and the same bore spacing, so it is basically a 10 cylinder "Small block" Chryslers big block and all of its tooling went away after the 1978 model year.

Here is an interesting fact:

The original 331 Hemi from 1951 (Chryslers first production V-8) shares many basic dimensions The aforementioned deck heigth, and bore spacing as all the "small block" V-8s and the V-10s. This is because the tooling required to machine the blocks etc, was already in place for the Hemi engines when the original 318 poly head engine was designed in the mid 50's, and again when the 273 (Chrysler's first LA engine) was first designed in the early 60's. The engine line went through a pretty marked overhaul in the early 90's when the "Magnum" 5.2 and 5.9 were introduced, but they still maintained the same basic block dimensions.

Even more interesting is the fact that the new 4.7 and Hemi engines use the same bolt pattern for the trans mounting surface as the small block series, meaning a transmission from a 1957 Plymouth will phisically bolt up to and work with a new Hemi !! Or Vice versa. If it aint broke dont fix it !! This makes for some interesting swap possibilities in both directions. I have used factory parts to bolt up a 6 speed trans from a 2WD Hemi Ram pickup truck to a 1938 Dodge flat head engine!!

Wow. Those are some mixed answers.
I guess I am asking because I realized that 6.1 is the biggest V-8 Hemi made, right? So, how did they go to build a line of performance v-8s and not build one bigger than a 370 ci? They basically skipped from a small block to a V-10!

80% of them are correct...

Displacement is nothing more than a function of bore and stroke. Don't even bring it into this conversation. Small and big BLOCKS refer to the dimensions of the engine block itself.

Displacement is nothing more than a function of bore and stroke. Don't even bring it into this conversation. Small and big BLOCKS refer to the dimensions of the engine block itself.

do you think these people are idiots? the point is USUALLY the size of the block itself has a relationship with displacement... when the cars came from factory there was no 260CI big blocks and no 460CI small blocks (FACTORY) but now you can make a pretty large small block because you increase the stroke or bore (pi*r^2*h*# of cyl) enough in the "smaller block"

the easiest answer in my mind is that back in the day most car manufactures had (2) sizes of block... for instance ford... the 260 289 302 and 351 were essentially the same block where the 390,428,460 were a different block...

quick gm (i know i am missing some) 327, 350 were the major small and the 396 427 454


but then you can throw a monkey wrench in that because of the "deck height" the 351 had a higher deck height then the 302/289... thats why some call them "mid blocks" or the actual "nascar block"

i say potato, you say... well potato but differently... haha

I copy and pasted from a google search

Big block

A big-block Oldsmobile 400 cubic engine, which is capable of delivering 360 horsepower (270 kW) and 440 foot-pounds force (600 N·m) of torque.A big-block engine is a North American V8 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. Both of these incorporate modern hardened metals and are able to run on unleaded gasoline.

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. Thus, they were commonly tuned and built for smoothness and low-end power to get heavy cars rolling and effortlessly cruising. 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 ****logation 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. Some used derivatives of the racing engines, but in addition performance versions of former luxury motors were produced.

After the 1973 oil crisis, the days of the big-block in passenger cars were numbered. 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. Currently, only GM offers big-block V8s in its trucks; Ford and Chrysler essentially replaced their big-blocks with stretched V10 versions of their small-block engines in the early to mid 1990s. Today big-block engines are used primarily in racing.

yeah but Winston is correct because a 5.9 is a 360... its not just based off of displacement but the block size...

lets look at it this way... for ford...

the 260 came first then the 289 then the 302 and 351... all off of the basic 260 size...

so if the first size was 302 then a 390 might have fit in a "small block"

And we can carry this further by saying the old 426 Hemi is the "Elelphant Block" because it was so wide.

Here's what wikianswers has to say:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/At_what_cubic_inch_does_an_engine_go_from_a_small_ block_to_a_big_block

Chrysler
Chrysler Corporation small-blocks include:
Chrysler A engineChrysler A engine
The Chrysler A engine is a small-block V8 automobile engine from Chrysler Corporation. It was produced from 1956 until 1967, when it was replaced by the improved wedge-head Chrysler LA engine and big-block Chrysler B engine....
- (1956-1966) first generation small-block
Chrysler LA engineChrysler LA engine
The LA engines are a family of pushrod engine Overhead valve 90? V-block gasoline engines built by Chrysler Corporation and factory-installed in passenger vehicles, trucks and vans, commercial vehicles, marine and industrial applications from 1964 through 2003....
- (1964-) second generation small-block
Chrysler PowerTech engineChrysler PowerTech engine
The PowerTech was a new engine family for Chrysler, and was not based on the Chrysler A engine as existing Chrysler V8s were. A 4.7 L V8 came first, fitted in the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and a 3.7 L V6 version debuted in 2002 for the Jeep Liberty....
- (1999-) Jeep-developed replacement for LA

Chrysler Modern Hemi engine Chrysler Hemi engine
A Chrysler Hemi engine, known by the trademark Hemi, is an internal combustion engine built by Chrysler that utilizes a Sphere combustion chamber....
- (2002-)

And we can carry this further by saying the old 426 Hemi is the "Elelphant Block" because it was so wide.

ive heard of elephant *ock but not elephant block :) HAHA... J/K

Interesting thread....so many different opinions!

awww man its not even worth the effort of debate lol, its great to chat and have convo but there is no definite answer and honestly who cares, anyone asks you just say ye, they wont have the knowledge to disprove you and even if they do as we know, is no definite proof, lol many opinions even though some say its small, so complex, engines aren't built no days to fit qualifications, its literally designed to they way the manufacturer wants, based on value, what kinds of performance and specs can the make it and still keep it reasonably cheap to make to turn some profits, they dont care what the hell they used not be called or are so technically, they dont call em anything, is no true answer i believe, old tech and vocab, just like Winston said, not apples to apples so its moot ;)

old tech and vocab, just like Winston said, not apples to apples so its moot ;)

Well here's one for ya, if it's all moot

Ever hear of a "Mountain Motor"?