“Choose your weapon”

A Ford truck ad caught my eye.
It didn’t have any Ford trucks pictured.
What it had were the four engines Ford has available for trucks: the 3.5 liter Eco-Boost™ V6, a 3.7 liter V6, a 5 liter V8, and a 6.2 liter V8.
What interests me most are the first three.
All appear to be double-overhead camshaft, four valves per cylinder.
The 6.2 liter V8 appears to be pushrod.
Ford has leapt ahead of Chevrolet in engine development.

1955, 162 horsepower from 265 cubic inches.

Chevrolet leaped ahead in the 1955 model-year when it introduced its revolutionary Small-Block V8.
(The Chevrolet “Small-Block” V8 was introduced in 1955 at 265 cubic-inches displacement. It continued production for years, first to 283 cubic inches, then 327, then 350. Other displacements were also manufactured.
The Chevrolet “Big-Block” V8 was introduced in the 1965 model-year at 396 cubic-inches, and was unrelated to the Small-Block. It was made in various larger displacements: 402, 427 and 454 cubic inches. It’s still made as a truck-motor, but not installed in cars any more; although you can get it as a crate-motor, for self-installation. The “Big-Block” could be immensely powerful, and the “Small-Block” was revolutionary in its time.)
The Small-Block was more desirable than the new post-war overhead-valve V8s from Oldsmobile and Cadillac.
Primarily because its lightweight valve-gear would allow it to rev to the moon.
That Small-Block motor was a siren-song.
I wanted one all through high-school and college, and even after.
When I was 14 or 15 (about ’58 or ’59) I pedaled my balloon-tire bicycle into a shopping-plaza parking-lot near where my family lived at that time in northern Delaware.
I saw three Corvettes parked outside a bowling-alley. Two were ‘57s, and one was a ’56. One of the ‘57s was fuel-injection.
All-of-a sudden four guys burst from the bowling-alley and got in the Corvettes.
I immediately pedaled up to the parking-lot exit; I knew I was about to witness AN EVENT.
Sure enough, the three ‘Vettes exited the parking-lot hammer-down, revved to the moon, smoke pouring off their spinning rear tires.
I will never forget it! That’s goin’ to my grave.
All were Small-Blocks, of course.
The fuel-injection Small-Block for 1957 got 283 horsepower for 283 cubic inches of engine-displacement. That’s one horsepower per cubic-inch; phenomenal at that time.
The Chevrolet Small-Block was so cheap and plentiful, it put the famous Ford Flat-head V8, foundation of the hotrod movement, out to pasture.
The Ford Flat-head V8 goes back to the 1932 model-year.
We can thank Old Henry for being anti-six.
He refused to build a six-cylinder motor, so introduced the Flat-head V8.
The Flat-head was rather sprightly, so hotrodders started modifying it to bend even more power out of it.
An entire industry built up around hotrodding the Flat-head V8.
But the Chevy Small-Block ended that.
The Flat-head was side-valve, like a lawnmower engine, except it was water-cooled.
Side-valve means the cylinder-valves are in the engine-block, parallel to and beside the cylinders.
Breathing passages are contorted; a flat-head can’t breathe as well as overhead-valving.
The cylinder-head casting is flat (see picture below).
A flat-head is an antique design; overhead-valving was more complex, yet produced more power.
The Chevrolet Small-Block was overhead-valve.
The Small-Block was too cheap and available, and it responded well to hotrodding.
No way could the Ford Flat-head match that.
Chevrolet continues to build pretty much the same architecture as the original Small-Block.
A single camshaft down in the block, with two valves per cylinder operated by pushrods and rocker-arms.
Meanwhile, engine development has leapt ahead.
This is especially true of motorcycle engines, where horsepower development and extreme performance are the goals.
Maximum performance, and engine breathing, benefit from four valves per cylinder, those valves operated by camshafts overhead the cylinders in the cylinder-head.
Such an arrangement takes out the heavy pushrods, which have momentum.
And overhead-camshaft valve actuation is more direct; i.e. it can be more precise.

Photo by BobbaLew.

The Flat-head in my friend’s ’49 Ford hotrod.

I compare Ford’s 32-valve double-overhead cam motor to the old Flat-head in my friend’s classic hotrod, and I am impressed. How much more complex it is.
Of course, my friend’s Flat-head is a very old design, plus it’s cast-iron; I think the 32-valve Ford V8 is cast-aluminum.
Casting technology back then isn’t what it is now.
Plus the Ford Flat-head was a gross polluter. My friend drove that old Ford 20 miles to my house, and the old Flat-head burped antifreeze all over my garage floor.
And you could smell the pollutants at idle; like unburnt gasoline and leaking oil.
His car filled my garage with aromas.
A Flat-head was carbureted; the 32-valve V8 is fuel-injected. Fuel-injection is much more precise than carburetion; it can meet pollution requirements.
My friend’s Flatty is hot-rodded. Those cylinder-head castings are cast aluminum by Offenhauser. Ford’s cylinder-head castings were unfinned cast-iron. Offy’s (Offenhauser) heads were higher compression, to make more power.


Wow! (Photo by BobbaLew.)

A few years ago I saw a red customized ’56 Ford pickup-truck (illustrated above) at a car-show in nearby Canandaigua.
The owner had wrenched in a 32-valve V8, probably the earlier 4.6 liter motor.
As I got set to depart, and as others were leaving, I heard a fabulous moan out on the four-lane that passed the car-show.
It was that ’56 Ford pickup being wound through the gears, leaving.
What a sound!
Used to be the Small-Block Chevy was the crate-motor of choice.
But now I see Ford is making the 32-valve V8 available as a crate-motor.
Despite being a Chevy-man, I’d take the Ford!
Double-overhead-cams, four valves per cylinder; that is state-of-the-art technology, what crotch-rocket motorcycles are doing.
By comparison, Chevrolet (and Corvette) are still in the Dark-Ages.
The Chevrolet Small-Block can be made immensely powerful. The Small-Block almost rules NASCAR — 700+ horsepower.
Do the same for a four-cam Ford, and you’d be pushing 1,000. (What NASCAR won’t allow.)
General Motors is making a four-cam 32-valve V8, the Cadillac Northstar engine, which will soon be replaced by a similar design. —Except it was rather smallish compared to the Corvette motor.
Nevertheless, it should be in the ‘Vette.
The Small-Block is done. It’s been around over 50 years.

• “Canandaigua” (“cannan-DAY-gwuh”) is a small city nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” —It’s about 15 miles away.