History the "wonderfull" chevy v8?

I was just thinking awhile back how the wonderfull(and it truly is) little chevy v8 engine. But when it first came out in 1955, it wasn't all that great. i remember my uncle telling the story, if you locked the hoods closed on a new Ford and a new Chevy, and headed out to California (we lived in Iowa), that the Chevy would not make it. the new v8 used oil, lots of it. the crankshaft harmonic dampner would fly loose since there was no bolt to hold it on! the camshafts went flat , the valve guides wore out ,causing oil consuption and lots or pretty blue smoke out the tailpipe when first started.
BUT, they were fast(power packs anyhow) and that makes up for any problems! Kinda like our lovely wives.

 

"the new v8 used oil, lots of it. Kinda like our lovely wives."
Your wife uses lots of oil?

 

Imagine that.

 

I prefer GM products myself, but it often seems like GM releases his newest engineering to the public before it's worked out all the bugs.

 

I'd rather push a Chevy than drive a......................

 

It would surely last longer if you had to push it all the time.

 

Insert your brand here..>

 

You hit the reason they were widely used in hotrods in the late 50s and up..... burnt oil, had mechanical issues, tons ended up pulled or junked. So it was basically was a "cheap" engine that had some power. Not much has changed in over 60 years has it?

 

There's actually an oil spot under this one.

 

Just for a moment, look that lot over and try to imagine what the cost of chrome plating would be in today's market.

 

Also remember in 1932 when Ford released the V8 flathead........it wasn't much better.
An awful lot of customers were very disappointed. Burning oil and other issues took awhile for Ford to sort out.
No recalls back then just the poor service department having to replace or fix the issues.

 

same design 55-86 or could be argued 1955-2003.
must of done something right.

 

The SBC got bad press for about three weeks...flimsy rockers, too light to be sturdy, etc.
The someone noticed the things went fast and obviously produced more power in comparison to size and ratings than about anything else, and were as a bonus all but perfectly interchangeable with the Ford flathead.
Olds and Cadillac wrecks were suddenly no longer prize property at the junkyard...those motors suddenly started looking dated and fat, and though they were huge in displacement were sort of under achievers.
Used Chevy V8s were almost unobtainable for a long time, and when desperate rodders turned to new replacement engines GM thottled back the supply in order to keep enough engines in the legitimate dealer parts food chain.
As supply caught up, each new step caused a repeat of this feeding frenzy...the 283 and later the 327 went through exactly the same experience.
The total effect rapidly reduced the really desirable hotrod engine supply to just two. Unless you needed and could afford a 392, the Chevy had become the only really desirable engine. Ford and lesser mopar engines were second choices, used mostly because they were more available and cheaper.
In the modified classes Chevies never dethroned the 392, but came startlingly close given the huge displacement difference. In the stock classes Chevies soon had to be assigned new horsepower ratings, because the advertised power ratings on the Chevies were conservative and about all others very optimistic.

 

There’s a reason it lasted basically unchanged ( improved) but unchanged for around 50 years.

I’m sure the first few years had some growing pains, anything new usually dose.

Think about how much complete garbage rolled off the big three’s assembly lines in the 80’s with the big change to unibody, fuel injection, front wheel drive, computer controls ... etc,etc. Not saying this was not all done in the past but it was a lot of change all at once.

Even now after building cars for over 100 years, the oems can still poke them selves in the eye with there own finger!

Lots of issues still with new high compression direct fuel injection engines burning oil and falling apart, cvt tranny’s exploding, shitty brake designs, shitty awd designs the list goes on and on. Only way to make progress is to fuck up and do better.

 

had a '55 Chevy with 265 - never had the problems discussed here - had '56 Ford with 312 that smoked a lot and had problems with top end not getting enough oil

 

Keep in mind; I've never been a 6 cyl kind of guy, please no cards or letters, you know who you are.
I wasn't of driving age in 1955, was actually still in sh!//y diapers but I'd bet those first 265's and their oil issues weren't a big deal for anyone that was anticipating trading in their 54 (and earlier) Chevys, leaving those anemic 6 cylinder days behind them.

 

56Don -
This was the 50 millionth Chevrolet. 600 + trim parts on this particular Bel Air wer plated in 24 carat gold. Built Nov 23rd 1954 at the Van Slyke Road assembly plant.
That'll break the 'ol chrome budget! It probably leaked. A friend had a '55 block. No oil filter pad.

 

The Small Block Chevrolet was pretty damn good from the get-go. There is a reason for it's popularity. The "no bolt in the harmonic balancer" issue must not have been an issue, because they were pressed-on for at least the first 12 years of SBC production. With that said, I did have an issue with one coming loose, but I blame is on the crappy rebuild quality of the engine, rather than design. And yes, I did add a bolt ;-)

 

I have a 56 312 in my 34... The top end oiling is inadequate to put it kindly- only the oil that makes it past the center cam bearing and up through the block and heads into the open rockershafts is supposed to lubricate BOTH heads. I put plugs in the rocker shafts and hope the oil will stay there long enough to not ruin the valve train in a short period of time. I built small and big Chevs too and think they are a way better design. Ford should just have made better heads for the Y , the bottom ends are great in my opinion. Instead they started to design several new engine families where no parts interchange, which have each their own design flaws and that ain´t any better than the Chevy design. Probably the first Chevy V8 wasn´t flawless, but they did not make the mistake to toss their design over board and start all over.

 

"no bolt in the harmonic balancer" issue apparently had nothing to do with holding the balancer on...presumably flying balancers weren't a problem.
The bolt was added a short time into the production of the 350 engine (I had an early one...1969? 1968?) with no bolt or hole.) The bolt was to tension the front stub against some sort of harmonic failure problem, according to the SBC history book. It may not have been entirely a problem of the 350 crank, as that was a time when they went to extended pump and three rows of pulleys driving a massive array of accessories presumably adding heavy drive load.

 

Gold plated huh? Man, and I thought that chrome would be expensive now! I did not know that, can't tell in black and white photo.
Any idea of its whereabouts now?

 

This is an attempt to copy the vid. I may have failed. The car's location is presently unknown.

 

Ford and Mopar engines do have a purpose, I use them for weight in the back of my pick up in the winter time, I have to tie them down really well so the Chevy engine's torque doesn't throw them out the back

 

By my memory the first small block using the harmonic balancer retention bolt was the 64 Corvette 327's with the 365, 375 hp engine.
The 65/up L79 in the Corvette, Nova and Chevelle had it also.
This is my 327/350 hp engine for my Nova, NOS crank was new in box.

 

Chevy used no crank bolt for how long in the 6’s ??
30 or 40 years !!


Shit Mercedes has crank bolt and balances failing on some of there v8’s benzes answer to that one?? New crank shaft and bolt at $17,000 dollars
Not a rebuild, just a crank and bolt !!!

A SBC looks like a champ motor right about now with most of the garbage out there now a days

 

I feel sorry for the SBC fans. They can't find a cool Chevy body to put it in.


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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it forever, the Small Block Chevrolet is the absolutely greatest engine ever built, period, hands down. No other engine is so universal, so easy to work on, or makes so much power for such little money.


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huh?

 

From the title I thought this was going to be about big blocks. Color me disappointed.