Is an FE a Big Block?

[68stangcjfb]

People can start an argument over anything. A while back, I posted a comment on a U Tube video about a car being "an honest to goodness real 427 Big Block Cobra". Someone chimed in and said an FE is not a big block because (his exact statement copied and pasted) "technically it's not but if it makes you feel better the FE is a big block happy now 1958 Chevy 348 bore spacing 4.840 1958 Chrysler 350 bore spacing 4.800 1958 ford MEL 383 bore spacing 4.900 1958 Ford FE 332 bore spacing 4.630 sorry but the MEL was fords big block in 1958 1968 the FF was fords bb I've  ask before I'll ask again show me 1 FORD add calling an FE a bb Mercury called an FE a big scorching 428 but not a bb . A big block technically must have a bore spacing of 4.800 or greater but call it what you want a lot of people call an engine with a blower super charged  but they're also technically wrong" He also claimed to work in a machine shop for 30 years. Someone else said he was wrong, and they went back and forth.
Do you think he is right or wrong? I personally consider an FE a Big Block.

[FL SAAC]

Yes

[shelbydoug]

It sure is. "Stupid is as stupid does". 

[Grumpy]

It must be true because it's on the net    God help us !

[557]

Wonder what kind of fumes he was inhaling in that "machine shop"....

[pbf777]

     Well , as best as I remember "Big-Block" vs. "Small-Block" was not utilized by GM in it's descriptions of it's engine offerings but rather is derived from Chevy street slang vocabulary, utilized as was "Rat" & "Mouse" motors, as Chevy at one time only offered the option of the "bigger" one or the "smaller" one in the V8 engine field (though perhaps still in different capacities and states of tune), though there may be instances of GM referencing such in advertising at later dates if only in it's efforts to be "hip" with the masses; and it just sorta drifted across the board to the other makers, because of the easy labeling solution it provided without actually having to know what one was talking about, this particularly in magazine print of the era. 

     And as far as the specific bore center distances required to qualify for one or the other............man, "technically", that's quite the line of B.S.! 

     Scott.
     

[98SVT - was 06GT]

The only definition that shows up on Google is that a BB is bigger and heavier than a SB. Each manufacturer had 2 different V8 engine families a big and a small. C.I. can't really enter it since 427 small blocks are around now. Even the FE that started as a 332 was smaller than a raised deck little Ford that started at 221 and was very common in 351 and even some 400s. The original Chevy Big Block was 348/409 The 396/427 was later and I'm not sure if we should discuss its canted valves as the inspiration for the Boss & Cleveland heads......
Now for the real question - was that a 427 Cobra or really one with a 428 that found its way into most of them?
Finally you can ponder if we should classify the 170/200 Ford 6 cylinder as a small block and the 240/300 inch one as a big block......

[pbf777]

Finally you can ponder if we should classify the 170/200 Ford 6 cylinder as a small block and the 240/300 inch one as a big block......

     Too late to ponder!     The "six-banger-guys" already have been doing that for quite a long time.   

     Scott.

[68stangcjfb]

The only definition that shows up on Google is that a BB is bigger and heavier than a SB. Each manufacturer had 2 different V8 engine families a big and a small. C.I. can't really enter it since 427 small blocks are around now. Even the FE that started as a 332 was smaller than a raised deck little Ford that started at 221 and was very common in 351 and even some 400s. The original Chevy Big Block was 348/409 The 396/427 was later and I'm not sure if we should discuss its canted valves as the inspiration for the Boss & Cleveland heads......
Now for the real question - was that a 427 Cobra or really one with a 428 that found its way into most of them?
Finally you can ponder if we should classify the 170/200 Ford 6 cylinder as a small block and the 240/300 inch one as a big block......

CSX-3285, The Hollywood Knights Cobra. Did it start life with a 427 or a 428? Either way, a BIG BLOCK!

[pbf777]

Either way, a BIG BLOCK!

     You mean it has a ............ B.B.C. (abbreviations as I just can't say it! ) in it?   

     Otherwise, back then we always just said: it's got an "FE" in it!   

     Scott.

[1109RWHP]

Maybe we should talk about the 351 C "big blocks".

[pbf777]

Maybe we should talk about the 351 C "big blocks".

     For those whom have been determined that this vernacular is appropriate, popularly the 335 series have been labeled, believe it or not, ................. as the "Medium-Block".   

     Scott.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Maybe we should talk about the 351 C "big blocks".

351C is a small block, it uses a small block transmission bolt pattern, the small block cylinder spacing and the small block engine mounts, overall dimensions and bore dimensions are smaller than the 385 series engines (429/460) and the FE engines, which are the two Ford engine types that are commonly referred to as "big-blocks. In Australia they use the 351C block to make a 302 also.

Maybe we need a new class of Giant for the Modular engines

[Side-Oilers]

So, how would that guy referenced in the first post refer to a Pontiac V8 from the 1960s/70s?

326, 350, 389, 400, 428, 455.  Which are small blocks and which are big blocks? 

Answer: None are either.  They're all the same block-size Pontiac V8s.

What else do they all have in common?

All real Pontiac V8's (not corporate engines) since 1955 have had the same bore spacing. From the 287 (1955) and 317 (1956) all the way up to the 455 (1970).

[Kent]

I think the problem is that you never can clearly say what is a big block and small block. The most common what I have heard is the angle of the cylinders say what is a big block and what is a small block. Even that Ford never used the term big block as it was a chevy thing so Ford called their big engines FE. For me an FE is the faster Big Block