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« on: November 29, 2023, 04:00:52 PM »
I hate when this conversation is brought up by Chebbie guys, you all are supposed to know better. It is an FE dammit, end of story. Just because Chebbie guys have to reduce everything to their nomenclature doesn't mean we can't be better than that. How many of us have heard the "Fords are so confusing" or "complicated" whine from a Bowtie fan? At that point I like to turn the conversation to Buick, Olds, Poncho, GMC, and Cad engines, and all the sudden it isn't so confusing. 351 ci GMC V6 anyone?
Ford introduced 3 V8 gasoline engine families in 1958. FE, MEL, and Superduty, and the Y-block remained in production through '64. If we let Bore Spacing and Deck height define block size.
Y-Block: 4.38" Bore Spacing and 9.755" Deck. Same BS as the later Windsor
FE: 4.63" Bore Spacing and 10.170" Deck. Same BS as the Lincoln Y-Block
MEL: 4.90" Bore Spacing and 10.482" Deck (at center of bore). Same BS as the later 385 series.
SuperDuty: 5.25" Bore Spacing and 11.25" Deck. (at center of bore). Similar BS to later 7.3L Diesels.
The Lincoln Y-Blocks had a 10.9375" Deck height, just a bit under the massive Super Duty's but never displaced more than 368 ci. Packard V8's had a bore spacing of 5.125", again just a hair under the Super Duty's, but never grew larger than 374 ci. Poncho's have been discussed at length already. NHRA has made life difficult for anyone wanting to run an engine with a bore spacing larger than GM's 4.84" Are all of those engines to be considered "Bigger" or "Huge" Blocks? "Big" and "Small" block is simply too narrow of description to be of much use.