| When you think of high horsepower number, you | | | | to see engines dyno horsepower into the 1000 + |
| probably think of cubic inches and massive blowers | | | | range. |
| protruding from the hood of old muscle cars; I admit | | | | Technology has come a long way since the 1960s |
| that I do too. I grew up around a bunch of | | | | and 70s. A lot of car guys have switched their |
| gear-heads who worshiped anything that slid out of | | | | forced induction preference from superchargers, |
| the GM factory between 1960 and 1972; that include | | | | which are belt driven, to turbo chargers, which are |
| the Chevy Corvette, Camaro, Nova to mention a | | | | exhaust driven. It makes a lot of old school guys to |
| few. A lot of these cars came with the option of | | | | see a car with half the cylinders they grew up with |
| having a big block engine, for example the SS models | | | | make nearly as much if not more power than they |
| of the Camaro and Nova came with the 396 BB or | | | | could! It’s hard to admit for some, but it’s |
| the 454 BB (big block) motor. I’m not sure what | | | | proven time and time again that a carefully tuned 4 |
| the horsepower rating was, but it was definitely a | | | | cylinder engine can make the same amount of power |
| selling point of the car much like MPG is to modern | | | | as engine twice their size, i.e. the V8 Chevy engine. |
| cars today. | | | | Granted these setups typically do not have the |
| These engine were notorious for producing especially | | | | torque, but they do run similar quarter mile times, |
| high horsepower numbers if you modified the engine | | | | which is what the old school guys pride themselves |
| with aftermarket car parts like headers, intakes and a | | | | on. I guess until the V8’s show some kind of |
| bigger carburetor. One of easiest ways to get a lot | | | | advantage over 4 cylinder engine, most guys will |
| of power out of these engines was to force | | | | sacrifice a little torque for quadruple the gas mileage |
| induction through them, also known of a | | | | in everyday driving. Performance chips like the ones |
| supercharger or ‘blower’. A blown big block | | | | found here squeak even more MPG gallon out of 4 |
| Chevy motor was easily capable of producing well | | | | cylinders, but aid the old school V8 guys as well. |
| over 750 horsepower and it wasn’t uncommon | | | | |