How Many Of These Monster GM Engines Do You Remember?

Gorehamj · March 19, 2016

John Goreham
Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
3/18/2016

General Motors has produced some massive engines over the years. How many of these do you remember? Click to enlarge the graphic.

Graphic courtesy of Spork Marketing and GMPartsCenter.net

grampadirt · March 19, 2016

I've had three 454s,one currently in my Burb.Those Caddy engines filled the engine bay even on an FWD Eldorado,they were massive.The first one(just guessing cuz I can't read it well)I would imagine found it's way into a WWII tank.

barry G · March 23, 2016

the chronology is missing...

454 was elusive.

having 3 of them must have been a rich dude.

the 455 whooped all their asses for years, even in a 2 door coupe delta royale from 1976 with some stupid 4 to 1 compression (ok exaggerated)..

they somehow worked with small air and kept going peacefully...all the way to a hood ornament whistling as it layed over at a buried 120mph speedo.

the 454 was not happy...aftermarket made that engine good. Even more elusive than the 454: a person that built it right.

the 500 caddy and 472 was other difficult ones. Could not veer off what they built. They always got left alone.

I remember the first 502 I saw, it was summer 1996. Very troubled, like the old 454, like the air fuel did not ever exist right. It was nice to hear the big stroke again..

another something amazing I remember..

1996 was the vortec, spider injection.

the 305 got bigger than the 350, and all of gm history combined..

the rest is history...

bouncing around 5 liters.

..all the way to a koenigsegg.

the big block today is most welcome, computing fixed all of them. the last hoorah for me personally was a 1959 hemi in engine masters challenge that won in the old school way competing with modern.

I stay wet sleeve small block... GM. (it does exist)

great list, it is every big memory.

muddkatt · March 23, 2016

That list is not accurate. The 454 was produced and installed in cars up until the end of 1976. After that it was available in 3/4 ton trucks into the 80's that I know of.

And if they want to talk about the BIG engines, how about the GMC 637 V-8 and the GMC 702 V-12?

Doug_Scott · March 23, 2016

For some reason I thought they meant the biggest selling engines or the best engines. I only read the headline, not the sub-line after it. Don't think they should include the crate engines on this list.

Mad Max · March 23, 2016

I thought there was a 505 too

70 W-30 · March 23, 2016

I have 3 #4s in my garage right now! ?

Formulabruce · March 23, 2016

That Pontiac picture sucks, and is the WRONG COLOR. RED?, seriously , I need to fix this .

doverarjim · March 24, 2016

My brother and I are Big Block fans right now we have over 40 complete 396, 402, 454 engines and a few 427's also we have some tall block 366's & 427's. And could more than likely put 10-15 more together out of parts and then have a whole stack of stuff left over. All of them are from 67-79 models.

grampadirt · March 24, 2016

That list is not accurate. The 454 was produced and installed in cars up until the end of 1976. After that it was available in 3/4 ton trucks into the 80's that I know of.

And if they want to talk about the BIG engines, how about the GMC 637 V-8 and the GMC 702 V-12?

Yep,that 702 was two v-6s

grampadirt · March 24, 2016

Wanna good read? Check this out...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_GM_engines

grampadirt · March 24, 2016

My brother and I are Big Block fans right now we have over 40 complete 396, 402, 454 engines and a few 427's also we have some tall block 366's & 427's. And could more than likely put 10-15 more together out of parts and then have a whole stack of stuff left over. All of them are from 67-79 models.

You probably remember when GM's pickup trucks were advertised as 396s but were actually 402s.

grampadirt · March 24, 2016

You probably remember when GM's pickup trucks were advertised as 396s but were actually 402s.Also,wasn't there a 400 small block and a 400(maybe advertised as a 402 )big block?

Don't know what happened,was quoting Doverarjim.

Doug_Scott · March 24, 2016

Don't recall ever seeing a vehicle marked from the factory as being a 402. They used that engine in just about anything that came with a 396 I think. GM did have a 400 small block Chev engine that came in both cars and trucks. I have seen pics of cars with the 400 tag on the fender, but it had a 402 big block in it, and also seen a 400 tag on same make/model car with a 400 small block in it. The small block one I saw was an actual car, not just a pic. Found this on Wikipedia

"Introduced in 1970, the 402-cubic-inch (6.6 L) was a 396-cubic-inch bored out by 0.030 in (0.76 mm). Despite the fact that it was 6 cubic inches (98 cc) larger, Chevrolet continued marketing it under the popular "396" label in the smaller cars while at the same time labeling it "Turbo-Jet 400" in the full-size cars. The 402 label was used in light pickup trucks."

"The 400 saw extensive use in full-size Chevrolet and GMC trucks; K5 Blazer/Jimmy, 1/2-ton, 3/4-ton, 1-ton, and even larger 'medium duty' trucks had an option to be equipped with a 400. The engine was available in midsize A-Body and full-size B-Body passenger cars until the end of the 1976 model year. Early models produced 265 horsepower with a two-barrel carburetor. All 400s came with a two-barrel carburetor with a four-barrel carburetor option becoming available in 1974."

I remember at the time that the 400 small block was treated like the 307 was, something to avoid if you were going to modify the engine.

grampadirt · March 24, 2016

Don't recall ever seeing a vehicle marked from the factory as being a 402. They used that engine in just about anything that came with a 396 I think. GM did have a 400 small block Chev engine that came in both cars and trucks. I have seen pics of cars with the 400 tag on the fender, but it had a 402 big block in it, and also seen a 400 tag on same make/model car with a 400 small block in it. The small block one I saw was an actual car, not just a pic. Found this on Wikipedia

"Introduced in 1970, the 402-cubic-inch (6.6 L) was a 396-cubic-inch bored out by 0.030 in (0.76 mm). Despite the fact that it was 6 cubic inches (98 cc) larger, Chevrolet continued marketing it under the popular "396" label in the smaller cars while at the same time labeling it "Turbo-Jet 400" in the full-size cars. The 402 label was used in light pickup trucks."

"The 400 saw extensive use in full-size Chevrolet and GMC trucks; K5 Blazer/Jimmy, 1/2-ton, 3/4-ton, 1-ton, and even larger 'medium duty' trucks had an option to be equipped with a 400. The engine was available in midsize A-Body and full-size B-Body passenger cars until the end of the 1976 model year. Early models produced 265 horsepower with a two-barrel carburetor. All 400s came with a two-barrel carburetor with a four-barrel carburetor option becoming available in 1974."

I remember at the time that the 400 small block was treated like the 307 was, something to avoid if you were going to modify the engine.

That's what I was trying to remember lol