Talk:Cylinder block

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I edited the old Big Block article, prior to its being merged with this one.

In a nutshell, the term big block, as oppossed to small block, refers to the physical dimensions of the block, NOT the displacement of the cylenders. Thus, GM produced a 400 cubic inch engine in both big and small block form.

An important distinction if only because it is a common confusion. The current Z06 corvette, at 7L is a small block, while the mid-60s Olds 425, at 7L, is a big block.

[edit] Unglobal usage

I understand this is not really "international" in terms of the definition of the engine block, but as far as I know, I haven't heard the term "big block" or "small block" in reference to anything besides American engines. Most of the foreign engines have a displacement smaller than 5.9L, so they would all be classified as "small blocks". And the only engine manufacturer to ever really focus on any differentiation appears to be the "big 3" American manufacturers. (Note that I did not add this tag; this tag was added without any discussion being added as to why.) Zchris87v 21:11, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

So lets take the tag out of the sections dealing with small block and big block. However, engines throughout the world have cylinder blocks, and this article's name is generic in that regard. Gene Nygaard 17:20, 3 December 2007 (UTC)