If you’ve ever torn down an engine and rebuilt it from the ground up, then you know how much work is involved in the process. It’s probably not the easiest thing in the world to do, but if you’re like us, it to be as much as it can be a headache at times.
One of the most popular engines in the hobby, the Small-Block Chevy (SBC), has been assembled in numerous configurations, for tons of applications from classic street rods, to musclecars, to even boats and airplanes. It’s still the go-to, affordable powerplant of the universe – predating it’s alloy-based LS decedent by as much as four decades, that has since become the darling of the aftermarket.
Even so, Chevy guys still enjoy building them to suit their taste and to fulfill their automotive passion. Oh yeah, and to feed that need for speed – almost forgot about that one. Maybe that’s why whenever we see one being rebuilt, we’re like kids in a candy store eager to see the projected outcome; what kind of power it makes, how it runs, drives and ultimately, what car it will be going in.
While we have our own projects brewing as we type this, our friends at Hagerty have compiled a time lapse video of a small-block they were building for one of their own projects. Using still photography and very clever editing, the video gives us a sped-up look at the entire rebuild process, from teardown, cleaning, honing, boring, rebuilding and of course, the finishing touches like a few coats of Chevy Engine Orange, and an Edelbrock carb and aluminum intake manifold.
For an engine platform that dates back to 1955, you have to give it to Chevrolet for hitting that one out of the park. Because not only did it remain in production in one form or another through the late-1990s, but its LS- and LT-based descendants contributed to over a million SBCs ever manufactured over the course of the last sixty years! Not bad, Chevrolet, not bad at all…
Rick Seitz is the owner and founder of AutoCentric Media, the parent company to Timeless Muscle Magazine, and has a true love and passion for all vehicles. When he isn’t tuning, testing, or competing with the magazine’s current crop of project vehicles, he’s busy tinkering and planning the next round modifications for his own cars.