Big-block engines are awesome because they make it easy to put together some crazy big-inch builds. If you are in the "no replacement for displacement" camp—never a bad idea—a big-block is your golden ...

Hot rod builds a mouse trap and tries to catch a rat. Originally published in the August 1998 issue of Hot Rod magazine. To celebrate HOT ROD's 75th anniversary, we teamed up with CASTROL GTX to bring ...

You want your engine to shine when you pop the hood, don't you? For most hot-rodders, the engine is the whole point of building, driving, racing, or otherwise owning a kick-ass machine. But it's not ...

Hot rodders played with blocks as kids, and still play with them as adults. This vast level of experience notwithstanding, enthusiasts often insist on monkeying around with production blocks. They ...

The Pontiac division was established by General Motors in 1926 and thrived during the muscle car era, producing memorable models like the era-defining 1964 GTO. Pontiac's market share steadily ...

Chevrolet's Vortec series of engines is hugely popular. Designed with trucks in mind, Vortec engines prioritize low-end torque and durability over high compression ratios and high horsepower, unlike ...

Big-block V8 engines have long been at the heart of American muscle car performance. Some of these engines became mass-manufactured icons while others remained as hidden gems, known only to hardcore ...

In automotive nomenclature, small-block V8 engines are typically physically smaller than their big-block counterparts, hence the nickname. With some exceptions, the piston bores, stroke, cylinder head ...