The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk SB or SBC or BB ????????

what's the difference between AND what do they stand for ????????
SB
SBC
BB
when it comes to trucks, or motors ???

Typically they stand for:
SB - Small Block
SBC - Small Block Chevy
BB - Big Block (BBC would be Big block Chevy)

Again typcially the small block designation pertains to engines with standard cubic inch displacement below 400 and the big block designation is for 400 and above although there are a couple of minor exceptions such as the Chevy 402 which can be either a SB or a BB I believe depending on the year and the chevy 396 which is considered a BB.

Other manufacturers such as Mopar and Ford fall in the same ranges, again with some minor exceptions.

Thanks Houston
that clears it up

My understading on the 400/402 deal is that the "real" 400 is a smallblock (I have 3 of them) and that the bigblock 396 was "labeled" as a 400 in some applications when the 400 motor was defined as GM's largest powerplant.

The 402 came about as a machining error at the assembly plant necessitated the re-boring of many blocks to .030 over, thus creating a 402....but many of them were sold as wither 396 or 400s. What a mess.

One other use I've seen to differentiate is that SB seems to be used occasionally to represent StoveBolt, SBC for smallblock and BBC for big block.

Sorry, Caroline...if it was clear before, I'm afraid that I just muddied the waters.

Not to muddle things up more, but what about the 348 and 366? They are big blocks too, right?

Fab,

If I'm thinking about the same thing that you are -- the big engine available in the late 50s, early 60s, I think THAT engine was neither fish nor fowl. Not an SBC, but not a BBC either. The internal pics I've seen of that certainly don't look like the BBCs that I remember.

Brian

To my understanding the "small block" terminology began with the Chevy 265 V8.

The term 'small block' refers to the actual outside dimensions of the block not the cubic inch displacement. The chevy 350 smallblock has the same outside dimensions as the 327 or even the 400 small block. There are many different CID's when it comes to the Chevy smallblock. To many to list.
The 'big block' is built different. Much bigger outside dimensions even though it can still come in a 350 CID. The smallblock is smaller in overall dimensions and weight. This is good because less weight and size with the same CID. Translated means more power to weight ratio. And of course, tons of performance parts--Cheap!

I believe the 348/409 was called a WBC for Wide Block, but of course W in a F**d means Windsor.

the 348/409 is called a "W" block because of the shape of the valve covers

there are a select few parts that are interchangeble with the small block and other parts that are common with the big block but very few

rh

When I worked at the Chev. assembly plant in Van Nuys in 1958 the engine was referred to as the W-3 because of the shape of the valve covers.