Once a staple of the hot rod and modification scenes, the era of the big block V8 engines has largely ended thanks to technological advances in the 1980s and 1990s. The result was 340 horsepower ...

Chevy's Vortec 8100 — AKA ... Descended from the legendary big block 454, an engine that has powered countless muscle cars and hot rods throughout the decades, it debuted in 2001 as the ...

Up until then, the small block was the one-and-only V8 on Chevy’s engine roster and proved to be reliable, capable, and ...

While those big-block competitors have fallen by the wayside, the Chevy 454 soldiered on in production ... forged-steel crankshaft and connecting rods, as well as forged-aluminum pistons.