Just because GM stopped making the original smallblock V8 doesn't mean that there isn't loads of information out there, if that's what you're looking to build for your Corvette. 

Must-Reads For Old-Schoolers

Story by Scott Ross
Photos by Patrick Hill


Obsolete? Just because Chevy and GM aren’t stuffing the original smallblock Chevy V8 into production cars and trucks anymore doesn’t mean its days as a performance engine are done. Not by a long shot, what with many of the 66 million of those engines still around—and especially when you read these two tech books covering the venerable Mouse.

John Bachtel has revised his landmark work, now titled Small-Block Chevy Performance 1955-1996, and it’s yours from Car Tech Books. There’s now plenty of info on the updated 1992-96 Gen II engines, to go along with the goldmine of text, illustrations and data about the venerable ’55-’91 Gen I’s that was in the original book.

This should be a teaching text for you students of the Mechanical Arts who are taking Smallblocks 101—there are chapters on blocks (selection, inspection, plus block prep work like boring and decking) as well as crankshafts, pistons and rods, cams, heads, induction systems, oiling, exhausts. There’s an addendum covering the Gen II’s that lists the features and differences of these mills versus the original Mouse engines, system by system.

Also from Car Tech Books is Graham Hansen’s High-Performance Chevy Small Block Cylinder Heads.  This book picks up where Baechtel’s chapter on heads leaves off, and gives you plenty of information on airflow basics, flow benches and the test data they generate, aftermarket versus OEM heads, along with plenty of tips on porting, rebuilding and assembling.

The chapters on the different types of heads—which are arranged by small/medium/large port size--are worth the price of the book just by themselves. So is the info in the chapters covering GM-made heads—all about the early -production iron ones, later iron and aluminum heads, and especially the ’96-’97 Vortec heads--as well as the chapter on matching your heads to a particular camshaft to add up to a combination that’ll deliver all the power you’re ooking for, while keeping your budget from going kerblooie.


GET IT:

Small-Block Chevy Performance 1955-1996
CarTech Books, 800/551-4754, www.cartechbooks.com
List Price: $18.95 + shipping

High-Performance Chevy Small Block Cylinder Heads
CarTech Books, 800/551-4754, www.cartechbooks.com
List Price: $24.95 + shipping