“The design of which was ripped off from Chevy”
+1
There are some technical inaccuracies in the article; the 348/409 was an interesting motor, but a technological dead-end with its combustion chamber in the piston and the head being essentially flat. This was called the “W” engine, not the “rat”, which was the 396/(402)/427/454. The W engine’s pistons were incredibly heavy and the engine had zero rev potential. It was big and torquey, though, fine for a truck, which was its original purpose.
The greatest innovations of the small block IMO were the stamped rocker arms (cheaper than dirt and they worked very well/lasted forever on a street engine) and the block being strong enough to avoid an oil pan “skirt” (basically, the entire oil pan was stamped), saving enormous weight.
They saved a lot of money on those rockers, leaving lots to spend elsewhere on the engine.
Once upon a time, I was into IMCA racing.
One of the then rules was that your motor could not exceed 350 original cubic inches.
The claim was also less than $100.00.
I remember one guy that lucked upon (or so he thought) an unending supply for 348's.
The first one he put in his car blew twelve ways to Sunday in the first showing, due to the alcohol we ran and the inability of the motor to rev above 5500 rpm.
The second time around, he got one to last about 4 laps, but couldn't control the wheel spin, due to the massive torque and the weight of that boat anchor on the front.
He blew it up, too.
He tried a couple more but ended up using them in his old flatbed to haul his car around.
That was one piece of junk and I don't think GM was ever very proud of it.
As I remember, the two heads alone outweighed the 327/350 block.
They also left out my favorite, the big journal 302 that went in Z-28s. That was a reving little motor!