Packard Forum Index » ZIS, ZIL, and other Packard Cousins!

" a weak-minded 120 hp truck engine (GAZ-53), which is optical similar.. "

Now keep in mind that i am in the US and i don't have a single clue about anything that goes on in the rest of the world:

Are there any Small block Chevy (SBC) engines in Russia???? What about the EU and OZ???

If Russia likes to copy US cars and technology i find it almost impossible that Russia would have not copied the SBC by now.

Is the SBC strictly an American phenomenon that has not spread to the rest of the world???

Keith, V8 engines have always been considered as large-volume drivetrains for luxury cars in Western Europe and the Eastern bloc as well. By my count their production numbers never transcended some few percent measured against the total number of production. Mid-size executive cars featuring six-cylinders. You perhaps won't believe your eyes when I show you a typical straight six:




Mercedes, BMW and Audi have eight-cylinder drivetrains and automatic transmissions installed when designated for the US market. Compact cars like Audi A3 reach stressless 200 miles kilometers per hour and six-cylinders usualy have speed limiters to enable soil contact. After the war dual or even four carburetors have been exclusively installed in sports or race cars.


Mercedes S-class, 500 Nm (torque), 204 hp, four-cylinder, Diesel


ZIS, ZIL and Chaika have almost nothing in common with Soviet everyday cars!

sources
pic #1: www.telegraph.co.uk
pic #2: www.emissionslos.com

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" a weak-minded 120 hp truck engine (GAZ-53), which is optical similar "

Let me be more specific:

When Russians or Europeans decide to do an "engine swap" then why not choose the SBC like the vast majority of Americans do?????

"Mercedes, BMW and Audi have eight-cylinder drivetrains and automatic transmissions installed when designated for the US market."

Oh. Wait a minute. Maybe the above quote answered my quaeation. But the above quote begs another question:

European Mercedes, BMW and Audi built for European sales do NOT have the V8's ????

Keith, it's all about fuel cost. Traditional European cars have smaller motors due to the higher fuel costs and stricter air quality rules in Europe.

In addition to higher fuel cost, do some countries still charge a tax or extra fee based on size or HP of engine? I seem to recall reading an extra fee was a big cost for those wanting to import cars with huge American engines back in the day. Was mentioned as one of the reasons European engines were small by comparison.

Keith, both Kev and Howard are on solid ground. Direct components of automobile tax are engine size and emission. An indirect component but very important is the tax included in fuel costs (approx two-thirds of fuel costs are taxes).

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Nonpersonal and non-judgemental I kindly ask our members to name three large cities in Portugal...
Without internet the majority of Europeans don't know the difference between Chevrolet and Cadillac and one of the most known US vehicle is the Coca-Cola christmas truck. 99 of 100 German citizen have no idea what SBC means and even if, the next available exchange engine would probably be 6,000 miles away.



And now listen: given one would have a SBC and a car to fit and the money for tax and fuel and a source for spare parts many people wouldn't want to install it nevertheless.
For European eyes it is too heavy, too ponderous and too unrefined. The oil crisis in 1973 started a change in thinking and the growing ecological sensibility intensified that philosophy. In the course of years it disembogued in a paradigm shift. German consumers looking for "modern" cars. A car is prestigious when fully furnished AND economical, ecological, save, maneuverable and while acceleration power is a kind of implicitness the power of deceleration sometimes is a unique selling point.




Product lines echo three general orientations of European car customers and all of them ask for maximum fuel efficiency:

1 - luxury (vanguards)
2 - sporty (clean conscience)
3 - beginner (costs).

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Consequently, only a minority of them have eight-cylinders installed.

Keith,

Plenty of SBC's in Oz. Holden, the local GM brand, used them for some years before they developed their own V8 engine. Plus there are thriving Hot Rod, Drag Racing, Muscle Car and Power Boat scenes where, like the US, SBC's are most often the engine of choice.

Guscha,

Thanks for the answer about the SBC in EU. . But what engine IS the engine of choice for engine swaps in Europe????

Keith, the German scene doesn't have a preferred universal engine but a preferred engine make: BMW.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the chosen guest speaker to celebrate my post # 3,000 is no less than Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas More, portrayed by Hans Holbein the Younger and today as photomontage at the foundry of company ZIL, which is - despite all reports to the contrary - still in operation!

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