Is the 5.4l 3V engine considered a small block or big block?

Thanks

 

Big Block/Small Block is something chevy came up with. It does not apply to Ford engines.

 

It depends who you ask. There's no real set standard as to what defines "small block" and "big block." Physically though, it's a bigass engine, bigger than a 302 or 351W, for what that's worth.

 

As stated, small block, big block is a Chebby thing, but in the old days, many called the Windsor/Cleveland engines (260-351 cid) small blocks and the FE engines (390-460) big blocks. The 5.4 is part of the modular engine family and comes in around 330 cid, a bit smaller than the 351 which comes ina round 5.7 liters.

 

The 5.4L is a "small block". They are correct it is a chevy thing. However it is debatable. Try to bore and stroke a 302 to a 460 and find out how much of a small block it really is. The "big block" basically is a larger block that can hold larger bore and strokes. The names have stuck around for a reason. They are not theory or a myth. There are truly "small blocks" and "big blocks" and do still apply to ford engines.....

 

Only In displacement. The overall demension are acctually Bigger than "FE" series engines. Mainly due to the overhead cam design. The modular engines are Wider and taller not sure if they are longer though. FordFE.com forum someone posted scale sizes of both engines one inside the other. The Modular was larger demensionally. I think there is some big room for performance from bore and stroke in the Modular engine family. Just gotta figure out where and how.

 

"big block" is a name that the bowtie boosters came up with in an attempt to make their trucks seem beefy.

In my opinion, the 5.4L is a big motor, so yeah, I'd call it a big block!

 

I have a 460 in my old 72 F250 and the 5.4 looks to be larger than it and it is huge and heavy.

 

It's a "BIG" small block!

 

My great-grandfather, God rest his soul, had a 70' Ford Ranger 250 with a 360 in it and when I was about 15 I once asked him if it was a big block or a small block, his answer was simply "It looks to be a mighty Damned big block to me William" so in keeping with my late great-grandfathers observations I would have to say that the 5.4 appears to be a mighty Damned big block. So now all of you motor heads argue that!!!

 

It doesnt refer to cubic inches, because GM has small block 350 (Chevy) and big block 350 (Buick, Olds, Pontiac) which are very wide in comparison to the small block, refering to the block, not the heads. So I would suspect that if you took the heads away, the block would be fairly small.

 

If I recall, one of the features that stand out between a big block and a small block is that of the crankshaft main. A small block has a series of two bolts that hold it together and a large block has a four bolt main.

 

FEs are 332, 352, 360, 361, 390, 406, 410, 427, and 428

Adrianspeeder

 

Dang, you are going way back. Still, the FE, Windsor, Cleveland, Big Block, Small Block all designate engine designs (actually short block designs) and have nothing to do with cid, and at 330 cid, I wouldn't consider the 5.4 huge, but by today's standards it's one of the larger engines available.

 

The LS1 is a 350 with a 6-bolt main.

Back in the old days, at least with chevys, the way you tell the difference was to look at the exhaust ports:
0 00 0
small block
0 0 0 0
big block

but, again with the LS1, the exhaust ports look like a big block.