The Chevrolet small-block engine is a series of automobile V8 engines built by the Chevrolet Division of General Motors using the same basic small (for a US V8 of the time) engine block. Even though the first big-block engines were smaller in displacement than the largest small block engine, the small blocks were almost all under 400 cu in (6.6 L) with most of the big block engines being above that. The small blocks actual small physical size also set them apart from their massive physical size cousins, the big blocks. Retroactively referred to as the "Generation I" small-block, it is distinct from subsequent "Generation II" LT and "Generation III/IV" LS, and "Generation V" (LT/EcoTec3) engines. Engineer Ed Cole, who would later become GM President, is credited with leading the design for