Originally Posted by ekpolk
Originally Posted by DriveHard
maybe its not the exact same design, but I would put the strength and reliability of the 6.0L LS based truck engine up against the 3800.
But it's an apples vs oranges comparison. These two engine families have little in common, but what they do share is interesting. The parent company, of course, is GM in both cases. GM has taken its knocks, but the fact remains that both engine families proved economically viable, and practical/effective for
decades beyond what would seem to be the norm today.
Both engines trace their origins to roughly the same time -- the mid-1950s, give or take a couple years. The small-block V-8 line has survived longer, primarily because it still has a huge market to fill -- light trucks (and Corvettes, of course...
).
Both families saw continual improvements over the years, but the V-6 settled into almost a fixed form 20 years before it went away (same displacement, minor improvements), whereas the V-8s have taken many more forms (many displacements, iron and aluminum, various adaptations, etc.).
And both families have had problems. Stupid plastic cooling parts for the V-6, piston slap during some years for the V-8. Just for example. I'd still call both very reliable engines.
But notice this: throughout all the years, GM stuck with the solid basic formula, compact, relatively light, push-rod designs. Many people criticized GM for staying with "ancient" outdated designs. But they worked, and for many, they still do.
I don't consider the LSx engines an evolution of the SBC. The SBC died with the LT1 and was replaced by the much more capable, but completely different, LSx engine family, spearheaded by the LS1. In many respects the LSx has more in common with the Ford Windsor (SBF) than it does the SBC it replaced.