They began by keeping the best parts of the small-block V-8 Chevy launched for the 1955 model year: A 4.4-inch spacing between cylinder bores and one block-mounted camshaft activating a mere 16 valves serving eight cylinders. They also retained key refinements developed over six decades that improved this engine’s ease of making horsepower for the least weight, space, and cost: aluminum block and head construction; a deep-skirt cylinder block with cross-bolted main bearings and cast-iron bore liners; state-of-the-art electronic controls to meter the fuel and cleanse the exhaust; free-flowing cylinder heads with direct injection developed for the 2014 C7 Corvette’s LT1 engine; and squirters aiming a jet of oil at the underside of each piston to lower their operating temperatures.