Man Builds Giant Big-Block V8 And Gearbox From Lego

Cast your mind back to 2020, and what you did to keep yourself occupied during the many weeks of being forced to stay indoors. Maybe you made a lot of banana bread or got really deep into some box sets.

American hobbyist Evan Koblentz went down a different route, combining two of his big passions - Lego and big ol’ V8s - to create what he believes to be the biggest Lego V8 engine in the world. And for good measure, he built a four-speed gearbox to go with it, too.

The engine, which Evan says took him “one pandemic” to complete, is a replica of a big-block Chevrolet 454 cubic inch V8 - that’s 7.4 litres to us on this side of the pond. This engine was an option in cars like the Chevelle, El Camino and C3 Corvette.

This isn’t some ready-to-build kit with a full set of instructions of the kind we see Lego release these days. Evan built it from the ground up to show what could be done with vintage Lego parts, using Expert Builder pieces from the 1970s and ’80s - sort of precursors to today’s Technic kits. All in all, the whole setup weighs over 18kg and is around four feet long - nearly the length of the real thing. Evan didn’t keep count of how many pieces he used but says it’s several thousand.

Best of all, the whole thing features replicas of all the major moving parts of an engine and gearbox - propshaft, crankshaft, cylinders, valves and more. There are even lights to represent spark ignition. It’s all controlled using Lego-produced 4.5-volt motors, which run off a fantastically ’80s Laser computer.

This is certainly one of the most impressive automotive lockdown projects we’ve seen. Lego experts seem to like it too, as it won the ‘Best Mechanical’ award at last year’s Brickworld Chicago, the US’s biggest Lego show.

Evan does admit that he can’t definitively prove it’s the biggest Lego V8 in the world. Anyone have something bigger they want to show us?