Engine Displacement - Units of Measure

Units of Measure

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In the United States, the cubic inch was the commonly used unit of measurement until the 1980s by the manufacturers to express the displacement of engines for cars, trucks, etc. (e.g., the "426" in 426 HEMI refers to 426 cubic inches displaced). It is still used for this purpose in the context of the classic-car hobby, auto racing, and so forth.

The automotive industry nowadays uses the International System of Units / le Système international d'unités (SI), a modern metric system for this purpose worldwide (e.g. 6.1 litre HEMI). However, in markets accustomed to cubic inches, the actual displacement measurements of an engine are still given by many manufacturers in these units, usually along with metric value; e.g. the 6.1-litre HEMI's published displacement is 370.0 CID/6,059 cc. Some examples of common CID-to-litre conversions are given below. Note that nominal sizes are not always precisely equal to actual sizes. This principle is frequently seen in engineering, tool standardization, etc. (for ease of use) and in marketing (when a big round number sounds more impressive, is more memorable, etc.).

make (± division) cubic inch displacement (CID)
- (actual) (nearest 1)
cubic inch displacement (CID)
- (nominal)
International System of Units (SI)
- (actual) (nearest 0.01)
International System of Units (SI)
- (nominal)
Honda, Kawasaki, others something close to 61 CID N/A (not marketed in CID) 1000 cc (= 1.0 litre)
Honda, Kawasaki, others something close to 98 CID N/A (not marketed in CID) 1600 cc (= 1.6-litre)
Honda, Kawasaki, others; Ford something close to 122 CID N/A (not marketed in CID) 2000 cc (= 2.0-litre)
GM (Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, GMC, others) 151 CID N/A (not marketed in CID) 2.5-litre
Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, others something close to 183 CID N/A (not marketed in CID) 3.0-litre
AMC, Jeep, Chrysler (I6) 241.573 CID 242 CID 3,959 cc 4.0-litre
Ford something close to 244 CID N/A (not marketed in CID) 4.0-litre
Ford (Ford, Mercury), GM (Chevrolet, GMC) 250 CID 4.10-litre 4.1-litre
AMC, Jeep, International Harvester 258 CID 4.22-litre 4.2-litre
GM (Chevrolet, GMC, Oldsmobile) 262 CID 4.33-litre 4.3-litre
Ford (Ford, Mercury) 289 CID 4.74-litre N/A (not marketed in SI)
Ford (Ford trucks and vans) 300 CID 4.92-litre 4.9-litre
GM (Pontiac) 301 CID 4.9-litre N/A (not marketed in SI)
Ford, GM (Chevrolet) 302 CID (302 Windsor, 302 Cleveland, Chevrolet 302) 4.95-litre 5.0-litre
GM (Oldsmobile) 303 CID
AMC, Jeep, International Harvester 304 CID 4.98-litre 5.0-litre
GM (Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick) 305 CID 5.0-litre N/A (not marketed in S/I)
GM (Chevrolet; Buick) 307 CID 307 CID 5.03-litre N/A (not marketed in SI)
GM (Oldsmobile) 307 CID N/A (not marketed in CID) 5.03-litre 5.0-litre
Chrysler (Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth) 318 CID 5.21-litre 5.2-litre
AMC, GM (Chevrolet) 327 CID 327 CID 5.36-litre N/A (not marketed in SI)
GM (Oldsmobile) 330 CID
Buick, Chrysler (Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth) 340 CID 5.57-litre N/A (not marketed in SI)
GM (GMC, Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, others) 350 CID 5.74-litre 5.7-litre
Ford (Ford, Mercury) 351 CID (Cleveland or Windsor) 5.75-litre 5.8-litre
AMC, Chrysler (Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth) 360 CID 5.90-litre 5.9-litre
Chrysler (Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth) 383 CID 6.28-litre N/A (not marketed in SI)
GM (Pontiac) 389 CID 6.5-litre N/A (not marketed in SI)
AMC, Ford, GM (Cadillac) 390 CID 6.39-litre N/A (not marketed in SI)
GM (Oldsmobile) 394 CID
GM (Chevrolet) 396 CID 6.49-litre N/A (not marketed in SI)
GM (Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile) 400 CID 6.55-litre N/A (not marketed in SI)
GM (Buick) 401 CID
GM (Chevrolet) 409 CID 6.70-litre N/A (not marketed in SI)
GM (Pontiac) 421 CID 6.90-litre N/A (not marketed in SI)
GM (Oldsmobile) 425 CID
Chrysler (Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth) 426 CID (Wedge or Hemi) 6.98-litre 7.0-litre
Ford (Ford, Mercury) 427 CID 7.00-litre 7.0-litre
GM (Pontiac),Ford (Ford, Mercury) 428 CID 7.01-litre 7.0-litre
Ford (Ford, Mercury) 429 CID 7.03-litre 7.0-litre
Chrysler (Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth) 440 CID 7.21-litre 7.2-litre
GM (GMC, Chevrolet) 454 CID 7.44-litre 7.4-litre
GM (Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac) 455 CID 7.46-litre N/A (not marketed in SI)
Ford (Ford ; Lincoln ) 460 CID 7.54-litre 7.5-litre
GM (Cadillac) 472 CID 7.73-litre 7.7-litre
GM (Cadillac) 500 CID 8.19-litre 8.2-litre
Chrysler (Dodge) 506.5 CID 505 CID 8285 cc 8.3-litre
Chrysler (Dodge) 509.8 CID 510 CID 8354 cc 8.4-litre
GM (GM Performance Parts) 572 CID 9373 cc 9.4-litre

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