iron duke 4cyl, how good are they

dudes, answered ad on craigslist last week for a "iron duke" motor. the motor was being replaced with a 258 6cyl. ad said you pull it it's yours so i did after seeing the car: it was a 1980 amc "spirit" and only had 77,000 miles on it. the guy said it wouldn't start so after 30 seconds to find ignition switch on column was out of adjustment i popped it right off and it purred,no rattles or smoke. one of the best things is a gm trans bolt pattern plus hei. give me some feedback on this little motor. here is some pic's of car and motor. thanks.

 

Good solid motor with go parts still available.
Great motor for a light car or modified. Can adapt injetion to it easily.
Good score.
r

 

I'm sure they've all been discontinued now, but Pontiac had a whole Super Duty line of race parts for them 10 to 20 years ago.

 

Great little engines. Being an 80, that's probably the exact same as a monza engine.

 

I knew AMC borrowed from a lot of cars, but I had no idea they used whole engines from other manufacturers.

 

You can fit a Mercruiser crank, SBC rods and custom pistons to get 2.7 litres..

I think you can bore it to 3.0 if you want to get silly.

Shawn

 

Ever open the hood on a Jeep?

4-cylinder in 80's Jeeps: Iron Duke
V6 in 60's, 70's Jeeps: Buick
V8 in 60's Jeeps: Kaiser 327, Buick 350.

They bought whatever was available by the looks of it.

Shawn

 

I can send you CAD drawings/patterns to build your own intake manifold to mount a 40DCOE Weber side-draft carburetor. I have a pattern for a header flange as well. Of course you will need a version of Autocad to view them.

 

Isn't the front of the "iron duke" straight off the I-6 Chevy?
ie water pump,timing cover etc.?

 

Great engine.

Our CJ-7 had one in it, wouldn't go too fast on the main roads, but had a good bit of power for what it was. Got great fuel mileage.

My cousin had one in his 2wd S-10, when he rebuilt it, he just glued the oil pan on (no gasket?) and it kept going. Outlasted the body.

Some Jeep catalogs sell headers for these engines too.

If I had one, I'd probably use it.

 

When I worked in the components shop my forman had a March chassis with a GT2 iron duke from Hufficer (sp) That thing was very quick

 

These engines were kinda modular in that way. May be a difference in rotation with some of the water pumps.

 

If this is the same as the "iron duke" that was in the 60s Chevy 2, they were a staple in midget racing in the 60s-70s. If you want to go "balls out" with it keep an eye on the classified section here: http://www.midgetmadness.com/ Occasionally there are ads for racing engines/parts (roller cams, injectors, drysumps etc.) real cheap.

 

Unfortunately the Iron Duke Pontiac engine is not the same as the early Chevy II engine. Head bolt patterns are not the same but the crank can be used in the late model engine if you make a seal adaptor. The aftermarket parts from Pontiac were great but the production engine was a little light in many places. It's one of those engines that needs to be honed with a torque plate if it is bored. Mercruiser parts will interchange for more cubic inches.

 

I one in a 75 monza..that thing was un stoppable. it ran forever.

 

Timely info, I've been thinking of going with an iron duke in a future project.

 

was thinking of puting it in a old 36' plymouth coupe i had just to get it motoring around. feedback on this?

 

You could save them as a PDF from your AutoCad program and then anyone can view them.

 

Doesn't the Mercruiser head bolt on to these and isn't it a cross-flow?
r

 

So I guess my late 70s mail Jeep engine is an Iron Duke?
151, not 153 cid???? (it's my first 4 banger, so I don't know)

Wonder how one of these would act with a 200R4 trans behind it in, say a (light)modified??

Sorry to hijack yer thread, 55dude

 

Yep, I picked up a '79 AMC Spirit at the auction for a friend in the late '80s. It was VW powered which shocked the hell out of me!....

The Iron Duke is a strong little mill. They were intoduced in the mid '70s Pontiac Astre, carried over to the Vega, Monza, Starfire, etc car lines. As was stated, there used to be quite a bit of go-fast stuff around for the 151.

Jan

 

Doesn't look any thing like a 153 cu in. The carb is on the wrong side. But........ if you google "Vortec 3000" you will find a brand spanking new 4 banger that looks just like the old one in my A sedan.

 

my old thread and just picked up a complete 1980 amc spirit with a 151 in it!

 

This is a "modern" Iron Duke, from Arias. Aluminum block and hemi head but it is based on the original Iron Duke. This one fits in Steve Nelson's lakester and makes about 360 hps at 7500. It is 180 inches (three liters).

 

Go to autocad web site and search volo view. Lets you see but not draw.