Iron Dukes??
 

What ever happened to the Pontiac iron duke engines? They seemed to be the "ticket" for a 4 banger in comp back in the day. I used to enjoy watching a Pontiac T1000 with a iron duke and a glide get some wickes spots in IHRA superstock a decade and a half ago, anyone know where it went. Is anyone still racing one? Was the little Pontiac "out scienced" by the more modern 4 cylinder engines or were there issues with dependability or parts? Any responses are appreciated. Don Jackson

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

Larry Nelson still has his T1000 but i don't think he's had it out for awhile.

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

I built one back when they first came out, They had a special block and forged 3.25 crank and the one I had had the S.D. cast iron head. Later on guys in comp adapted the splayed valve Chev head to the S.D. block. I know some poeple are using a Gaerte block in comp now. Bob Michael.

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

Alyn Armstrong's opel GT was (is?) powered by an iron duke with a billet head he made.
Leave the line at 10,000 and shift at 10,500! (unless that was his extremely dry humor, never can tell)

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

I remember seeing one on a stand at a local speed shop and wondered why someone would build such a radical 4 banger...curious how many versions of the 'Iron Duke' there were, and which production cars they came in.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/a...2&d=1107985794

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...ain/25hemi.jpg

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

I am no expert (far from it!) but, I think that was the 4-cylinder engine that G.M. used for the first FWD X-cars, (Nova/Omaga/Ventura/Apollo) that were introduced in the early '80s.

It had the same bore-center spacing (4.4-inches) that the chevy small block (and, 4-and-6-cylinder Chevy II) engines had, so they probably used some of the same tooling to build it.

The upside was that Chevy V8 heads used the same bore-center spacing and I'd imagine, could be adapted, by moving the head bolts around...

But, Pontiac (remember THEM?) had a hi-po program for this little engine, and came up with a head that bolted on (aluminum) that was claimed to flow better than the Chevy stuff at the time.

For a pushrod 4-cylinder, this thing was about as good as it gets, IMHO...

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

The Iron Duke resurfaced as the Kansas Perf block ,still in use in Comp. Elim.with various cylinder heads on top,several pass through our shop.Bill C.

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

the late Bob Wollett ran iron dukes in both the old Kathy's Clown Firebird he got from Stover and his new olds he raced before retiring. I know his son Jason has everything still. I have not talked to him since Bob passed away to see what he is going to do with everything.

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

Jason still has the cars and wants to race them someday. He has NO plans on selling them.http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...scan0001-2.jpg

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

GM went down this road several times a hair brain scheme to replace the Small Block Cheby with a 4 and V6 cylinders to be the engine of the future!

Pontiac = Iron Duke
Oldsmobile the Quad 4 (one year thier whole SEMA Show Display was based on this engine and they spent in excess $ 7 million on the Aero Tech)
Buick V6 (They spent close to a $100 million over 10 years
Cheby and the Tony Stewart Midget Engine a couple of years ago know just a boat anchor
Cheby and the Eco Tech 4 cylinder in Sport Compacts series at about $3.5 million for over 3 years

It sure has worked hasen't it?