Iron Dukes??

bill dedman · 04-27-2012, 02:27 PM

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...

04-27-2012, 02:27 PM	#6
bill dedman VIP Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Conway, AR Posts: 1,739 Likes: 0 Liked 6 Times in 4 Posts	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... __________________ Bill