Re: Iron Dukes??
 

bob wollet was a great guy i use to race ihra with him he almost always qualified number 1 he was a stand up guy have nothing but good to say about him that is a awsome car he has

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

Maybe I'm wrong but I think the duke has been mistaken for the quad 4.
anyone remember the quad 442.
Didn't the production duke engine have the oil filter in the oil pan. remove the drain plug and outr comes the filter. Been a while since I worked at Pontiac, 87, 88. Lots of replacing cam gears, no chains.
Anyone remember the recall 84C-15. In the fieros, leaking oil on the exhaust and poof.
Friend from Jeep has a complete built virgin Iron Duke Super Duty motor and parts too.

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

It seems there were several types of Oldsmobile Quad 4 motors...

Read more here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_Quad-4_engine

http://images.hemmings.com/wp-conten.../03/quad-4.jpg

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

Does anyone here have a photo of the engine compartment of the Iron Duke motor in this Firebird.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...scan0001-2.jpg

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

Well Ed, the sports cars of the time were tiny european open top cars with 4 wheel independant suspension and the focus was on handling. (triumph/mg's/porche/etc.
While the mustang did compete in some "sporty car" races it was a 2+2 car that handled well (for that time period) and the focus was more on fun and affordability. It was at home on a twisty track but was also home on a dragstrip and had optional v-8 engines strictly for straight line.
Sports cars on the other hand were solely twisty cars and didn't accellerate well enough to compete in drag racing. A 1500lb car with 75hp was great zipping through the S's and switchbacks but laughable on a straightaway or dragstrip.

Now people car them musclecars which isn't right either. Musclecars were cars designed to purely go in a straight line, all muscle. A bigblock chevelle or torino or various hemi's fit that bill.

Camaro's/cuda's&challenger were all pony cars because they were built to fit into the "new" class of vehicle that the mustang started. Mustang, being a horse the class was called "pony".

Semantic's for the most part but the mustang was not intended to be or ever was comparable to a MG or triumph. (the same as a camaro was never meant to be)

Of course this is just my opinion too, the same as me hating imports is my opinion. hehehe

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

So how could the Firebirds be called sports cars? The NHRA official was correct, GM's only sports car then was the Corvette.

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

This info is not correct if my memory is any good......The first year Pontiac engines had both intake and exhaust manifolds on the same side of the engine.....drivers side.
The following year the new and improved cross flow head was on that engine. Thats how I recall it and I worked in a Pontiac dealer and worked on those cars regularly.
GM was producing some real junk and as a line mechanic I got to work on all sorts of engineering marvels......

This was the era of "corporate engines under the hood". Engines were calibrated so lean they could barely get out the driveway sometimes without bucking and missing......and my personal favorite....the odd fire Buick V6 3.8....shook so bad they had to add counterweights and soft engine and trans mounts.

I have some very funny stories from my days working on these cars and what we did to try and diagnose and fix some of these cars.

It was a Pontiac-Jeep-Subaru dealership and I worked on them all as an A Tech....

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

Like Mark Yac said earlier, Pontiac was the NHRA sponsor at the time.
I went through the same crap with many other car models when NHRA will choose to give their own designation although the manufacturer had a different one.

One example is when NHRA designates a car model to a full body style when the car is a Medium size based on the OEM's designation. At the time, the Pontiac brochure had designated the Firebird as a Sports Car.

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

Oldsmobile was the Offical Vehicle of NHRA from 1983 when Ford pulled back to the end of 1995 when Oldsmobile pulled out and GM gave it to Pontiac. Pontiac kept it till Obama Put Pontiac in the graveyard.

Re: Iron Dukes??
 

But, according to that list the Camaro/Firebird was available with that engine. I know I have had Gen 3 F body cars through my shop with 4 cyls. Been too long to remember which 4 cyl, but as best I can remember that was the only one GM had used in anything but sub-compacts at that time.