News: Putting FUN and FRIENDLINESS, FIRST into owning and learning about AMC small bodied cars, primarily Eagles, Spirits and Concords as well as vehicles built in AMC's Mexican subsidiary, VAM.

The AMC Eaglepedia can now be accessed using the buttons found below  This is a comprehensive ever growing archive of information, tips, diagrams, manuals, etc. for the AMC Eagle and other small bodied AMC cars. 

Also a button is now available for our Face Book Group page.


Welcome to the AMC Eagles Nest.  A new site under "old" management -- so welcome to your new home for everything related to AMC Eagles, Spirits and Concords along with opportunities to interact with other AMC'ers.  This site will soon be evolving to look different than it has and we will be incorporating new features we hope you will find useful, entertaining and expand your AMC horizons.

You can now promote your topics at your favorite social media site by clicking on the appropriate icon (top upper right of the page) while viewing the topic you wish to promote.


  • March 28, 2024, 12:35:40 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Author Topic: Replace the Iron Duke?  (Read 4222 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline siguy8

  • Eagle
  • **
  • Posts: 39
  • Thumbs Up 2
Replace the Iron Duke?
« on: September 17, 2011, 01:36:04 PM »
I've got the Iron Duke and a manual 5-Speed in my '82 SX/4.

I've heard there are some easy swaps to do with the Iron Duke since it's a GM motor. Someone said a 6 Cylinder vTech could bolt right onto the bell housing that's there. Does anyone know more about this, or have somewhere to begin my research?

I'm probably a year or two away from actually having the time and money to do this, but I'm pretty sure I'll do it some day and I want to do it right.
1982 SX/4 Sport 4 cylinder 5 speed manual. 135k miles.

Offline eaglefreek

  • Moderators
  • AMC Eagles Den Addicted
  • *****
  • Posts: 4011
  • Thumbs Up 209
Re: Replace the Iron Duke?
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2011, 03:03:17 PM »
The Iron Duke has the GM metric pattern. Look here under GM metric to see which engines share the same pattern: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_GM_bellhousing_patterns
1986 AMC Eagle Wagon 4.2L/4.0L head, AW4,NP242, Chrysler 8.25" rear.
1981 AMC Eagle Wagon As Seen On TV  Lost In Transmission


 

"I know he'd be a poorer man, if he never saw an eagle fly,
Rocky mountain high"  John Denver
Click for Fayetteville,TN Forecast" border="0" height="100" width="150

Offline rollguy

  • Turbo Diesel Eagle
  • AMC Eagles Den Addicted
  • ********
  • Posts: 1797
  • Thumbs Up 84
  • Southern California
Re: Replace the Iron Duke?
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2011, 03:22:30 PM »
The Iron Duke has the GM metric pattern. Look here under GM metric to see which engines share the same pattern: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_GM_bellhousing_patterns
Are you sure?   Looking at the Chevy bolt pattern, it lists the Iron Duke in Jeep vehicles from 1980-1983 (same years that Eagle had the Iron Duke).
1980 Eagle Turbodiesel Wagon (only 2 known to exist as of 2008)- 7-7-2011 Flight to it's new nest @ Rambler Ranch
1983 Eagle Wagon  Tan over Copper
1982 Eagle SX4 "ALTREGL"  (avatar photo)
1982 Eagle 4 Door Sedan  Copper over Satin Black
1985 Eagle Sport Wagon October 2007 ROTM (SOLD)
4 Biofuel powered Benzs ('98 E300, '82 300 CD, '82 300 TD (wagon), '80 240 D)
1983 GMC Van (6.2 Diesel)
1985 Mitsubishi pickup (2.3 Turbodiesel)

Offline BenM

  • AMC Eagles Den Addicted
  • ********
  • Posts: 1512
  • Thumbs Up 74
  • Pittsburgh, PA
Re: Replace the Iron Duke?
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2011, 03:05:00 PM »
I've seen a variety of conflicting information on this. It would be nice to know for sure.

For certain the AMC 150 had the GM Metric (V6) pattern. As far as I know, the 80 + AMCs use the smallblock pattern, in 79 GM went to the metric pattern on FWD cars. Toward the end AMC may have used both to use up inventory or fill production gaps. That last part is just conjecture, hearing from someone with a late 151 would lend some evidence.
NSS#47184

1987 AMC Eagle Sedan -- 1976 Pacer Coupe -- 1968 Pontiac Tempest Custom S -- 1940 Mercury (& a 2002 Jetta Turbodiesel, 5 spd., the Wife's Daily Driver)

Offline captspillane

  • The Perkiomen Eagle Sanctuary
  • Eagle Sundaancer
  • ******
  • Posts: 1097
  • Thumbs Up 137
Re: Replace the Iron Duke?
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2011, 04:23:14 PM »
The AMC 150 and the 151 Iron Duke four cylinder are very different. The Iron Duke has the same bolt pattern as a Chevy small block V8. The AMC 150 has the same bolt pattern as a Chevy V6. The Iron Duke was put into all AMC cars, including CJs, until 1983. I have personally seen one 83 SX4 with the AMC 150, its wierd looking with that crazy engine shock. I believe the switch happened in the middle of the 83 model year, and I know that all 1980 to 1982 Eagles have the Iron Duke.

The AMC V8s and 258s used a different bellhousing but same input shaft. T5 and SR4 bellhousings are very cheap and common, you're not doing yourself a favor by retaining the Iron Duke chevy bellhousing. If you want more power the best option is to get a 6 cylinder cross member and a 4.0. The 4.0 is common and cheap, its rated at 195 HP, and it idles reliably. A Iron Duke gets about 80 HP, a 258 about 115, a stock 304 about 125 HP. You don't need to fabricate anything with a 4.0, its a bolt together solution with more power than you realistically need. Anything more powerful than that will also need a stronger transmission.

A chevy conversion in an AMC Eagle is a waste of time and money, besides being conceptually wrong. If you really want to make a custom engine mount, stick with the AMC V8s.

I personally restore 4 cylinder Eagles only. In PA that means I can legally use a universal catalytic converter without the input line on the side, and without all the pulseair clutter that goes with it. They are also the only Eagles that came with the awesome 3.54 gears that complement a T5 perfectly. All of them now have been switched over to 6 cylinders or V8s.

-Dave Spillane-

Currently Inspected and Insured as of Jan 2013:
-1985 Eagle Station Wagon 258 T5 Stickshift
-1980 Eagle Station Wagon 258 Auto Fuel-injected with GM TBI

Minor Repairs Underway:
-1982 Eagle SX4 258 T5
-1981 Kammback 2.5L Iron Duke T5

Restoration Efforts Near Completion:
-1982 SX4- 401 NV3550
-1983 SX4- 4.5 MPI NSG370 (6 Speed)

Restoration Efforts Underway:
-1985 SW- 4.0 MPI AX15
-1982 SX4- 4.0 AW4
-1981 SX4- SD33T NV4500 (Turbodiesel 5 speed)

Future Rescue Efforts- '85 Maroon SW, '87 Limited SW, '84 Limited SW, '87 4 door Sedan, '81 2 door Sedan, '88 White SW, '77 4 door Hornet, '74 2 door Hornet, '79 Spirit AMX, '81 Kammback.

RIP- Red '81 SX4, '84 4dr Sedan, '84 SW, '81 SW, '80 Spirit, '83 SW, '83 4dr Sedan

 

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk