AMC Eagle Den Forum
The Shop => Four Cylinder Club => Topic started by: captspillane on November 30, 2012, 03:21:29 AM
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In mid model year 1983 they stopped installing the Iron Duke and started installing the AMC 150 four cylinder in AMC Eagles. I've only ever seen one of these. It was a late 1983 SX4 in a huge junkyard in PA. It is distinctive because the throttle body is on the wrong side of the engine and the radiator hoses are on the opposite side of where they would be on an Iron Duke. There is also a small shock added to one of the engine mounts that looks pretty funky.
If you own one please post pictures here. I've never seen another here on the nest. They are extremely rare.
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I've never seen one in person, and I think I've only seen 1 in pictures before. It was a wagon that was for sale online awhile back. Would love to see some pics of the engine compartment of one. Always wondered what kind of carb/feedback/ignition/emission system they used on them.
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found this
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/09/junkyard-find-iron-duked-1981-amc-eagle-sx4/
Article talks about it being a gm 151, and even the emission sticker says 151, but that's definitely an AMC 2.5, as looks just like a mini 258. Must have been transplanted in.
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Here's a couple I was able to dig up on the AMC Forums:
(http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff375/recomer/Other%20stuff/sx4-iron-duke-2.jpg)
(http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff375/recomer/Other%20stuff/sx4-iron-duke-1.jpg)
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Recomer, that would be an Iron Duke. The AMC 4 cyl has it's carb on the same side as the 6. Here is a pic in the link that AMCmachine posted.
(http://images.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/09/DOTJ-81EagleCoupe-10-550x412.jpg)
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I'm confident that last picture is a 258. The half of the distributor I can see has three plugs. When I clicked the link it was poorly written but I see he identified it as a 1981. Definately a 258 with 1981 style air pump.
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Here is what wikipedia has to say about the AMC 150. It is not the same as the Iron Duke 151.
It says that 1984 and 1985 Jeep XJs had a one barrel carb, then it went to TBI in 1986. The 1983 SX4 would look identical to a 1984 XJ. I owned a 1984 XJ once and it looked identical inside, including the funky shock I talk about. I'm still trying to find a 1984 XJ picture online now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_straight-4_engine
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Recomer, that would be an Iron Duke. The AMC 4 cyl has it's carb on the same side as the 6. Here is a pic in the link that AMCmachine posted.
My bust...thought it said he was looking for the Iron Duke.... I was at work when I found that..mind wasnt all there :)
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i may know where one is.. man stopped by my house thursday looking for "the person who has all the AMC's on the street". He wanted to give me his "AMC 150 4 banger with transmission". He pulled it out of his garage kept, rarely driven 1985 CJ7 as he had wanted to put in something 'bigger'. So.. it sounds like i should maybe take him up on his offer?
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Please post pictures of the engine if you can. I think I remember the air cleaner being distinctive.
There isn't much you can do with it and I wouldn't give him money for one. As I understand it they were made to be interchangeable with the Chevy 2.8 V6 because that was the other engine available in an XJ before the 4.0 came out. In my eyes that ruined the engine because it's too rare to find the crossmember necessary to install it and it's not an AMC bellhousing, so no decent transmissions are available for it. I love the Iron Duke because its relatively common, it will accept readily available, strong SBC transmissions, and you have Mercury boat motors available for 140 hp upgrades. If you do buy an AMC 150, get one from a Dodge Durango with MPI and considerably more power than a AMC 258. The 1985 version was lackluster.
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ah... well, its good i told him i'd just try to help him find a new home for it instead of just taking it. (it was a freebie). he has it broke down and packed on a pallet in his warehouse, just waiting for a new home as he didnt want to scrap it. it has its tranny with it as well.
all my cars are 6cyl.. and i have spare engines strewn about anyways.
its good to have all the info about it.. i'll see if maybe he has some pics of it before he pulled it out.
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The AMC150 is very rare because it was only offered as an option for the AMC Eagle in late 1983 and 1984. It has different engine mounts and a different bellhousing pattern than the 258 and the GM 151, so you can’t use that motor with your Eagles.
The motor was very well designed. It used the same external tooling as the 258, but internally it was totally new. They didn’t just delete two cylinders from the 258 although they made a good effort to keep the accessories compatible between them. The biggest difference was the head design. The improved 4.0 head design was actually taken from the AMC 150.
The AMC 150 has a GM 60 Degree bolt pattern like the Chevy 2.8L LR2 V6 used in '84-'86 Jeep XJs. This irks me but makes sense since AMC wanted to use the same transmissions for both. The GM LR2 V6 has a terrible reputation for crankshaft issues and it put out a meager 115 HP. The AMC 150 was considerably more reliable but it only put out 105 HP with a carb in ’84 and ’85. In comparison the 258 at the time only had 112 HP and the GM 151 Iron Duke only had 82 HP.
Note that the Jeep XJ was actually designed on purpose to be too small to fit a 258. It was not meant to be competition for the FSJ options. When AMC sent a prototype XJ down to Mexico for VAM to look at for production in their factories, they told VAM the 258 could not fit. VAM had already modified their 258 tooling to have a larger bore. They used their 282 motor for everything, because V8s and other engines were not available. They couldn’t make XJ’s down there unless they managed to make their 282 fit into that as well. In 1982 they pulled it off and impressed AMC with the end product, leading to the success of the 4.0 XJ.
In ’86 the AMC150 switched to a Renix designed Throttle Body Injection and reached 120 HP. At this point the four cylinder option had more power than the 2.8L V6 option in XJs. The 4.0 with 175 HP became didn’t become an option until 1987. In 1991 Chrysler MPI replaced Renix MPI and the 4.0 put out 190 HP. The AMC 150 would reach its highest output of 130 HP when it received Chrysler Multi-port Injection in 1991. The Dodge 150 four cylinder in Dodge Dakota trucks only had 99 HP in 1995, so in 1996 to 2002 Dodge eliminated their design in favor of the AMC engine. The AMC 150 put it to shame with the same displacement but over 20 HP more.
If anyone ever tells you that AMC put Chrysler motors in their cars, they are just wrong. It was the other way around.
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Sadly the Eagle never got EFI. Could've saved the company if they did, but the Renault dumping of AMC/jeep stock (because the guy who had the foresight to do the investing was executed by a hitman) just as it started turning profit really squelched that.
The 2.5L barely shared much with the 4.2L. Motor mounts, External accessory mounts, position of intake/exhaust and stupid plastic valve cover. It was the same bore as the 4.0L (in fact, my stroker has a set of six #2228 0.030 oversize 2.5L pistons to go in because they have a taller deck for higher compression)
The 4 cyls got TBI till '90, the 4.0L was always MPFI.
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I have an AMC 4banger in my 89 YJ. It came with the Renix TBI, which cannot be modified much. I am replacing the engine right now, since the last one dropped a valve recently on a normal shift into third gear. Boom, chugga-chugga. No va.
I'm replacing the Renix TBI with Mopar MPI from a '95 XJ 4banger, and using a '97 Dakota bellhousing, which has an external slave cylinder rather than the infernal internal slave, to allow me to mate the AMC-designed 4banger to the better AX-15 six cylinder Jeep transmission. Since that transmission shares parts with a Toyota R-150 5-speed, I'm using the tail portion of an R-150 to mate up a Marlin Crawler doubler and a Tacoma transfer case. I'll have to move the engine forward to get the entire package to fit under the Jeep, and am also stretching the wheelbase rearward.
On the engine build for this "2.5L H-O", I ported and polished the head, and am using some yellaterra roller tip rockers, along with a 4.o TB and some 24lb/hr injectors, and a Banks stainless header. Should move the Heep around pretty nicely with these mods.
The AMC 2.5L is a great lil engine, kind of like a tractor engine, like its father, the almighty 258! I love the way the 4banger has a throaty "european sports car" sound to it when exhaling through a Flowmaster 40 series.
I know, for the amount of trouble I'm going through for this swap, I coulda had a V8, but I have always liked the AMC 2.5L, its just so simple and reliable.
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I had an '86 MJ with the 2.5 and Renix TBI and an '84 XJ with carbed 2.5. Day and night power difference as well as fuel economy (the carb sucked!)
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(the carb sucked!)
nice pun
:occasion14:
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Eh! I've done better! :occasion14: