The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Iron duke 2.2

Hi Guys, I've just bought an 83 S10longbox with a very tired 2.8 auto trans combination. I'm looking to eventialy do the AD engineering swap on this frame as it is very solid. I'm shooting for fuel economy on this next ride. So my question to those that are in the know is what sort of engine is the 2.2 litre iron duke or should I look at the 2.5 litre instead ? Any words of wisdom from those that are in the know would be appreciated.
Thanks Don

Both those would not have enough power to make a good swap. You could rebuild or get another 2.8. They are not overly powered but run pretty good. Some say they don,t stand up to good but i,ve seen them run a long time. I put a small block v-8 in an S-10 one time & it shure worked slick. It was a lot of work & expense though.

Well, I've already got a truck with a 350 in it, but this time I'm aiming for fuel economy. This truck will be used around town and not on the highway so I'm not looking for a power house.

Don't accept that an Iron Duke or the other one for that matter wouldn't have enough power. The Poncho was used very satisfactorly in a mid-size car for several years and they ran just fine. It ought to be a good choice for what your after.

Oldkoot, should work. Iron duke from what I read run 84 horsepower for carb models, 92 horsepower and up for fuel injected. Depends on what year iron duke you get. fuel wise I would say it was a power to weight thing. Consider the truck you buy to set on the s 10 chasis. Most s 10 frame swaps I see are later 40's to early 50's chevy advanced design. The frame engine, trans and front and rear axles with springs,wheels and tires on these trucks compared to s10 running chassis. The s10 I should think is 600 to 800 pounds lighter. I think what you'll have is an old looking truck that runs and drives like an s10 with a iron duke in it. I would get the fuel injected model more power and better fuel economy.

jbennett
40 burb

I recall.....When the Chevy 2 came out in 1962, the standard engine was a 4 cyl. that was the new 194 cu. 6 shortened to 4 cyl. That base engine was offered for years but did not sell well so they sold it to Evinrude/Johnson. They used it for many years. The hot set up in those days was to find a head from a boat motor (crossflow -more H.P.)When Chevy realized that the Vega had failed, and they had no 4 banger for the wave of small cars coming out, they bought it back and reintroduced it as the "Iron Duke". I think it was bored slightly so they could use pistons off the pontiac V-8 . Then with the development of the "new chevy of the 80's" - the Citation, it was reintroduced with a crossflow head for sideways mounting of the engine in that front wheel drive platform. Those heads do not interchange on earlier blocks since they also changed the head bolt pattern. The motor is a very tough design(chevy -6 basically). TerryJ

Just to add a little info, those original old Iron Duke 4-cylinder engines were 153 Cubic Inches.

Bill

Hi C-10 C-90 Bill, Yup, I can never keep them straight. If the iron Duke was 153c.i. then the Chevy 2 motor was 151, or was it the other way around? The difference was the Pontiac pistons they borrowed. TerryJ

Why can't you use a turbocharged 4 cylinder? GM makes them, and they were quite strong. There's a turbo 2.2 good for 260 hp in the new Pontiac Solstice, and the Olds Quad 4 engine was a turbo motor that made quite a bit of power too.

Thing about a turbo motor is, keep out of the throttle, and it's just a regular 4 cylinder motor. But you know, if you under-power a heavy vehicle, not only will you have the aggravation of being so underpowered, but also, your gas mileage will suffer because of how hard the motor needs to work.

Just a suggestion.

A suggestion to make thing easy, GM has a EPA approved upgrade engine for S10s that originally had the 2.8. It's a 3.4 liter (207 cid) engine, same bore and stroke as the 4 cam engine, but uses the std heads and block. It's a bolt in engine, no cutting, odd mounts, and will bolt up with the existing trans. It should have plenty of power and decent economy, too. It's GM part # 12363230. Rated at 160 hp and 194 ft/lbs. It only needs the intake, ignition, exhaust, water pump (and belt drive) and an electric feul pump to install.
BTW, I've never seen a turbo Quad 4, and from my own experience, they are a very doggy engine, even in a light weight front driver.

My opinions as follows - Either pick up the 3.4 like Bill says. Or get a 3.4 from a 94 and newer camaro and take the whole fuel injection setup, etc. for 170Hp. I went with a camaro 3.4 / 5-speed for an RX7 conversion that I did. Drove it for over 100000 miles in 5 years getting 28MPG with the 4:10 gears in the RX7 prior to selling it.

The Quad 4 2.3 liter is a much better engine than the old 2.0 or 2.2 isuzu or even the 2.5 pontiac (Tech 4). I had a Tech 4 in my '85 S-10. Fuel economy is as bad with the 2.5 as it is with the 2.8 that you had, however less power. Put a hot cam, and ditched the fuel injection for a Holley 350 CFM carb and distributor from a 1980 Pontiac Sunbird. It woke the 2.5 up, however I did end up putting in a Buick 3.8 that I had from another project.

The new Ecotech engine (Found in Solstice, Cobalt, Opel Speedster, Saturn Sky, etc.) is actually GM's world engine designed and manufactured by their Opel Plant in Germany. Nice engine that you can get up to 1000hp out of if you need - just not for street at those levels. For the street, get the GM performance Supercharger for it.

You can pull any fuel injected GM V8, overdrive trans and EFI from the Mid 80's or newer and get more power and fuel economy than the 2.8 had. Visit here for more information. Another choice is the 4.3 liter that you will find in many S-10's

Scott