"The winningest 4 cylinder!" LOL's.

A friend of mine did a deep dive into the ID/Tek4 and dug up THIS ARTICLE, which, initially makes it sound like the ID/Tek4 was an overlooked engine with mad power potential. Yeah, sure...it had some limitations b/c it was designed for fuel economy and low cost production....but you get into Pontiac's SD catalog, and you can really unlock the hidden potential in this engine!

Then, they get into some details and you learn that:
"The lightweight crankshaft becomes structurally unstable above 5000 rpm and may fail under repeated abuse. Fragile connecting rods and pistons designed for low-speed operation are also prone to failure at high engine speeds, and the stock cylinder block doesn't have the rigidity or strength to withstand substantial power increases."

So, the head is junk, the crank is junk, the rods are junk, and....the block is junk. Yeah...."that engine" is winning ALL the races! 🙄

They "showed off" one version, which had the SD block, aftermarket crank/rods/pistons, SD head....so a completely different engine...and it made 205hp (GROSS, I'm guessing) in a Fiero. O.K. 205hp in a 4 cylinder Fiero should go pretty good. Car was pretty light @ ~ 2500 lbs? Thing ran 14.6@96 dudes!! We got stock 3rd gens that run that number! LOL, I say.

The article is akin to saying that:
"Yeah, sure...the LG4 had some limitations b/c it was designed for fuel economy and low cost production....but you get a Dart tall deck 4.125" bore block, Callies crank/rods, forged pistons, AFR heads, and you can really unlock the hidden potential in this engine!"

Anyway, I laughed. Maybe you will too.

 

LOL !!! ...

 

I can't imagine there are many iron duke 3rd gens left. It would be interesting to know how many.

I work for USPS and believe it or not some of the early LLV mail trucks still have them.

 

I got a good laugh from it too. This was my favorite part about how a special camshaft, different head, valvesprings, TBI, modified intake, header, and special chip:
" These modifications will make your stock 2.5-liter 4-cylinder competitive with the 2.8-liter V6 found in the Fiero GT, Firebirds, and S-10 pickups, but you should run a rev limiter set to 5000 rpm."

Lol. "Competitive" with a stock 2.8, but definitely limit rpm to 5k so the thing doesn't self destruct.

 

One of those magazine articles designed to make the unfortunates who got stuck with a LOSER, feel less ... of ... the reality they're now living in. Fantasy land and self-pleasure. Maybe even a bit of loafing the donkey or even buffing the bishop built into it.

That motor was a POS from the start. It was half of the absolute worst engine Pontiac ever "developed"; the 301. Total POS. Cutting it in half was even worse. Kinda reminds me of an old International Scout I had at one time... one of the TOUGHEST 4WD vehicles EVAH, butt it had this ... STUUUUUUPID ... 4-cyl, where it looked almost like the V8 block it was based on, with a plate cast over the empty cylinders. I'll give GM that: at least they turned it upright instead of leaving it at 45°.

At some level, CID always wins. In some ways it doesn't matter how you get around to achieving CID of air/fuel burned and converted to mechanical power; whether it's bore x stroke, or better induction system, or turbo / supercharging, or what. Some combination of HOW MUCH AIR/FUEL can you burn, and HOW MUCH of that energy can you convert from heat into mechanical motion, and HOW MUCH do you lose to the various inevitable losses (pumping, inertia, mass, etc.), and HOW LONG will it last doing it. That piddly "iron puke" POS LOSES on ALL POSSIBLE dimensions with the possible exception of weight, and THAT only in comparison to an all-cast-iron V8. As the Europeons and misc Asians and Ozzies will ask, how the hell can you take a 5.7 liter V8, and get ONLY 160 HP out of it. [mr_spock]Humans.[/mr_spock]

What a EFFFFFFFFFFING JOKE. Glad it wasn't some n00b that had accidentally bought one and posted here all about "I just bought this and I found this magazine article and does anybody know where I can order these parts from" just destined for a MAJOR disappointment.

 

The SD program for those was no joke really.

 

OK ...

How so?

 

Yeah, not to be an a-ho' but how so?

If you buy a block, crank, rods, pistons, head, and then custom fab all the ancillaries.....then run 14.6/96 in a 2500 lb car....how's that not a joke?
IDK...it doesn't seem too good, to me....


I wonder how the old, 60's "Trophy 4" would respond to mods, in comparison to this example?

 

About the same...

Might run at/near the top of its class in some kind of CID vs weight situation (like your 4-cyl in a 3200 lb min car goes 15.3 butt my 4-cyl in a 3200 lb car goes 15.1), butt in ANY KIND of heads-up racing, it'd get SMOKED. Not to mention, HOW MANY SUCH races can it run. Back when I was building motors, admittedly it's been awhile, one of the problems racers had, was the expense of a new motor every (x) races; I made a point of making sure mine could go (x) + 3 or whatever. In those lower slower classes like that, that nobody in the stands gives a crap about (they all go buy hot dogs and beer while those non-entertaining things are ooooozzzing along and wasting the track's time), not having to buy a new motor as often, can make the difference between going fast ONCE and setting some kind of a dyno / Engine Masters record, and running for a season championship with 12 or 16 or 20 race weekends IN THE REAL WORLD with 3 to 6 runs per race and winning a $100 purse with a $7500 motor. That was back in the day before buy-backs though so maybe nowadays it's possible to minimize how many times you have to run it in one weekend and thereby limit how many motors you need per season. Iunno anymore, that kind of stuff long since became NOT fun for me anymore.

In any kind of claimer class it wouldn't last any more than one whole race if it EVER won. Then the stoooooooooje that bought it would be saddled with loooooozzzzzing races from then on.

 

Probably. I was thinking that the Trophy was a 389 chopped in 1/2 (yeah, dumb), but as such, perhaps you could run off the shelf cams, the 6X head? you got the regular deck height....and end up with 1/2 -a-good-389. Which I guess ain't that great, and you're back to ~200hp. I doubt the cast rods in that engine can take much more than 5k RPM, too.

 

May I choke the chicken now? Or must I wait for ... something?

Ya know, I actually saw one of those POSs in a junkyard one time. I was like, W...T...F?. It was kinda like watching a slow-motion train wreck... you know you're gonna be SICK (and I was), butt you just can't look away until it's over. I've been able to exercise better self-discipline about the 6-cylinders in these cars though. Can't say I've ever really seen one of those.