Car of the Week: 1985 Fiero SE

My dad had one, paid $100, got it running and sold it, too had the 2.5, the knocking 4 cylinder.

I think through the mid-late 1980's until the mid 1990's everyone in my family had at least 1 of the Iron Duke cylinders in a Celebrity/Century/Cutlass Ciera and my dad had multiple versions, all 2.5's. Everyone avoided the 2.8 and 3.0(?) like the plague.
 
There's a fiero sitting across the street from me that hasn't in over 4-5 years....or more, I don't know for sure. The usual story, "I've got a different motor at ____________." :doh:
 
Oh, my respect to The Iron Puke.. Seriously. It "powers" every Grumman mail truck in the country, and they stopped sticking them in there somewhere in the mid nineties. It's nothing if not resilient. It was GM's "K" car. And mail truck duty was it's best application. A low revving, gutless, indestructible, shitbox of an air pump that is so unloved, it might as well be an Olds 350 Diesel. It is the cockroach of engines, like the Chevy Cavalier is the cockroach of cars.. Years from now, They'll still be on the road, underwhelming the poor saps who can't get something better. The Iron Puke is the boy band, or Limp Bizkit of it's time. God save the Queen.
 
The Iron Duke and the miserable 122-series pushrod four used in Cavalier/Sunfire are evidence enough that GM should have been allowed to die due to intentional mismanagement. Seriously. The Duke debuted in '77, and the 122 series in '82, both while GM already had a refined, solid SOHC engine in its arsenal since 1970 in Europe. That was known as the Family II (often referred to as the "Brazilian" engine, though it originated in Europe). This was the engine used in the Sunbird, in both turbo and non-turbo form, as a 1.8L and later 2.0L, through '94. The Cavalier never got it. Smooth, free-revving, and good enough to stay in GM's lineup for 40 years outside the US (later gaining a DOHC head), but only being used a scant 11 model years here. It's much lighter than either of the pushrod engines, having had an aluminum head since the start. Even in its early naturally-aspirated DOHC configurations during the '80s it was putting down numbers better than the current Ecotec. By '86, the turbo SOHC 2-valve version was kicking out 165HP and 175lb/ft. of torque, both curves being wide plateaus rather than peaks. The Fiero would've been a complete beast in its day with such an engine.

My sister had a mid-'80s Sunbird notchback that was very near the odo reading 00000.0 for the fourth time in its life when she traded it on a new, less-refined Saturn SL2 (that thing sounded like pebbles in a blender from Day One). Hers was a non-turbo (it had "OHC/FI" emblems on the fenders), but with the 5-speed it acquitted itself quite nicely. She replaced two timing belts and one clutch as normal maintenance in over 300,000 miles (she bought it showing 87K), along with typical belts, hoses, and tune-ups. For a tinny shitbox, that was an amazingly good car. It huffed a little blue on startup at the end, but the Saturn salesman flat-out refused to believe her when she told him the mileage. Best GM four of which I'm aware; even the long-in-the-tooth postal LLVs are all on their third, fourth, tenth replacement Duke engines by now. A running, all-original pushrod Cavalier is a fuckin' collector's item these days.

If you ever get the chance to beat on an '84-'87 Sunbird turbo notchback, don't pass it up. It's the Pontiac version of the GLH Turbo--almost identical in performance--meaning they're an absolute hoot to abuse.
 
I had a girlfriend once who had a '94 Cavalier that I continually got roped into working on.. I'm not sure if those turds had adjustable valve lash or not, but that rag went for at least 15,000 miles sounding like somebody'd thrown rocks and broken glass into a bucket.. I refused to crack it open, knowing that I'd be going down a deep and depressing wormhole. It kept on chugging though, much to my chagrin. I wanted to put a paper bag over my head every time I rode in it, but the sex was passable, and it beat taking the bus..
 
TheIronSausage said:
.................. sounding like somebody'd thrown rocks and broken glass into a bucket..
Click to expand...

Most of the time the noise was piston slap. In essence the 2.5 was half of a pontiac 301 with a 4" bore and 3" stroke and a lowered deck height to enable upright installation. The short rod length caused so much side thrust that within 30k miles the cylinders were egg shaped.
 
Actually, that was the timing chain slapping the side of the timing cover. It would eventually break and let itself out. I know one car that sounded like that for 40,000+ miles, and another that made it a couple of days after that noise started. They had a very weak, single-row timing chain that stretched like crazy and usually broke.
 
Huh, that sounds exactly like what's going on in my Jeep right now.. Either the tensioner, or the guide has shit the bed.. Parts have been ordered.
 
Every one of the 2.5's in the family sounded like it was knocking, and every one was bought and sold with the same sound.

Know that I think of it, my dad had a Starcraft boat with a 2.5 in it too.
 
Its the timing set not piston slap. The tensioner falls apart and the chain slaps around in there making all kinds of noise.
 
Yes. I believe I already said that, too. :D
Dr.Jass said:
Actually, that was the timing chain slapping the side of the timing cover. It would eventually break and let itself out. I know one car that sounded like that for 40,000+ miles, and another that made it a couple of days after that noise started. They had a very weak, single-row timing chain that stretched like crazy and usually broke.
Click to expand...
 
Iron duke

The Iron Duke lives on in forklifts. Still. The 2.4L GM that was supposed to replace it is a giant stinking turd that can barely make 10,000 hours.
 

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They've been used in MerCruiser stern drives in a 3.0L displacement for quite some time, too. Miraculously, in that application they managed something like 150HP at one point. It's still an archaic design more suited to an anchor, though.
 
So.. Grummans, forklifts, and crappy boats.. Yup, that motor is the kid at the back of the class who shows his boogers to people and will end up working third shift at the chicken thresher in the Purdue plant for the rest of his life. Steadily employed, but that's not saying much.
 
Well, Grumman only built the bodies. Those postal vehicles are pure S10 2WD mechanically and are listed in parts books as the Chevrolet LLV. They've been out of production since 1995, so the newest one you'll see is of legal drinking age. My bosses also own a shop that's contracted to do work on those little pigs. The USPS literally keeps stacks of Iron Duke engines handy in each of their regional service depots (our nearest one being in Green Bay, WI).
 
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