rogerb@fluke.UUCP (Roger Beardsley) (11/16/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR IRON DUKE ***
I am rebuilding a 1963 (or so) Chevy 153 cu in 4 cylinder engine, and seek the
advice and collective wisdom of net.motorheads. I am told that it is known as
the 'Iron Duke', and may be the precursor to the 2.5 L Pontiac 4. I am told
that it may have been installed in more boats than cars. Mine is to be
reinstalled in a FC-150 Cabover Jeep (not the original engine). Since
the vehicle I am putting it in has a GVW of 5000 lb, I am less interested in
optimizing performance for high RPM than I am in low and middle RPM power.
In rebuilding the engine I hope to optimize reliability, power and economy (in
that order). I would like to have it balanced, perhaps install hardened
valves and/or seats or whatever might be required for long life using unleaded
gas, and look into cams, distributors, ignition systems, carburators (the
current one is a single barrel Carter YF) and intake and/or exhaust manifolds
that might be available. I am curious about the practicality of such things
as larger valves, porting tweaks in the head and increased compression
ratios.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone with experience with these engines, and
encourage opinions on any other reasonable improvements that could be made.
If anyone cares to rank the above modifications in order of effectiveness,
that would be helpful as I am much more likely to run out of money than I am
to run out of ways to spend it. Anyone with an interest in cabover Jeeps is
also encouraged to reply.
If there is enough interest I will summarize and post to the net.
--
Roger Beardsley
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
Everett, Washington USA
(206) 356-6039 (work)
(206) 483-3751 (home)
UUCP:
{ decvax!uw-beaver, ucbvax!lbl-csam, allegra, ssc-vax, decwrl!sun }!fluke!rogerb
ARPA:
fluke!rogerb@uw-beaver.ARPAbcking@inmet.UUCP (11/23/85)
** Duke of Earl ** If your looking for low end torque and reliability, you'll probably want to stay away from most of the aftermarket high performance stuff like tuned intake manifolds, headers and big carbs. High performance and high reliability tend to be mutually exclusive, so I'd recommend the things which will tend to make it last longer and give better low end performance. These include: 1. Heavy duty crank, pistons, rods, timing gears, etc. These high performance parts are available to help deal with the additional power that comes along with performance mods. If you don't do any performance mods you can (theoretically) expect higher reliability. 2. Torque ground cam. Most high preformance cams are designed to yield more power at higher RPMs. There are cams available which offset the power curve to the low end and thus yield more low end torque. I'm not real familiar with what's available for the Duke, though. 3. Solid core plug wires and electronic ignition offer benifits for all applications. There are probably more. As usual, you can get the best advice on engine problems and solutions from someone who actually has one of these engines and has worked on it. These are just some general suggestions. R.M. Mottola Cyborg Corp. Newton, MA. (Response posted for me by a friend, but not for long)