Pearl Jammzz

They came w/ a 4 cylinder? I have a link that says in 86' they had a 4-cylinder engine in em. Is this true?

Is this also true for Camaros?

What years came w/ em? Both Firebird and Camaro...

Here is the link...
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymod...Firebird.shtml

Lonestar

They came with a 2.5 4 cylinder. Not a bad little engine actually. I don't recall if it was an option in the Camaro though.

RB83L69

Yeah they made that. It sucked. It had about 90 HP. It was 151 cu in. Basically half of a 301 Pontiac. Big heavy bulky blob of cast iron that didn't do much. Imagine how bad a 2.8 is, and then divide that in about 2/3, and you'll get an idea how pathetic it was.

I'm sure glad I don't have one.

I can't tell you for sure what years had them; but they were most common in about 83 and 84. I think they were available from 82 to 86 but I could easily be wrong, as such a thing is of no particular interest to me except for the "why would anybody screw up a potentially cool car that bad" kind of thoughts. If the federal government has info that GM was making them, it's probably more accurate than anything you'll get from a bunch of hbbyists, who probably also don't care any more than I do; so whatever that page says is probably true.

Pearl Jammzz

That's horrable....oh well, letrs hope they never do it again. I thought my v-6 was ***** :-p. Couldn't imagine takin my 4k lb car around w/ 90 horse...

SSC

Yea, I actually drove one cant remember what year it was probably 83ish yes it was a Camaro. Dident move too bad as long as you stayed in 1st gear.

Anyways that site is whack, I guess the EPA guys never learned to drive a stick since fuel economy on thier site is lower for anything with a manual transmission. Sssstoop fiddeling wisssthp my stickshift I'm trying to drive.



Edit:


Just checked my 94 jeep GCL 318 on that site. According to them it gets 14 city and 18 hwy. Thats news to me since it has a fuel economy guage built into it that reads 17.1 mpg city 25.5 hwy and to top that off it has a bad spark plug dragging those numbers down, I'd fix it but its just a pimp mobile.

ruiterman

I not only drove one, but I actually owned one. Oops, did I admit that...

Actually I only owned it because my wife had it when we met. She was obviously not into performance and just wanted a "cool" car.

It was an 82 Firebird with the 2.5 liter engine. The engine was actually a very nice engine as long as you kept it under 55. It was a 4 speed and could have used another gear. We regularly got 36 mpg and as high as 42 mpg.

I was lucky enough that my uncle also thought it was the most awesome thing to have a cool car with good gas mileage. Thus we sold it to him for full book value, although the car was mint as well. I was glad to see it go since it was the 4 banger. I was also glad when he hit a deer and totalled it since my wife always talked about buying it back.

Overall it was a nice car if you were like my uncle. Just not for me, or most of the above post either.

Does this mean I need therapy???

Red Devil

1.

2. I'll take it. I would love to get my grubby little hands on a decent '82 chicken. Can anyone say 502?

3. Only because you were glad a deer was hit by a chicken!

83ho86tpi

yeah, the motor was one of the 'iron duke" 4cyl engines. Some people called this type of engine the duke because it was fairly sturdy. Another interesting feature i saw on a firebird 4cly was different gauges. The gauges were square instead of round and looked pretty cool / different with a firebird logo. I thought about retrofitting the gauges into another bird since they looked cool, untill I found out they were probably exclusive to the 4 cylinder. Not cool enough to use for a v8

BLUETA

Son had one in college, drove it all over. They are hard on starters since it is located on the wrong side (the drivers side). Got 25 mpg at 65 with a 4-speed. It would really set you back in the seat thru 1-2-3. But at the end of third, you were only going 45. The only thing I didn't like was the gas filter location. On the firewall just above the exhaust header. One leak and insty fire.

billsfirebird

iTrader: (1)

Here's my Iron Duke Firebird. It isn't much in the performance aspect, does great on gas and cruises pretty good on the open road in 5th gear.

I bought it in 1998 and I didn't know they came with 4 bangers when I looked at it. I didn't care, I was 18 and I needed some cool wheels to cruise around in. Got this car for $500.

Enjoy the pics....Im currently trying to go over the car again and fix all the problem areas. No plans on yanking the 4 for anything anytime soon.

This car has no accelleration at all. The 4 labors just to get it up to speed. I have yet to win any "off the line" drag races.

This car is pictured in a firebird history book by Marc Cranswick, "Firebird Biography"





later,
bill

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Gads, the fan shroud takes up more space than the engine.

https://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/tech/techdb.shtml

Looks like the L4 was available through 1985.

Blame CAFE.

83ho86tpi

Bill, do you have a picture of your instrument cluster? Do you have the square ones. Id love to see them again. Most people have never seen them.

blacksheep-1

I had one of those in an S10, it was a good dependable engine that got good mileage. Horsepower was not one of it's strong suites.

92rs85berlintta

iTrader: (1)

ive seen some take some down right abuse and not blow. but i guess if you bought one new it was for the the name and looks of a sports car rather than performance. besides some people dont have a clue what certain cars have in them or even relize what they just bought just wanted the looks. just my 2 cents

billsfirebird

iTrader: (1)

I don't have a dash picture, never really thought to take one. I did draw out the layout of the dash. The rectangles on the right house the up shift light, emergency brake light, check engine light, temp light, and some others.

Pearl Jammzz

Now I wanna see it even more. You should go take a pic and then hook it up to that monster that is your G5 .

billsfirebird

iTrader: (1)

if I remember to do so, I'll grab a pic of my dash and upload it. Working in a graphic design department has its benefits. We've been upgraded to G5's. Gotta love it!

Pearl Jammzz

then it should be easy to remember, put it on yer to-do list at work, haha.

Ya, the G5's are sweet, but way too damn expensive for sumone to use at home. You can build a comparable PC for 1500 bucks.

billsfirebird

iTrader: (1)

I've put it on the list of things to do righ along with a bunch of other stuff.

Yes, you can build a comparable PC but it's a PC. Once you go Mac you never go back! I've got a G4 eMac at home. Love it!

Doug ward

Do you still have the 4 cylinder firebird I'm looking for a picture of how the distributor is positioned in the block and number one location on cap. Thanks in advance

topduarte

iTrader: (8)

That post is 20 years old.

Vader

The only visual reference easily located is in this: