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I know! The 4-cyl F-Bodys aren't worth hardly anything, in new condition, according to KBB. Who wants a 4-cyl muscle car???? I have an 84 Iron Duke SC. Got mine 'cause I wanted a Camaro, drivetrain didn't matter at the time. Paid $600 for it in the worst condition with intentions of dropping a 350 in there. Now....might just keep it a 4-cyl just because there are hardly any on the road. How many folks have seen a modified Iron Duke F-Body????

Brandon

BTW...mine isn't even worth $600! Interior is worthless as is the body. Body just has bumps and bruises.

philoldsmobile

the 4 cyl F - body's time will come, and, i think, quite soon.

collectors love cars that shouldn't exist (like 4 pot muscle cars).



:hail: 4 cyl F-body.

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I certainly wouldn't :hail: to a 4-cyl F-Body. But....it's kinda fun owning something very few have. And definitely don't believe in throwing an f-body away because of it's gutless drivetrain. Still debating on returning the car to it's original no A/C condition and modifying the Iron Duke. It's a shame that the only thing Iron Duke cars are good for is it's parts.

Brandon

billsfirebird

iTrader: (1)

Ive been keeping my eyes peeled for performance parts for the IRON DUKE. They are slim pickin but some are out there. There are some Super Duty parts floating around for the Fieros that would work on our cars.

Im just going to keep my options open for my car. I don't have any idea what I want to do with it...drivetrain wise.

I'll try and get my new digital camera out and take a quick vid of my IRON DUKE running for all you guys on here that have never seen one.

83firebirdS/E

Here is an '84 Iron duke with only 30k miles. The guy only wants a mere 9500 for it.

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Alrighty than!!! Again...here's where the poor value of an Iron Duke F-Body comes in.....approx. $855 value at KBB. You might could pick up a 91 Z for what he's asking.

Brandon

philoldsmobile

ahh, but how much will a 91 z be worth when its at the same age, and as rare as that 'bird? its all relative

looks pretty clean though, if i had won the lottery, i'd pay that much just to have one that nice in my collection. along with a V6 of both ('maro and 'bird) for the eight cyl cars, i'd have - my 86 s/c, 92 aniversery,and 92 GTA 350

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Maybe I should spend $4000-$6000 on the restoration of mine and ask the same. Yeah right!

Brandon

philoldsmobile

while i'd agree that a 4 pot car wont be worth as much as an eight, truly specimen examples of ANY car can command totaly irrational prices, though 30 000 miles is too high to be a specimin, maybe 30 miles!

there has been a glut of sub 3000 mile camaro's recently, all well over $20 000 one was an 84 and SOLD for $28 000

ladies and gentelmen, the collectors have arived.

remember, there are about 100, 30 000 mile Z28's to every 30 000 mile duke car.

the last ever ford cortina produced (1982) was a base 1300, and sold a few years ago for, to the best of my recolection £8000. market value of an 82 cortina 1300 is about £80 (outside of the classic car world) even truly great examples of the 2.3 Ghia (top of the range) only fech £3000

sometimes car values follow no reason at all.

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Maybe I should spend $4000-$6000 on the restoration of mine and ask the same. Yeah right!

Brandon

philoldsmobile

plus, of corse, a restored car is never worth quite as much as an origional car in the same condition.

that price would only be appropriate for a specimen car, and at that milage it is not.

philoldsmobile

Example of a specimin car,

1989 pontiac Turbo trans am, 396 miles - $36 900 autortader.com , its a dealer as well, not a highley optomistic individual.

there was also a 91 camaro RS floating around for $25 000 with about 2400 miles on it.

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Noone would know the difference......philoldsmobile. Original style seat covers are still around for my car as well as original door panels. Since the odometer only reads 6x,xxx....who would know the difference?


Just playin' with you buddy! Would do anything to find and pay for a completely original and unmolested 82 Z28. Now my wife's wanting a thirdgen. Since funds are not plentiful in my family....maybe we can find her an Iron Duke F-Body or a V-6 for that matter for cheap. The problem is....finding an 82-84. Will probably have to do a nation wide search for one of those.

Brandon

billsfirebird

iTrader: (1)

Well I would be tempted to sell my 84 if someone wanted to pay 9500 for it. Heck its only metal with wheels. If they want to pay that much for it all the power to them.

In the meantime, im hanging on to it.

philoldsmobile

just check out the tread on buying a car from ebay. (history / restoration board) all the good origional cars (any engine) are gone.

like they said, only primerd v6's and tired early cars on their third engine (usualy a mid 70's 350) and sans any emissions gear but with a ropey holley, are the only plentifull cars.

we have the same situation with Ford Escort RS turbo's here. realy great cars are like hens teeth, and can go for 3 or 4 times book value, one passed through auction recently for £12 000, book value is £2500. not bad for an 86 car

billsfirebird

iTrader: (1)

ive got an 84 Firebird S/E for sale.....

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You still haven't sold it? How much? And would you trust a trip to Texas in it?

philoldsmobile...finding ANY 82 Z28 would do...really. Just finding that year and in running condition is almost impossible. But anyhow...that's my favorite thirdgen!

Brandon

Edit: Found that blue Firebird above on the Autotrader. Description below:

1984 PONTIAC FIREBIRD, 2.5L/5-sp, EFI, metallic blue ext, runs very well, many new parts, 148k miles, original owner, $1500 OBO; (614)433-7988 COLUMBUS

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Well.....possibly my Iron Duke Camaro will be no more! The interior is completely garbage. Drivetrain runs/drives like a top but need body parts off of her to repair my Z28. I double dare someone to convince me otherwise.

Brandon

philoldsmobile

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, surely, you can find pannels to reapir your Z, without breaking the 2.5?

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I've been trying to figure out which one to scrap all week. Both need a tremendous about of work. Here we go:

1984 Iron Duke,

It has a few things going for her: all one color, drivetrain is in super condition, body is fair condition. Just needs a complete interior. Just added complete new exhaust, brakes all the way around, tires, alternator, etc. Texas registration till 2004.

1983 Z28,

Not much going for this baby at all!!!
Body has been semi restored. Needs paint as well as new doors & hatch. Also has holes through floor board. Body leaks like you wouldn't believe. Emissions have been removed. Interior is in great shape for an 80,000 mile car. Nice V-8/700r4...but illegal to drive in Houston.

Thought ocurred to me today: why not have a complete Z28 interior with power windows/locks, nice dash/dash pad, tilt & tachometer in my Iron Duke??? A blue interior in a red car....hmmm! Then keep the rest of the Z for the V-8 parts when the time comes.

Brandon

philoldsmobile

kill the Z, its just nowhere near as rare as the 2.5,

you can find another Z28 quite easily. take a good long look at Bills car (and the amount of admiration it gets) and see if that inspires you.

Ultimately its your desision, but i would save the 4pot. you could prob get enough parting out the z28 to buy a clean early 6 or 8 cyl sport coupe / berlinetta.

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I'm not after any admiration really. After a car that doesn't require all the body work as the Z and one that doesn't leak. I'll tell you one thing....real anxious to see the Z28 rims on the Iron Duke with the dual tail pipes . Also have a nice cowl hood to go on the Iron Duke as well.

Brandon

philoldsmobile

Z28 wheels and interior in the duke then.

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Was thinking of the Z28 ground effects and front fascia also. What ya' think? Of course...not passing it off as a Z28. Cowl induction is going a little too far for a 4-cyl...I think!

Brandon

Firechick

I guess I should show mine........

Firechick

AWWWWWW! :lala:

philoldsmobile

Firechick,

That looks realy clean, any more photo's of the car?

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My red Iron Duke car with blue interior? How does that sound? Was thinking of maybe painting my car dark blue to match the interior. But a red engine bay...hmmm! When I get done..my car will have electric windows/locks, tilt wheel and A/C. Oh yeah! A rear defroster too!:lala:

:lala:

Firechick

Philoldsmobile, thank you! I degreases it 3 times! It was so bad, that after I degreased it the check engine light actually worked. My power steering switch was bad. Which means when I turned the wheel all the way to the left or the right he would stall. Hence , the check engine light should have told me what the code was. I didn't know because one, I was 14 and two it didn't work. A couple of parts places didn't know it existed. Check out the wiper motor. The kid I bought it from put those colored connecters on the wires. He was an electrician. He also screwed up the fuse block . There were multiple things on each fuse. the headlights,heater and radio were all on a 10 amp fuse!I rewired the fuse block and he is as good as new. I need to do alot of work to the car though. I can't deccide if I should rebuild the car back to factory specs or street/strip 421 Tri-Pack? What do you guys think? I am leaning toward the later.

Scania

People on this board often asking how rare is my car. If you take a iron duke to Sweden i promise you its RARE. Ive only seen one for sale a 84 and they wanted 3500 for it. Not the best condition on the car but still its a lot of money for a 4 cyl thirdgen .

Pacer

I've been following this thread for a while.
I'd like to know what happened to all the 4 cyl cars.
I've never actually seen one in person yet the Camaro White Book lists a large number made from 82-85. Figures similar for F'birds I guess. Were the 4cyl cars predominantly sold in California (emissions) or exported or what ? Perhaps a specific region got the bulk of them?

Pacer

billsfirebird

iTrader: (1)

My bird was built in van nuys and it stayed there. The owner moved to indiana and I got it from him.

As far as not seeing to many around any more....my guess would be that the owners as the car got older, swapped out motors in favor of something a "tad" bit more powerful. Ive heard alot of stories from here and elswhere that people did this.

Plus some just drove the little duke into the ground...you have to in order to get the car moving... and the car ended up in a junk yard somewhere.

That's my theory....makes sense to me at least.

Pacer

Bill,
While I agree the 4 banger wasn't durable and landed in the scrape heap sooner, I'm still miffed by the fact that I've never seen one. Attending numerous car shows each summer and participating at the Ontario Camaro Nationals 12+ yrs I've never run across one.
I used to see a lot of "ordinary" 1st & 2nd gen cars driven by seniors around town who held onto them and so I figure a few entry level early 3rd gen 4cyl cars must be around. But not so. Not in my experience.
I'm sure you're also correct in saying that many had motor swaps, but that would be the minority as I feel "F-body people" would by-pass these altogether, right?
I personally believe they 4cyl cars went to California.

Pacer

philoldsmobile

One thing is for sure, the number of 4 cyl cars that survive in Britain must be in single figures!

MDv6man

I know of a yunkyard in my area that has at least three Iron duke cars. The next time I'm down there, I'll check to see what plant they came out of.

I also think that many of the 4 cyl birds/Camaros were sold to younger people (16-21) that wanted a sporty car and did not have alot to spend on the vehicle. Plus being young usually meant the car eventually died.

Given current gas prices, I wouldn't mind having one right now

84 Challenge

Guess I'm destined to keep this thread going! My Iron Duke came, Oh so close, to going to the scrap yard. I just could not justify keeping her. If I had fixed her up a little and put her up for sale....who would want it? A 4-cyl Camaro with no working A/C or heater & radio + a few missing peices..... The scrap yards weren't even interested. The drivetrain runs like a top. The interior & heating, A/C needed a tremendous amount of work. Took care of the heating, A/C part today....removed it all! Guess this car will be a "no frills" spare car with no A/C, heater or radio. Should I remove the power steering too? Wonder how much drag it has on the poor little engine. Maybe in a few years, I can scrape up all the parts necessary to build the badest Duke. Suuuuuuuuuuper Doooooooook!!! Maybe I should paint a Superman logo on the top of the car after the super duke engine is made.

Brandon

philoldsmobile

Junking the a/c might be a good plan, my Father had a Jaguar XJ6 2.9 (1990) when the a/c was on, there was a huge difference in performance!

billsfirebird

iTrader: (1)

My A/C has never worked on my Duke. I don't have the belt around it either. I used to own an 84 Chevette with working a/c. IT WAS A DOG with it on. Oh wait it was with if off too!

i can't image what it might be like for the ac to be on and driving up a hill in my duke.

84 Challenge

Bill....

Have you checked out "The Fiero Store" on the net? They have a few performance toys for the Duke. They have a nice Holley TBI for a whopping $329 as well as a nice rebuild kit, cam, header, etc.

Brandon

billsfirebird

iTrader: (1)

No I haven't checked them out. I will have to surf on in and see what they have! I don't have any spare cash for my cars at the moment but I am looking forward to doing somethings to bump up a little more power out of it. Thanks for the tip.

bill

philoldsmobile

A friend had a holley throtle body on her fiero 2.5. Can't comment for sure, because i have never been in a fiero without one, but it went quite well.

84 Challenge

I found quite a few things, I need and want. Found a so-called "performance" exhaust manifold for something like $219. It was just a regular manifold with a chrome job inside and out and just kind of port job done. Wonder how that compares to a header? Also found some clutch peices I've been looking for. My clutch pedal assembly is loose. It doesn't really let the clutch engage due to the pedal play. By the way, did Iron Duke cars come with T-tops?

Brandon

drain89

iTrader: (10)

Any of you guys that have a base model f-body that has a good condition black or charcoal gray vinyl or rubber-like flooring instead of carpet and want to trade it for a nice black carpet set, email me.

billsfirebird

iTrader: (1)

So you are saying that there were some early fbody's that came with out carpet but a molded vinyl piece? Hmmmm interesting. Ive never seen it.

philoldsmobile

wow, i didn't know that carpet was an option!

how low could you spec a thirdgen? mine is one of the lowest specced i have seen, the only options are;

305 V8
Auto trans
Rear de fogger
Fog lights
T-Tops
Rear spoiler
Rally wheels
A/C


no power locks, windows, seats, GFX, etc......

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This one's of the 84 Iron Duke (red one) and 83 Z.

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This one is the Iron Duke with Z28 rims.

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Look at that lovely 4-cyl!!

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Rear of car with new exhaust.

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Inside.