Hi all,

I am looking to pick up a spare duke for my '86 in the near future, and was wondering if the distributor setup from and early duke can be bolted onto a duke with balance shafts. Also, how much do the balance shafts correct the duke's shaky nature?

Thanks,
hkl

As I understand it there's no drive gear on the cam for a mechnical distributor, so no it's not a bolt on. My personal opinion on the "force balancer" engine is not too high. There are a few on here that like it , but I feel they are prone to distructive failure.
Any 84 to 86 code R duke is a basic drop in and hook up (a few minor changes required on the 84). Even (some) earlier dukes will work with minor modifications.
Stay away from the code U dukes. THey were used is some Grand Ams and some Calais. Many parts are not interchangable with your code R eng

[This message has been edited by 2farnorth (edited 05-23-2008).]

87 and later L4 is effectively a completely different engine. Very little is compatible with the older distributor based engines and installing one is the equivalent of installing a V6 or just about any other engine conversion.

The balancer engine, used in 88, has changes on top of the 87 changes. The balancer is also the oil pump. The oil filter is in the pan.

Even with the distributor engine there are some important differences. There's more in my cave.

------------------
Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top of every forum page...)

When we had the engine in one of our 84s replaced, one of the many problems involved the water pump setup. The first long block they ordered turned out to be wrong in that regard, but I can't remember exactly what it was now.

I have an 88 duke (with the balance shafts) with 175000 miles on it, and it still runs great. Cruising down the highway, it is so smooth that you hardly know you have an engine. Of course, idling is a bit rough, because I have poly dog bone bushings. But before I put them in, it felt like the engine was flopping around back there when I shifted.

quote Originally posted by maryjane: When we had the engine in one of our 84s replaced, one of the many problems involved the water pump setup. The first long block they ordered turned out to be wrong in that regard, but I can't remember exactly what it was now.

I bet it was an S10 VIN R block. They look the same, but they don't have the provisions for mounting the side-water pump like the FWD engines and Fieros use. Instead, S10s put a water pump where the block-off plate goes on the end of our engines.

So in summary, the balanced dukes do not have good parts interchangeability with unbalanced dukes, but the balance shafts do their job well. Correct?

[This message has been edited by hklvette (edited 05-24-2008).]