202 4 cylinder

[3800_man]

Did you people know that in some older cars like corona's, they were released with holden running gear, they had a 202 but it was a 4 cylinder, the exact same as a black motor. ?? anyone ahve any info on it....

[Don Sutton]

Yes they had the Backfire or is that Missfire (actually Starfire) four in them with the traumatic (trimatic) auto. It was slightly changed from the same engine variant used in the Holden Sunbird/Commodore Four with a Hitachi carburettor used instead of the Rochester Varajet. When you drove along the road and the traffic in front of you dissappeared into the distance and you tried to keep up by pressing the accelerator more, you were had the S**t frightened out of you because of the sudden noise as the traumatic changed down but you didn't go any faster it just made more noise. Every other month you put a new set of HT leads on it as they rubbed on the dip stick and any other metal object within reach until they wore down to the carbon trace and shorted. I fixed my wifes one by making up a plastic separator that fixed them in place. The economy wasn't being about the same as a V8 despite having the carburettor flowed at work (I worked for a carburettor manufacturer then) and new jets etc. Eventually it did as many engine do that have fibre timing gears stripped the gear. I took the opportunity to have the camshaft checked for profile and replace the gear with a 3rd party aluminium one. The economy still didn't improve so we sold it and bought a commodore which was more economical and actually went faster when you pressed the accelerator. They had one good thing in them for those wanting to build better 202's, they used XU1 conrods.

[Spike79]

Ok, done a little bit of research on this. According to Holden the starfire motor was a 173ci or 2850cc red six minus 2 cylinders. This makes it about 115ci or 1.9 litres. It used 56% of the parts from the six cylinder. It also had a whopping 60kW @ 4900rpm.

My family bought a Corona new in 1979. It lasted for years and did over 400,000 kms. My brother and i both learned to drive on it. It shreaded its timing gear on a trip from Brissy to Cairns, The timing gear looked like it was made of chip-board.

[Goon]

nice info but wow lookout

[craigvk]

I learned to drive manuals on a Corona Starfire. I think it was an 83 or 84 model. Maybe it was even an 82 model, can't remember. That car did about 450K and still went fine. They are great in Coronas but absolute crap in Commodore bodies. My Dad many years ago had a 4 cyl Commodore. Gutless vehicle.

[3800VH]

Corona's rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats my "dirt raily" car my dad owned it from new it was done 390k and still goes hard with my months of thrashing

[tigervh]

As spike79 said the starfire4 is based on the 173, not the 202. I have to say that the starfire has copped an unfair bagging over the years. Yeah It doesn't go anything like a six, but when compared with other 4cyl engines of its era its performance was pretty even. People seem to forget that its main competition at the time was the Datsun 200B and the 2ltr Sigma, Statments from the motoring media at the time about fuel economy being similar to the six cyl models when dirven hard miss the point of the car. If you want a strong performing car you don't buy the four cyl option, you get the 202 or ever better a V8. When driven sensibly the starfire is alot more economical than the six. The biggest problem with the 4cyl Commodore was its gearbox and final drive ratio. The SF4 like the sixes were torquers not revers, so why did Holden fit them with a 3.9:1 diff ratio and 13in wheels. And WITH the MC6 transmissions the poor things never had a chance. My first car was a 4cyl Commodore. When I got the car It felt like a bag of shit. I put a set of V8 sway bars and a set of 15in SLE wheels on it, this transformed the handling. I replaced the diff with a 3.36:1 manual six cyl unit and replaced the box with a Celica 5speed. With these changes the car was sweet. Most people who rode in it thought it was actually a 202. I built a nice six to go in it but some dirty prick stole the car before I had a chance to put it in. I currently own two V8 commodores but i still have respect for the old Starfire motors. Its a shame Holden didn't package the cars better.

[craigvk]

Good story. I think Holden's mistake was bringing out a 4 cyl Commodore.

[Shifty1]

haha i got one of those starfires atm.. sure it isnt fast but its pretty economical (wayyy better then my previous 202's).. altho i dont really feel comfortable at higher rpm as it doesnt have a tacho n it sounds loud.. im thinking of putting in just to see whats going on.

[Outlaw Torn]

Good story. I think Holden's mistake was bringing out a 4 cyl Commodore.

tell me about it........ lol
i got that very 1.9L starfire

[bacon-n-eggs]

Not necessarily tho. My grandfather has a immaculate VH 4 cylinder with only 90,000 genuine clicks and she seems aite for what it has to do. Believe it or not, it sounds alright too but he got extractors on it when he first baught back in the eighties lol. Gd car tho..

[308vkcalais]

lol learned to drive in one of them Coronas.God I still remember.It was an awful car.Put me off them str8 up.Great thread thou, some ppl on here 'know their sh*t'.!!