The 122 was similar to the first two generations of the General Motors 60° V6 engine; sharing cylinder bore diameters and some parts.

[citation needed] The 122 was available in the U.S. beginning in 1982 for the GM J platform compact cars and S-series trucks.

Production ceased consistent with the replacement of the S-series trucks with the GMT 355 sub-platform.

Introduced with the models in 1982, the 1.8 used a two-barrel Rochester carburetor and produced 88 hp (66 kW) and 100 lb⋅ft (140 N⋅m) of torque.

Applications: A stroked version of the 1.8-liter engine, displacing 2.0 liters, was introduced midway through 1982, to provide more low-end power for the J-cars.

Applications: This engine was similar to the LQ5, except that it used a two-barrel carburetor instead of a throttle-body fuel injection system.

Applications: For the 1990 model year, GM replaced the 2.0-liter engine with a stroked version displacing 2.2 liters and using throttle-body fuel injection (TBI).

Applications: For 1992, the 2.2 received multi-port fuel injection (MPFI), replacing the TBI version in the J-body cars and increasing power to 110 hp (82 kW) and 130 lb⋅ft (176 N⋅m) of torque.

The MPFI and SFI versions produced enough power to allow the 2.2 to replace the old Pontiac Iron Duke engine as the 4-cylinder offering in the S/T trucks and A-body cars.