Does America Make a Better Barra?! Vortec 4200 Turbo Engine Builds!-Hot Rod Garage Preview Ep. 85 

Too bad There isn't a car that's called mundi Barramundi is the fish it was named after not the barra cuda

And a stereo that only plays Heart's Barracuda.

a GM knockoff of an Aussie Ford motor in a Mopar......Can you think of a bigger abortion on wheels?

67 barra cuda! I bream of this car!!!

Yes

Pat Ball Ya u think be torquey. Isuzu 4.2 Vortec engine. 291Hp and TQ only 277. Little bit more then GM 3.6 V6. Hp 288 and TQ 270. Pretty close.

@@Silkmaster4200 It's not the torquiest of small i6 engines but they do lend themselves better to lots of torque than pretty much anything else. That's why commercial haulers use i6s and v12s so much. I6 crankshafts are so easy to balance and therefore don't flex much. Ill take a strong v8 any day but IMO v12s (2xi6) are the way to go for durability and potential.

Derek DeGroate same! I want to see if it’s even worth putting a turbo on one

@@trailspeed7037 Quite a few people have already done it, I think they are basically limited to 400 horsepower or lower though for reliability concerns. Some people have swapped these into old I6 cars, like the Dodge Dart Sprint, and reliably gotten high 300 horsepower from them. The problem is that nobody makes aftermarket parts for these, so everything has to be fabricated. its much easier to pick up a junk yard LS motor and make way more horsepower for far less money and with out the need to custom make everything. But, at the same time, the LS swaps have gotten stale, and hopefully enough people start looking at the Vortec 4200 and maybe someone will start making parts for them. I also have a Trailblazer, its my daily. I wish I could put a small turbo on it just to gain some HP in the upper RPM range, but I also would have jsut bought a V8 Trailblazer if I actually wanted power. The 4.2 is just a reliably boat anchor, and thats all I really want out of it.

Will Thornton well i don’t see it as a boat anchor, it’s a DOHC setup, surely it’s got a lot of potential with boost, but like you said aftermarket support is non existent so it would be hard.

@@trailspeed7037 is boat anchor a compliment? haha. I have an 04 LT. Yep...

@@willdog3 your right on the aspect of after market support but your wrong on horsepower, these things will make almost 500hp with upgraded fuel system and a turbo and the limiting factor is pretty much compression getting in the way.

Look up nivlac57s Channel. You'll be surprised to see they got one of these almost stock that they're making 605 horsepower with, on a conservative tune with basic junkyard parts. They have another 4200 with some reground cams, making over 772 horsepower at the wheels, through a 4l60e. It's an awesome channel in the explaining exact detail of what they do. If you don't like the idea of looking at the numbers, they put them in some beater cars and run eights and nines.

@@fuhkoffandie they are developing stuff for that platform, as well as testing its limits, they were successful at blowing up a 4200 at 800 whp

Good, they can stop buying our barras.

Because 2k Barra - that's why lol

@@goingforadds It needs better rods and mains?

There is a channel that does Vortech 4200 builds You should check them out , It's called Nivlac57

They where not anymore

I used to own a Colorado with the 5 cylinder version of this engine, with my special ordered 5 speed manual transmission. Even with the Z-71 off road package it could outrun a lot of lesser exotics, and even low range, flat out, the rev limiter would let me clear 80 MPH. Did I mention that the 80+ MPH pass was in low range????

hahaha

you forgot to put another shrimp on da bahbie. take your barra and shove it, chevy 4.2 will reign supreme

Legit look up summernats and see what he have down here. From what I've seen. America have nothing quite yet like some of our stuff. Our whole country loves fast, loud and crazy cars.

@@undeadexile2485 bubba Gump has shrimp, but not down here.. prawns and 2 weeks payed vacation every year for everybody down here plus the Barra famous for up to 1000hp. and free medical. lol.

@@davidbell1676 ok you win. lmao

What's going on with your capitalization?

I worked for a company that did machining on the I5 and I4 evolution of this engine. If they kept main and rod bearings the same dia as it appears then the I4 would be a super strong setup :-). The I5 might be cool too. The I4 did not sell well.

Whoa..

Stop taking our barras

@@thicc1 pretty sure theres more then 42 on the roadside in armadale, perth, being stolen every night XD

Thats why i cant find any 🤣 seriously 🤨

Any left? I'd buy

No need, this episode is free... for now

Mike Louder this wasn’t an episode. It’s a commercial for the series on MTOD.

Mojo Witwicky I got trailblazer SS wheels on mine just need a turbo 😈

Please tell me you all read this as Ralph!

Mine too

lmao same mate

My Trailblazer LT

Shh. Don't tell everyone !!

Never

they failed at making a better barra thats why they scrap the idea of continuing 😉👍

L E M O N yes it does!!! It's called a gen1 small block chev!!

robmotown1 that’s a V8. Not even in the same category lmao

L E M O N that's right!!! Gen1 sbc's are on another level/category!!! Lmao!!!

@@robmotown1 he said barra, not boat anchor

um maybe google barra 5.4 lol there are also v8 barras

Surprised they're not trying to charge money for it

Barra sux

Barra suc

Chris Nolan We got 1900 HP from a 2.1 4 cylinder

2JZ makes more but hey you Aussies can build a great motor too

Pat Ball were did you pull 30 years from mate?

Probably no one I dont think they are allowed by law. Details?

Why would ANYONE drop a 4200 in an Aussie Ford?? Talk about a downgrade

B Ross You can. import it

dont bother ..they dont tell you the cost and the unreliability of them with big power heaps of mates spent big money to end up with a couple of dyno sheets and good runs then bang

Kingatow Crew And yet, Benny had no issues with his. $200 taxi engine. Went bang after numerous 9sec passes. Just havta build em right

the motor cost 200 ...its the add ons that cost stock motors dont run 9s if you think they do well yer

Kingatow Crew maybe it’s the people that are building your mates, I’ve had big HP barras for 7 years now with no issues at all, comes down to the tuner at the end of the day with any engine..

U forgot about our 325 which on over boost gave 370 in stock form under right conditions.

Agreed... take it down. Absolutely worthless upload

"Religious intent" I'll be using that term 😂

2003 Trailblazer is the goat😂

@@danieljacobs7594 bro I have a 03!

@@Hazinclayton_007 ayy nice! i love mine

@@danieljacobs7594 ya I love mine too! its on a 3 inch lift kit with 33s

I've got a few billet intake flanges for sale

Check out Nivlac57 they do 4200 stuff

Chevy baby 🙋

Never thought anything of these motors.. cool

Not with a 200 shot you aren't sit down. Probably losing to foxbodies with misfires lol

@@billyray4716 lmao bro fox bodies can't even beat 4 banging ricers🤣🤣. Even a bolt on 5.0 is a dog

Too bad the rest of the vehicle is garbage... I speak from experience.

The vortec 4200 has made more stock longblock vs stock longblock than a barra and makes more NA power than a barra 😂

@@thewraith6360 yup, the Barra will eat this for breakfast. The Barra factory cast block and head and destroked can make 2500hp. The Barra is a long stroke design, and has superiour low end and midrange torque in NA, and turbo, has superiour pre spool response, ie much better on the street both NA and turbo. I own 3 factory barra cars, one turbo.

4200 is 104mm stroke 93mm bores and makes more NA and won long distance events vs turbo v8s and big blocks no barra has done anything except in Oz and has had 20 years development yet still wont beat a JZ which is an even older engine. JZ has the hardest block tensile and material density of any 6 all in the right places to make them even lighter than other 6 cylinder cast iron blocks. Yet I still love intech an Barra but reality is the key.

@@altruismfirst6489 ?? Who wants to be limited with just normal 14.7psi atmospheric pressure filling those cyclinders ? Boost is where the fun is at mate. A destroked barra can make more than 2500hp at the crank, and still be street driven to and from events, with engine coolant, all on the factory cast block and head. The Vortech 4.2L can make how much on the factory block and head ? Not that much, I bet. The 2JZ block deck warps @ 1800hp. This is according to Jay from Realstreet. Fyi, Jay has run consistent 6sec 1/4 mile 2jz mk4 Supra, so I think he knows what he is talking about. Jay moved to a billet 2jz block because of this issue. Jay explains this at 1:39 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CLpux2vrvWs.html

I don't know how much they can make i mean the ls are doing the same with 2 more pistons and between .8l and 2l more

😂😂😂 might be a stock shortblock but the 40k worth of bolt ons is where the magic happens.

If you are talking about the skid factory Barra engines used at drag week, they are fully built.

ACPHOTO stock block means no mods to strengthen the block like filling the water jackets and forged piston sleeves. Now stock bottom end internals means stock rods pistons and crankshaft. Know the difference before you speak

@@802Garage not the first engine they used was stock

I've been wanting to mess with one for a while, but no funds and nothing to put it in!

@@802Garage I worked with a guy who's nephew put one in a 37 Chevy. When asked why his comment was "any idiot can put a small block or LS in a car"

@@mpetersen6 Enough time and energy, for sure, hahaha.

trying to keep our 04 Trailblazer going cuz it has this engine. thanks

I was a salesman when these 4.2L Atlas engines came out. I liked them back then. I read somewhere these put out 90% of their torque way down low and for most of its operating range 💪😁👍 Now I'm considering upgrading a 4.0L Jeep 4x4. I'm looking at hp/tq, availability, reliability, parts sourcing, and fitment. MPG is a big factor for me also. And, I need to keep California emissions people happy 😩 I can do a 4.0L based stroker, but honestly, as much as I hate to say it.... an LS based Vortec truck engine is looking mighty favorable.

We don't have an accent you guys do. lol

This episode along with a couple others are all free on MT right now, watched 3 last night with no sub .

@@davidking3311 didnt work for me!

Lol

Mmm Hmm

Me too.

What did you do about wiring and ecu? This sounds very interesting. I always liked the manual H3 just not the weak I5 it came with.

How did you get the electronics to work on that?

The LL8 VORTEC 4200 4.2 is a much stronger barra.

Yep. I need one for my Austin 3 tonne truck

Lol you can still buy them for $120 here in Perth

we still sell them for 400ish most go to scrap where they belong to be made into motors with relable horsepower

When you pay for subscription on their website

Whats Crazy is the Trailblazer SS was supposed to be a TT version of the 4200 but they instead went with the LS V8

There is a channel named Nivlac57 they do content with the 4200, they have cars making 750 whp or close to it with stock bottom ends they found the limit of these motors as well

No it doesn't. It is way short. With a spring and injector change bur standard turbo, a Barra will make over 600hp

So what did the GM motor make boosted?? Common now, spill the beans.

Riding With The Reid's 401hp

@@ydavevr4 yup but the stage 2 was locked up so just the baby engine

@@wonk1238 well according to research a 100% stock N/A Barra with an added turbo factory EVERYTHING was 420ish hp so yeah

I just watched the video no problem. Didnt have to log in. Didnt get a single ad...

Mike Barrett on the app its just pushing a free trial. I dont have the option to click any content or watch anything.

@@jessebergunder That stinks. I was on my PC

Jesse Bergunder you can’t afford $5 bucks a month? Skip eating out once a month. It’s amazing to me how people complain about the cost.

Mark Ball not about affording it. All of this was free for years. There is plenty of car related content on youtube still for free. I didnt say im too poor to get it. I said its not worth the cost.

In all fairness it could but for the same price point and reliability?

@@kayleb1109 it's possible, tho I'm guessing theres a reason it hasn't been done yet, one issue I know of is its less-than-optimal rod to stroke ratio, while the Barra isn't far off, people have created a destroker kit to spin it faster to make more power with a bigger turbo. There were also complaints of worse fuel economy than the 5.3.. lol and it only has vvt for the exhaust, but the head and block look pretty stout, probably a good platform to make custom parts for, but who's gonna put out the money and r&d?

@Meta World Peace I'm not sure tuning would be the end of the world with how cheap they are to get, nor is a basic stand alone if your shooting for what the barra can do with a bit of work, it's more about how much hp the stock unit can take and what can be improved without going billet/custom everything. But the biggest thing MT forgot to recognize was the driving force behind the rb/jz/barra delevlopement, the lineage and followers the V4200 is clearly lacking. I have a feeling theres a reason GM dropped this engine from its future plans of using this engine in place of the 6.0 ls, mainly the cost of a stock ls vs the upgraded rods, pistons, piston oil jets, injectors, high flow oil pump, exhaust, bigger turbo/s and intake vct... so basically a whole build for 400hp and torque.. on 8.5 psi mind you but still, that's a LOT of work to make decent, tunable power. And large hp? Out of the question without a destroker kit, you'd run out of rpm for your turbo before you'd hit head flow limitations. There's already proven platforms out there and with tech advancing you'd be better off with a b58, you'd get more efficiency niceties for your dollar, not to mention a platform to enjoy it in.

@@Drake5153 this is very true, the Rockstar energy FD Corolla has a factory Toyota 4cyl that they reliably crank over 1000hp out of so if the time and money was put in this could demolish the barra at a cheaper cost being the US is a place of much easier and cheaper resources but the upfront costs of R&D would be painfully large and at least a year before that could be put on shelves

@@kayleb1109 not quite sure it would demolish the Barra, more or less maintain the same level when it comes to high output, on the lower end the barra will come out ahead on the dual vct, and I think it has oil jets... my main interest in this engine at the time i looked into it was the all aluminum setup. It also comes with a main girdle, which I don't think the barra does.. but it comes down to what your looking for, and how much harassment you wanna take from the GM and ls boys lol. I feel confident the barra in a mustang would garner a lot more clout and respect than a v4200, but if someone made one work beyond what people have previously I would approve, not that my approval would mean anything XD

Search on the Inliners forum or Facebook, there have been built turbo 4200s for well over a decade now.

You should checkout the youtube channel Nivlac57. He did a bone stock 4200 build, made 750bhp. Then swapped to Schneider 66RH reground cams and 2JZ valvesprings, made 1000bhp until the con rod snapped. He shows you how to do the cam install yourself and all of the tools needed. Great guy. 🍻

Come on 😔

60's motor? 2 valve, stone age ports?

Not a cross flow head. Volumetric efficiency suffers greatly, add boost and it is even more noticeable

Shawn Raymond the guys down in Brazil are making over 2k hp on Chevy slant 6’s without billet blocks or anything so honestly age makes no difference to how much power an engine can make

​@@MrGhostOg Wow, maybe 2K hp is with Blown Nitro methane ? Would like to see a youtube on that... But just saying 60's Old "stock" small block chevy heads have poor flow compared to LS cathedral heads ...Nothing wrong with running what you have...

Go check out Nivlac57's channel. Dude is making somewhere around 850 horsepower to the wheels with one of these..junkyard engine with 170k miles on it, all original internals except the cams..they're stout right out of the box.

2burning2turning false, they make 410 at the crank.... they’re not retarded they know the difference lmao

ChrisHallett83 depends on the year engine. And I was referring to what they say in the video... they said in the video that comparatively, a barra makes around 410 hp with more boost and fuel(meaning at the crank), and that was the goal with the atlas 4200. Assuming that the engine they were referencing was on of the ones that makes 360 flywheel stock, upping the boost some and adding fuel would be somewhere in the realm of a 50 hp gain, hence the 410 power number. Don’t think I don’t understand something because you didn’t understand the context of my comment lmao

Matt L did you read my comment. Key words are “with similar mods”. Ford made 240kw, 245kw, 2 variations of the 270kw, 310kw and 325kw motors. I had a 240kw motor which made 430rwhp with similar mods to what they did.

Ford boys like always claiming they have a better engine but rely on forged parts, come on we all know ls/vortecs are the best when it comes to stock power

Daniel Nolasco I’m not brand loyal, just know a good thing when I see it. Like a $150 lpg motor with forged pistons from the factory that can take 20psi and make 450rwkw.

MCM production simply dont compare to what this channel does. And the guys from MCM openly state this. MCM isnt free, they have many sponsors and because they take money and resources from other companies much of what they do is focused on making them happy rather that on you as the viewer. The fact is anybody trying to make this kind of content will run into the money issue before long, and not everyone can take the same route, a single episode of Roadkill can cost between $500 and $700K How many other shows does motor trend produce? How much can you possibly think they make off youtube? Look at it this way, when you pay for something you are the customer and you have the power, when you seem to get something for free that meant you are NOT the customer. In the case of youtube you are the product. Why do you think youtube only ever makes changes that benefit their actual customers and not their viewers? If you actually paid your way through life you would have an actual say in what you get.

Yeah.... that's the point, what dont you get about the premise?

don’t listen to this guy ^ 🤦‍♂️

And they think we don't get Cressida's in the US 🤣🤣

He said Cresta. They share a chassis but aren't the same car

@@MikeyB-Rod same car, different motor

@@MikeyB-Rod that's like calling a C7 Z06 vette a different car than a C7 vette. It's still the same car, with a few differences and another badge...

@@MikeyB-Rod or saying that the Toyota Altezza is a different car than a Lexus is300....same car, different motors...you get my point?

Considering most Barra I6s become unreliable on stock internals between 400-500 HP I really dont think they are all that.

Unreliable between 400-500? Probably not cranked up enough. Gets more reliable at 600-700.

@@Motown952 no, they dont. They need to be built to survive 500+ hp or they will fail. With so many engines out there able to do better why bother?

@@DrewLSsix The early Barras yes, the late FG engines or the factory LPG engines had bigger rods and will go 700ish just with valve springs

I’m in the land of aus and dont the stock bottom ends handle up to 600 rear wheel kilowatts? It was mentioned in a street machine episode at one of the performance shops that they found the limit is 600 rear wheel kilowatts. That’s roughly 800 wheel horsepower. Getting close to 900 ish crank horsepower. I don’t have the time to look it up to reference it but I do remember it being mentioned

Actually it works out to be if they don't need replacing they tend to lose value. Supply vs demand. Think about it instead of makkng stupid comments.

But of course these chevy fan boys are a bit bias