Inliners International Forums General Discussion Vortec 4200 4200 parts - whats needed to help folks use this

I just purchased an 07 4200 for my 53. What is the best location for the motor mount rubber isolator on a 4200 to be installed in a 53 chevy 210? Should it be installed near the frame or the engine. The engine mount is about 5 inches from and above the frame at the crank centerline. A lower location would aid in header design.

Mike,

Is your truck frame stock or does it have a front clip/mustang II suspension?

If you dig hard enough there is a place on the net that makes header flanges for the 4200. I had the link until one of my hard drives died.

My car (two door post) has a stock frame.
MLM

What is there to stop a person from running a conventional distributor off the cam and lose the ECU and coil packs? I'm thinking more along the lines of a carb induction engine in street car with minimal electronics. The head and combustion chamber design seems to be the main factors for the horsepower. Then figure out how to deal with or modify the variable exhaust timing which I think is responsible for the torque curve. I know I'll get lectured now but I'm ready, after all if I thought like the mainstream everything I own would be bent 8's.

Nothing stopping you except its a bunch of work. Jerry W. mounted a dist. running off of the exhaust cam. but kept the injection. I think he disposed of the VVT in the process. Ditto for the carb. All the comp eliminator racers using this engine are running carbs since the rules don't allow efi.

I'm just really curious what is underlying reason to want to run a dist. not to put anyone down or lecture but more to understand. Is it the comfort factor or ????? I'd really like to know. If your more comfortable off line then send a message.

For information to get the coil on plug ignition working using a ( I know that pesky) megasquirt. We need 8 wires + 1 vacuum hose. ( lets see here 6 plug wire + a coil wire + 12 volts to the coil + a wire from the dist. to the coil = hmm 9 wires )

The wires are:
+12 from the ignition switch (hot in run and crank) to each coil via a 15 amp fuse
Gnd from each coil to a common ground point on the block.
Coil trigger A going to coils 1&6
Coil trigger C going to coils 5&2
Coil trigger B going to coils 3&4
2 wires going to the crank trigger.

Also needed is a +12 volt wire (hot in run and crank)to power the MS and a 3 ground wires running to the common ground point on the block.

The vacuum hose runs from the intake to the onboard MAP sensor. All the rest of the sensors normally used are optional. A person might want to hook in a wideband 02 sensor to help tuning the carb though...

If this came in a box with the harness and the timing curve already installed ready to go would this make it easier?
In essence this is the same as buying a MSD ignition box to run a carb'ed LS series engine. Take it out of the box plug it in and start the engine.

The main reason for me would be a simplicity that I understand, (comfort)the same reason for converting an Ecotec 2.0 to a Mallory distributor driven off the rear of the exhaust cam and a homebuilt mechanical fuel injection. I understand if you're comfortable with the technology it's probably seems quite simple to you but for me I don't understand the Megasquirt system, I could hook up wires but if I don't understand what they do when something goes south I'd be lost.

I understand what you're saying. I'm stumbling through the Megasquirt process now. What's worse is that I'm also learning to do that in Windows while I do this on a MAC. I'm one confused puppy much of the time! But I understand so much more than I did a year ago. The MS is truly a learning process. I hope the comfort comes. That being said I have run a Pertronics unit on my '53 for years but there's points and a condenser in the glove box!

This should send a chuckle through most of you .. the first time I installed MS was in 2003, 2 days before I left to head to St. Paul MN. A 20 hour drive from here... Well my trusty Q-Jet was riding shotgun for the trip along with all the gizmos to hook it back up. And a spare MS.

Didn't need either one. Had other issues - PS pump puked on the way home - left me with no AC and it was 110*F outside.

I am going to start my project with the stock 2005 motor n/a until I can swap head/pistons/rods., and then move to something that will make a quick 450-500hp.. Dont suspect it'll be terribly expensive to make a bit more boost. My question is how to pick a turbo. I've seen the apps on the net, but I dont know all the metrics about ic decay, and pk hp.

Is there a way I can buy a turbo, and run it at a lot lower boost until I get the motor built up real strong?

I heard somone make mention of the holset hx40, would that be an ideal turbo for my ultimate hp goals?

efi, btw, my motor had a sensor broken in shipping that was right below the cam gears on the left side (looking at it from the front of the motor.) I was guessing a cam position sensor, or something to do with vvt.

I dont have my service manuals yet and would like to know what the sensor is.

If its right at the front of the motor its the cam sensor.

I've been waiting for someone to answer your question Mike, as I'm interested in using one of those engines in my '54 Chev sedan delivery. What transmission are you using? I hope that you'll be posting some pic's.

I saw a video of a guy racing an early '50s chevy car on youtube with a 4200 in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPJ6vBhHexg

MBHD

I bought the engine without a transmission. Want to buy a 4l60e. I look at my library of books about mounts. Boyd Coddinton's "Hot Rod Engines" shows insulators at either end. The real difference I see is the raised crank centerline. The stock centerline is at the bottom of the block. Pan depth of 8 inches. The 4.2l has an 8 inch pan depth but the crank centerline is 2 3/4 inches higher. Crank centerline will need to higher for ground clearance. I will post pattern when I make part,but that will be a while. Mike

Mike,

Any 4L60E that came behind a LS series engine will work as long as you change the bellhousing. The bolts holding the bellhousing are IP50 head DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE A TORX BIT, you will bust the bit and/or strip the head of the bolts in the process. Either take the trans to a transmission shop and ask them to swap the bellhousing or by the IP50 bit from snap-on. These bolts are hard - even 100% carbide bits have a hard time drilling them out. Trust me you don't want to go there.