Inliners International Forums General Discussion Blown and Injected 250 or 4200

Guys really am stuck here on where to take my car next I will give you a quick rundown. I am finally after 2 years getting my 71 nova shipped across the us to me it's 250 is pretty beat up at this point and I am definitely going to tear down the car and rebuild it and just can't decide to keep the 250 or put in a 4200. I know somewhat the pros of the 4200 but the fact I already have a full 3" exhaust, headers, Clifford intake and Holley 390 4 barrel on the 250 is making me think for me sticking with the 250 and rebuilding the engine and getting head work done would maybe be more worth it then actually doing the 4200 swap? What are the thoughts I am looking for just a weekend warrior car here for fun running a turbo and putting out good hp.
I have no problem doing fab work and can weld pretty well so all modifications for the swap and adding the turbo won't be a problem

I've done both. Started with a well built 292, this is the engine Tom ended up using on the dyno last year.

It made maybe 210/220 HP and drank gas like a semi. After all said and done this was a $6000 engine by the time I bought every thing for it. Machine work up here is expensive.

Flip side I put in a 2005 stock 4200, made 275 HP got 26-28 MPG on the highway and just went like stink compared to the 292 once you got it wound up a bit. The 292 had more bottom end grunt up to 2200.

Then I put a turbo on the stock 4200 at 7 psi made darn close to 400 RWHP. Still got good mileage.

A good 4200 with all the wiring etc can be had for 1100 to $1500. Jeremy charges $99 to reprogram the PCM. You didn't mention what you have or want to run for a trans so I can't comment. Any 2002 up to 2008 4L60e that came behind a LS will work with a bell housing swap.

Mounts etc you can make. Reuse your 3" exhaust - just move it to the other side of the car.

Someone here will most likely buy your iron6 speed parts. Most likely get $300 to 400 for them.

By the time you rebuild the 250 your way ahead with a 4200 - turbo it and you have a solid 400 hp to go play with.

That was kinda the thought I was having thanks for the input, yes if I go with the 4200 it will probably be that trans. Good news is I paid about $200 for all those parts so I can probably still come out ahead. Since I just moved to Tennessee first things first having my nova shipped from Oregon, (will be painful) and setting up my new garage so gotta go out and pick up a welder and some stuff but somewhere on there can hopefully find a good 2006 or later 4200 so I can clean it up and get the price of the puzzle taken care of I'm sure you will get plenty of questions from me.

Marc is right, and another way to look at it is you have 2 engines that are the same cubic inch, but stock for stock the 4200 makes almost 150 more HP, so from that point, everything you do to either one will result in the 4200 still being 150 HP ahead of the 250. And for much less money to boot.

Yea that's really how I was looking at it and really getting a trans to go with the 4200 is no big because my current power glide is just not cutting it. Really it should be a fun project I have a vision of where i want to take this car so it will be fun getting it there, and anyone on here with a nova I will probably have quite a few stock parts going up for sale so stay in touch