On this website we’ve looked at engines like the Toyota 2JZ and Ford Barra, which are well known as two of the best gas powered inline-six engines ever, but America actually has an inline-six engine of its own which might actually be better then both the 2JZ and Barra.
And right off the bat, you might be asking to yourself, “What? How could America possibly have some secret inline-six engine that seemingly no one is talking about AND it’s possibly better than any other inline-six engine?”
I know it sounds kind of crazy that an engine this good could fly under the radar, especially on the internet where everyone seems to know everything.
But, it’s true, the Vortec 4200 is sheep in wolf clothing. Wolf in sheep’s clothing? I don’t even know anymore.
Now starting with the basics, the Vortec 4200 is part of GM’s Atlas family, which includes their 3.5L inline-five cylinder Vortec 3500 and the smaller 2.8L four-cylinder Vortec 2800.
Technically speaking, the Vortec 4200 is the GM LL8, but for the simplicity of the video and article, we’re just going to call it the Vortec 4200.
Because, well, GM LL8 is kind of lame name and if this engine has any hopes of ever being compared to other great inline-six engines, a lame name simply isn’t going to cut it.
Now this engine really only ever had one application, which was the GMT360, a platform on which the Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainier, Oldsmobile Bravada, Isuzu Ascender, and Saab 9-7X were built.
So, basically the only thing it was ever used in were ugly midsized SUVs that no one really likes except for boomers and soccer moms.
The design for the engine itself was actually pretty advanced for a GM engine, with an all aluminum construction, dual overhead camshafts, four-valves per cylinder, coil-on-plug ignition, a pretty high compression ratio of 10:1, and variable camshaft timing on the exhaust side with GM’s “Vortec Engineering.” The “Vortec Engineering” which really just means the cylinder head flows well and helps deliver a flat torque curve.
Now because it was only ever used in the GMT360 platform, the Vortec 4200 had a pretty short life from 2002 to 2009 and was never followed up by anything.
They quite literally just let it die with the platform and never brought out a successor.
Now compared to something like the 2JZ or Ford Barra, the Vortec 4200 has more displacement than both and a much lighter aluminum cylinder block.
Both the 2JZ and Barra could be had with some form of either VVT or VCT at some point in their lives, so that’s not really a big pro for the Vortec engine.
For the Vortec 4200, all that fancy design equals out to power output of 275hp and 275lb-ft of torque. Not terrible for a naturally aspirated 4.2L engine, but certainly not anything crazy. Remember, this was designed as an SUV engine, not a performance engine.
But it’s important to note that GM almost introduced a twin-turbocharged variant of the Vortec 4200 when they were designing the Trail Blazer SS.
You see, before they settled on shoving a 6.0L LS2 into the front of the Trail Blazer SS, they experimented with the idea of leaving the six-cylinder engine in it and simply hopping it up with two turbochargers and a little bit of re-engineering of the internals.
The changes they made include rather obviously the aforementioned twin-turbo system from Aerodyne tuned to mild 8.5 pounds of boost. They also added an air-to-water intercooler and an updated rotating assembly with a lower 8.5:1 compression ratio to help the stop from exploding.
This updated and pretty experimental package output an impressive 400 horsepower at 5,200 rpm and 400 pound-feet of torque at 2,500 rpm.
Which, for reference, are extremely similar numbers to the larger 6.0L LS2 they ended up using in the end.
Testing revealed the twin-turbo Trailblazer could hit 60 mph in 5.35 seconds with an even more impressive quarter mile time of 13.91 seconds.
Now that might sound slow, but for a midsized SUV from this timeframe, that was ridiculously fast.
Unfortunately though, they scraped this twin-turbo experimental variant and never tried to boost the Vortec 4200 again.
Okay, so in stock form, the Vortec 4200 really doesn’t seem to be anything special. If anything, it seems like kind of a potato.
More of less, it’s a lazy workhorse of an engine that barely makes any power. I mean, let’s be real. It’s an engine that was designed for use in SUVs and has close relations with GM’s smaller inline-4 and inline-5 engines, which aren’t particularly interesting either.
But, once you dig a little deeper, you’ll see why this engine is so special.
Now this all begs the question, what makes the Toyota 2JZ and Ford Barra worthy of being deemed as incredible and special engines? Both have pretty weak power outputs in stock form. Both are used in a variety of applications from sedans to sports cars.
Well, what makes them special is what they’re capable of with modifications and what they can handle when pushed to the limits, both in terms of a stock engine power limit and a modified engine power output. And that’s exactly where you’ll find the Vortec 4200 in the same company with the 2JZ and Barra. Sort of.
Now I won’t lie, it’s a bit of stretch to say the Vortec 4200 is as capable as a 2JZ or a Barra when pushed to the limits, but part of that is simply because of the amount of people pushing them to the limits.
The Vortec is a much less popular engine and much harder to find than the other two, so it’s not quite a fair fight to compare them in the context of aftermarket performance. But, we don’t care if it’s not a fair fight, because this is YouTube and there are no rules. It’s like a toxic cesspool of Supra fanboys vs the world. I love it and I hate it.
Okay, on a more serious note, the first example of what this engine is capable of is a Baja truck.
I know it seems a little weird, but just stick with me.
General Motors teamed up with Falconer, who is a specialty engine builder. With this partnership, they were able to put together a stroked out 5.0-liter version of this engine with a very impressive power output of 600hp and 450lb-ft of torque.
The first race truck to use this built 5.0L engine was the Vortec Trailblazer that ran in the Baja 500 and Baja 1000 off-road races all the way back in the year 2000.
Crazy to think that was 24 years ago. God I’m old.
Now unfortunately, the Vortec Trailblazer has a pretty short career and only competed in those two Baja races before retiring, but that wasn’t the end of that engine.
The second appearance of this 5.0L beast came at Pike’s Peak, one of the most dangerous races in the world, at least before they paved the entire thing.
This came in the form of a GMC Envoy race truck which was built by the same team that put together the Trailblazer Baja truck, and pretty surprisingly it took home the overall win for the 2000 Pike’s Peak Hill Climb.
Then we saw this engine used one more time in the Vortec Trailblazer in the Best In The Desert Nevada race of 2000, and in this event the managed to take home the win for the Trick Truck class.
So, although the Vortec 4200 had a pretty brief racing career, it actually did amazingly well in multiple forms of motorsports, which is a testament to how strong and adaptable the engine platform is.
Now in terms of aftermarket performance, engines like the 2JZ and Barra are well known for making ridiculous amounts of power on a completely stock engine, with the 2JZ taking the win because the Barra’s head bolts have to be swapped for it to withstand massively increased boost levels.
If we look to the Vortec engine, it’s certainly not as impressive as the 2JZ, but still pretty good, with examples floating around on the internet making upwards of 800whp on an internally stock engine, but rather obviously with forced induction added to the equation.
Now, as far as I can tell, there are no examples of billet block Vortec engines out there like you can find with the 2JZ and Barra, which means those two have most definitely been pushed further and harder with their stock architecture, but that being said, we have seen Vortec 4200 engines with built bottom ends reach upwards of 1000hp.
Again, its still not really near the numbers that we’ve seen out of world record 2JZ and Barra engines, but still very impressive, especially considering how few people are actually pushing these engines to their limits.
Now one thing I do want to mention because I think it’s very important to this discussion, is the fact that Vortec 4200 engines are dirt cheap here in the states.
If you hop over to eBay to look at engine prices, we’ll generally see 2JZ-GE engines floating around $2,000, with the 2JZ-GTE engines closer to $6,000. If we look at the Barra engine, it’s generally $2,000 to $4,000 for a complete engine. But, if we look at the Vortec 4200, you can find plenty of examples under $1,000, with some as low as $250 plus shipping.
With all that money you save, you can much more easily fit a whole bunch of aftermarket parts into the equation, which makes the Vortec engine much more financially feasible compared to the other two engines.
So, will we ever see the Vortec engine reach the potential of the Toyota 2JZ or Ford Barra? Maybe, but probably not. It just hasn’t had the same aftermarket parts development and it’s an engine that was only used in applications that everyone loves to hate.
Is it fair to call this engine the American 2JZ? I’d say so. It’s very strong, adaptable, decently lightweight, and capable of making some pretty serious numbers.
Does it really compare to the 2JZ or Barra in terms of aftermarket performance? Not really.
But go ahead and let me know what you think down in the comments below.