Vortec 4200 Wiki

Schmidlap said:

Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:

Hmm. I wonder if one would fit in the XJ. 85 more hp. 50 more torque. And there is a engine local with trans and ecu for $600. 

I assume you mean Jeep, but the numbers aren't off for Jaguar XJs either, as well as a likely weight savings from the aluminum block vs iron.

Edit: just saw your comment about the Atlas being really tall, so fitting in a Jaguar probably wouldn't happen if you're not sure about it fitting in a Jeep.  Not that I have a Jaguar to worry about fitting an Atlas in.

If you look carefully at the newer (1988-)  Jaguar 6 cylinders. You will see an almost exact twin.  Aluminum block,  4 liters,  4 valves per cylinder. Similar sizes, bore centers etc.  the two big advantage the Jaguars have is they are a rear sump engine ( unlike the Atlas which requires a lot of welding to  fit in most cars) and Jaguar has available a supercharger so it's more powerful.  
     It also starts out at as low  as $200  and $400 will often get you a warranty.  
  Oh and in England they also came with a 5 speed manual gearbox. ( I think 2 made it here to the USA) 

The British are ahead on camshaft options. Both Kent and ?  Have camshaft availability.   In vintage racing the racers are using over 7500 rpm with the long stroke engines.  Also you don't need to convert the hydraulic lifters to solid lifters. They come that way stock.  
  The valve springs on JAGUARS are relatively common. Similar to Ford Flathead  and the earlier cast Iron Jaguar both   ISKY and Crower both sell them plus they are pretty generic so others might have them as well.  
    The one disadvantage Jaguars have is they do not have VVT. Jaguars  were in use more than a decade before GM built their Atlas engine. Before VVT was available.  I believe the Atlas didn't initially have VVT, it was added about 2006?  In use until the end of the 4200 2008?  
You can easily achieve the same effect because the Jaguar camshaft uses a sprocket that is segmented into 2&1/2 degree segments. Making advancing and retarding both the intake and exhaust an easy 15 minute job. In fact the camshaft alignment tool has been available since 1948 and most cars came with one in their tool kit. ( at least until Ford bought them).  
    Incidentally . Since the British taught us about inches, feet, and pounds.  Jaguars use regular SAE ( American sizes) tools ( until Ford bought them and switched to metric). 
 More bad news. 
     Unlike the V12 I don't know if the six cylinder engines transmission alignment pins line up with Chevy bell housings.  So I don't know what transmissions are easy swaps.