4.2 mods
Author
Discussion

volospian

Original Poster:

494 posts

227 months

Friday 18th January 2008
quotequote all
OK. I'm sure it's come up many times before, but what are the best mods for power on the 4.2?

I know there are a lot of things you can do to the 4.5 to get it over 400hp, but is the 4.2 capable of hitting 400 ponies?

Cyclone1

2,614 posts

276 months

Friday 18th January 2008
quotequote all
volospian said:
OK. I'm sure it's come up many times before, but what are the best mods for power on the 4.2?

I know there are a lot of things you can do to the 4.5 to get it over 400hp, but is the 4.2 capable of hitting 400 ponies?
tumbleweed

THE BIG DOG

638 posts

235 months

Friday 18th January 2008
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trackcar

6,453 posts

256 months

Friday 18th January 2008
quotequote all
You would need a lot of work to crack 400 on a 4.2 .. try aiming for 385 and you're nearer the mark without going wild on spending money. 385 would cost maybe 2k ??

Chuggaboom

1,152 posts

278 months

Friday 18th January 2008
quotequote all
Does that include the later 4.2's that are supposedly based on 4.5 internals except for the obvious liners/pistons/rings, then topped off with std 4.2 inlets ?

What about head differences ?

ECU's presumeably had increased fueling.

HarryW

16,036 posts

299 months

Friday 18th January 2008
quotequote all
Agree 380hp and 350lbs (ish) is about the limit of a standard 4.2 without major work, haven't got a clue as to costs though.

I would also like to see what the later cars with 4.5 bottom end would make with limited work as a few of those are already around the 385hp mark.

Joolz you used to clean up the 4.2 throttle bodies before mapping was cracked and get a few gains (10-20), I wonder if a later car with that and mapping could hit 400 now confused.

Mr M

1,276 posts

232 months

Friday 18th January 2008
quotequote all
Going to be controversial here. Don't bother. Fast enough as it is. Use the money for keeping it in fine fettle.getmecoatsmile

trackcar

6,453 posts

256 months

Friday 18th January 2008
quotequote all
HarryW said:
Agree 380hp and 350lbs (ish) is about the limit of a standard 4.2 without major work, haven't got a clue as to costs though.

I would also like to see what the later cars with 4.5 bottom end would make with limited work as a few of those are already around the 385hp mark.

Joolz you used to clean up the 4.2 throttle bodies before mapping was cracked and get a few gains (10-20), I wonder if a later car with that and mapping could hit 400 now confused.
I'd included that in the post Harry .. std car at about 350hp .. remap and induction porting and a decent exhaust will see 30-35hp up on that. seems fair numbers to me.

Don't think ive ever seen a 4.2 with 4.5 bottom end in on the dyno .. well certainly never seen any out of the ordinary hp figures to sugest anything extra under the bonnet so can't comment on that scenario, thought sense would sugget you'd get only a few % extra from the CCs

Edited by trackcar on Friday 18th January 23:44

HarryW

16,036 posts

299 months

Saturday 19th January 2008
quotequote all
Mr M said:
Going to be controversial here. Don't bother. Fast enough as it is. Use the money for keeping it in fine fettle.getmecoatsmile
Very wise, they are expensive enough to keep on the road without making it more expensive, a bit of a Pandora's box hehe

cerbfan

1,198 posts

257 months

Saturday 19th January 2008
quotequote all
I guess a later car would be not to far off mine then so should be hitting 400+. Mine is essentially a 4.5 spec with the 4.2 induction although it is slightly overbore and has a higher compression than a standard 4.5 I believe.

volospian

Original Poster:

494 posts

227 months

Saturday 19th January 2008
quotequote all
What about FI?

Anybody blowing the AJP?

JensenA

5,671 posts

260 months

Saturday 19th January 2008
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A Supercharger has been, and can be, fitted to a V8 Cerbera. But as has just been said on here - Whats the point?

volospian

Original Poster:

494 posts

227 months

Saturday 19th January 2008
quotequote all
JensenA said:
A Supercharger has been, and can be, fitted to a V8 Cerbera. But as has just been said on here - Whats the point?
What's the point of tuning anything? What's "powerful enough"? Why bother with whirlwind induction, or sports exhausts or remaps or whatever?

The point is to get more power out of the engine. Simple as that. If we all stayed with "well, it'll be expensive, so what's the point" we'd all still be living in mud huts and walking everywhere.


southendpier

6,209 posts

259 months

Saturday 19th January 2008
quotequote all
Mud garage and driving a basic 4.2 everywhere if I can have a development preference. biggrin

Byker28i

92,166 posts

247 months

Saturday 19th January 2008
quotequote all
volospian said:
OK. I'm sure it's come up many times before, but what are the best mods for power on the 4.2?

I know there are a lot of things you can do to the 4.5 to get it over 400hp, but is the 4.2 capable of hitting 400 ponies?
I think you meant to say is how can you make your car faster? Driver training and a diet

Mr M

1,276 posts

232 months

Saturday 19th January 2008
quotequote all
southendpier said:
Mud garage and driving a basic 4.2 everywhere if I can have a development preference. biggrin
smile

Volospian..just from my own experience for what it's worth, my car (4.2) came with two "Green" filters with an Austec map, which may not be present now as I've had the battery out. I put the original induction pipes back and my feeling is that the engine sounds much better with the original pipes and the car drives far better - especially in lower gears. Maybe a 4.5 would be the way to go.

I still have the "Green" filters - includes additional hose to get to the air filter inlet. If you're interested you can have them at half the price of new. hehe

Edited by Mr M on Saturday 19th January 15:25


Edited by Mr M on Saturday 19th January 15:25

Billy_rfc

587 posts

285 months

Saturday 19th January 2008
quotequote all
cerbfan said:
I guess a later car would be not to far off mine then so should be hitting 400+. Mine is essentially a 4.5 spec with the 4.2 induction although it is slightly overbore and has a higher compression than a standard 4.5 I believe.
Have all your probs been ironed out yet Dylan?

Billy.

cerbfan

1,198 posts

257 months

Saturday 19th January 2008
quotequote all
Billy_rfc said:
cerbfan said:
I guess a later car would be not to far off mine then so should be hitting 400+. Mine is essentially a 4.5 spec with the 4.2 induction although it is slightly overbore and has a higher compression than a standard 4.5 I believe.
Have all your probs been ironed out yet Dylan?

Billy.
Offshore yet again since 27th Dec. Due back home on Thursday and car is getting delivered on Friday. It's been a long slog but hoping it is going to be worth it. I'll give you an email when I get home and the car is back.

JensenA

5,671 posts

260 months

Sunday 20th January 2008
quotequote all
volospian said:
JensenA said:
A Supercharger has been, and can be, fitted to a V8 Cerbera. But as has just been said on here - Whats the point?
What's the point of tuning anything? What's "powerful enough"? Why bother with whirlwind induction, or sports exhausts or remaps or whatever?

The point is to get more power out of the engine. Simple as that. If we all stayed with "well, it'll be expensive, so what's the point" we'd all still be living in mud huts and walking everywhere.
I was interested, and was hoping for a more reasoned explanation. Like maybe you want to race it, or Drag it.
My Cerb is faster than I am, and it keeps me happy smile

volospian

Original Poster:

494 posts

227 months

Sunday 20th January 2008
quotequote all
JensenA said:
I was interested, and was hoping for a more reasoned explanation. Like maybe you want to race it, or Drag it.
My Cerb is faster than I am, and it keeps me happy smile
Ah, I see. well perhaps a more detailed request for reasons, rather than "as has been said before, what's the point", would have lead me to realise you wanted a "reasoned explanation".

I will probably do both, I'm thinking about it as a track day car for a while but as my real love is drag I'm wondering about the power.

Now I could go 4.5 or even LSx, but I thought I'd enquire about how far I can take the 4.2 that's already in there. I think it's a reasonable request for information, but instead I seem to be having people tell me that my car is already fast enough for me, an attitude which, frankly, I find insulting. Just because another person is happy with the performance of their cerb, it doesn't hold that everybody else must be happy as well.