SRT-4 motor swap into 1992 Caravan 3speed atx...

quicksilvr · Post by **quicksilvr** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 11:07 pm

Yes. Really. My dad is buying an SRT motor to put in his work can. I mean van. And he wants to keep using the old 3 speed. What kind of major stuff are we looking at for this to work. It should bolt up right? And obviously the mounts will need to be completely custom, but the tranny is our main concern right now.

CA180 · Post by **CA180** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 11:19 pm

HAHAHAHA, i was thinking about that just the other day! Block should bolt up, I dont know about clearance around the firewall... Probsbly gonna take alot of modification for the FMIC... But its do-able... that will be one sick can!!! I mean Van. Good luck man!

Post by **racer12306** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 11:31 pm

its wont be too much different from the old turbo caravans.

neonpla · Post by **neonpla** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 11:38 pm

sounds cool, but you would probably be better off looking for a turbo van, less fabrication needed.

Post by **Diablo0** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:58 am

I think you'll be pioneering this one so not many people may be able to help ya say yes or know whether parts will work or not or how to do it

Be a lot of trial and error on your end haha

teamliviD · Post by **teamliviD** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 2:50 am

i was just telling the wife this same idea the other day. id buy one of those real nice chysler cans and do the swap......thats the only way id drive a mini van!

refect · Post by **refect** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 2:57 am

hahaha yeh that would be a beast mini van haha. i remember back in the day they used to have them already turbo like neonpla said so that might be an easier way to go about doing a swap like that. thats if you could find one of those old turbo motors. i think they are kinda rare though, but if oyu cauld find one it might be easier to put in?...just a thought

quicksilvr · Post by **quicksilvr** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:26 pm

As far as the turbo vans go, there's no point even trying to find one. If you did, which is hard in the first place, they need so much work to make 200hp that it's really easier to drop this SRT motor instead. The tranny should bolt up, and fabrication will be needed for lots of stuff like the intercooler and motor mounts, but it's all doable...just trial and error as mentioned. I just wanted to post up about it, to see if I was overlooking something really important when we started shooting the idea around. I think the motor will be on it's way in the next week.

Now, between my borthers car and dads van, I might not be able to keep my car N/A.....it wants to go to the dark side

ChrisRT · Post by **ChrisRT** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:31 pm

quicksilvr wrote:As far as the turbo vans go, there's no point even trying to find one. If you did, which is hard in the first place, they need so much work to make 200hp that it's really easier to drop this SRT motor instead.

You're so incorrect, you couldn't be anymore incorrect.

The 2.2/2.5 Turbo engines, in T1 configuration made 146-150ish HP.

Throw an exhaust on one, a grainger valve, larger injectors, and HELLO HP! Add in an intercooler, bigger TB, port the head(a little) and exhaust manifold, and you're really rolling then!

www.thedodgegarage.com

Also, how exactly do you plan to make the van run? You going to swap in an entire SRT4 computer system? What about running the gauges and stuff like that?

Are you doing an XFI, DFI, or F.A.S.T standalone setup?

submaster.nick · Post by **submaster.nick** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:12 pm

yeah for turbo minivans there is one some where that can do 11's I think

Post by **jonnymopar** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 6:27 pm

Yeah, there have been a few vans in the 11's for a while now. 8V, 16V, you name it. A guy named Paul Smith was hitting low 12's over 6 years ago with a built 8V setup. I'm almost sure he broke 11's shortly after.

As for the original question, the only hole that won't line up will be near the front motor mount. There are 3 other holes in the block that it will line up with no problem. Personally I've never dealt with a full SRT setup, as I'm building one from a Stratus block, but one of the first things I'd do is check fitment of the starter. 16V starter is on the front, 8V is on the back. With my Stratus setup, the starter BARELY fits and I will sure as hell be making a heat shield setup for it. It's damn close to the turbofold!

Question... is the van turbo already? If not, it's got crappy clutch packs in that transmission and you will burn that thing up pretty quick. But, if you have to upgrade the internals on the transmission, I would go find a newer automatic and upgrade that, considering it will bolt directly to the 2.4.

Just a comment on the computer setup, either go standalone or get your PCM reflashed. I got mine reflashed for the sake of simplicity on the electrical end for now.

I can offer you as much help as I can, considering I'm doing mostly the same setup, just with a 5-speed and a slightly different block.

quicksilvr · Post by **quicksilvr** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:22 pm

ChrisRT wrote:
quicksilvr wrote:As far as the turbo vans go, there's no point even trying to find one. If you did, which is hard in the first place, they need so much work to make 200hp that it's really easier to drop this SRT motor instead.
You're so incorrect, you couldn't be anymore incorrect.

The 2.2/2.5 Turbo engines, in T1 configuration made 146-150ish HP.

Throw an exhaust on one, a grainger valve, larger injectors, and HELLO HP! Add in an intercooler, bigger TB, port the head(a little) and exhaust manifold, and you're really rolling then!

www.thedodgegarage.com

Also, how exactly do you plan to make the van run? You going to swap in an entire SRT4 computer system? What about running the gauges and stuff like that?

Are you doing an XFI, DFI, or F.A.S.T standalone setup?

I meant 250hp, not 200. First problem is finding one. I've NEVER seen one, and I've spent my fair share of time in junk yards and used car lots. Say, we did find one. To get to 250hp (or more), it's alot of work and pain in the butt to come up with all parts needed to "add on". The SRT engine is complete, low miles, modern technology and HUGE aftermarket. Maybe I stated it to sound like it was more work than it really is. Oh well. Bottom line, the SRT swap is much much more favorable to my dad and myself. You don't have to get all bent out of shape and critical about it.

We'll be using the SRT computer and wiring harness. As far as making the gauges work, that's a good question. I assumed we could wire them up with the SRT harness, maybe with some modification.

johnnymopar wrote:Just a comment on the computer setup, either go standalone or get your PCM reflashed. I got mine reflashed for the sake of simplicity on the electrical end for now.

What would the reflash change? Just curious. If the stock computer will be a pain, we'll just use MegaSquirt.

We know the tranny won't be up for much, so we will grab a newer one from a junkyard near here that has quite a few Neons in it. A mtx would be the nicest....but a little more difficult.

ChrisRT · Post by **ChrisRT** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:17 am

You'd have to do alot of wiring, I think, to get the gauges to work.

As far as me being critical, its because you're downing an engine setup you know nothing about.

It would be a much easier, less time consuming swap to use the same mini-van, find an old 2.2 or 2.5 common block, and go from there.

And hard to get 250hp out of an 8v motor? Says who?

Maybe 350hp, but not 250. 250 can be done on the stock turbo, pretty easily. Don't believe me? Go to the page I linked you to earlier and do some reading.

oklamopar · Post by **oklamopar** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:41 am

I know where one is around the corner from my house. dont know anything about it except that its a turbo van. could probably be bought on the cheap....

quicksilvr · Post by **quicksilvr** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 9:05 pm

ChrisRT wrote:You'd have to do alot of wiring, I think, to get the gauges to work.

As far as me being critical, its because you're downing an engine setup you know nothing about.

It would be a much easier, less time consuming swap to use the same mini-van, find an old 2.2 or 2.5 common block, and go from there.

And hard to get 250hp out of an 8v motor? Says who?

Maybe 350hp, but not 250. 250 can be done on the stock turbo, pretty easily. Don't believe me? Go to the page I linked you to earlier and do some reading.

Ok, I figured out why we're not on the same page here. Contrary to what you might think, I do know a bit about the old turbo dodge engines, and have spent many hours on turbododge.com reading and researching. I was never trying to say that it's "harder to get 250 hp out of an old 8v setup than it is to swap an SRT engine into a '92 van". I was trying to say that it's more time consuming and frustrating to come up with the old motor and all do all the necessary work to that old motor and turbo than it is to buy a perfectly good new SRT engine and drop it in. If we did find one, there is no way we would feel comfortable putting it in stock without pulling it apart first to ensure that it's in the condition we want it to be. Also, remember this is a daily driver, so we want the most power and torque with the least boost lag possible and we need reliability. I'm not downing the old motor's. It's just not any easier for us in this situation. If you want to argue that it is easier for us...than go ahead, but it doesn't mean beans to me, because I know it's not. If you have any helpful information concerning the SRT swap, it's very welcome. But we won't be doing an old turbo swap, so there's no need to talk about it any more in this topic.

Post by **jonnymopar** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 9:12 pm

quicksilvr wrote:
johnnymopar wrote:Just a comment on the computer setup, either go standalone or get your PCM reflashed. I got mine reflashed for the sake of simplicity on the electrical end for now.
What would the reflash change? Just curious. If the stock computer will be a pain, we'll just use MegaSquirt.

We know the tranny won't be up for much, so we will grab a newer one from a junkyard near here that has quite a few Neons in it. A mtx would be the nicest....but a little more difficult.

Well, I kinda worded that wrong because I'm used to talking about the damn NGC reflashing.

FWDPerformance is a company in Texas that does custom calibrations as well as selling Mopar Performance calibrations. You order it, they'll send you a unit and will have charged you a core charge. Then you send your SBEC back to them to get your core charge back. Just double-check that they'll do a 1992 model year. I'm used to dealing with the 88/89 SMEC computer because they're the most common.

www.fwdperformance.com

If you're on TurboDodge.com, hit up "glhs727". Her name is Cindy and she works for FWDPerformance.

quicksilvr · Post by **quicksilvr** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 9:23 pm

Yeah, I'm familiar with her. When we were thinking of doing the 16V swap, I talked to her and Andre a bit. But dad found the SRT motor he wants, for the price he likes, and the 16V swap went out the door.

I'll send a few pm's and see what I can find out. Thanks

FTWNeon · Post by **FTWNeon** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 4:16 pm

Heh, hate to resurect but I feel this is a good addition to the thread.

Found someone who was doing a SRT swap in Ohio

http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/showt ... post102021

Really hoping this Dave isn't you Quick heh

bad04srt · Post by **bad04srt** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 1:16 am

i would use a stock neon 4 speed ATX but thats just me

JRM · Post by **JRM** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 1:28 am

bad01neon wrote:i would use a stock neon 4 speed ATX but thats just me

4 speed is computer controlled while the 3 speed isn't.

quicksilvr · Post by **quicksilvr** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 8:51 pm

FTWNeon wrote:Heh, hate to resurect but I feel this is a good addition to the thread.

Found someone who was doing a SRT swap in Ohio

http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/showt ... post102021

Really hoping this Dave isn't you Quick heh

Sweet find. That dude's even using SRT wheels on that van too...

Since dads is a '92, imo it looks way nicer than those older square faced vans. As far as doing a swap into dads van goes....he didn't buy the engine that he thought he was going to, so we're still at square one. The problem is time...I don't have hardly any time to help him, and he doesn't have hardly any time himself to be playing with things as foolish as SRT engines and '92 Caravans.

But he's still love to do the swap. Maybe if I send him the link to that other swap/build it'll stoke his fire and he'll start looking for SRT engines again.

He also has a '64 Plymouth Fury just sitting at home waiting for a lot of TLC. If only he was retired....

Too many cars to play with, not enough time.

sullygully · Post by **sullygully** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 9:11 pm

This dude runs 12's in is 89 SE Turbo I. Lightly modfified, un-rebuilt original engine. Weight reduxed is all.

http://www.turbovan.net/pauls_van.mpg

refect · Post by **refect** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 7:04 pm

i would love to have a fast mini van. no one would see it coming hahaha i was at the track once and this guy with one of those huge ford mini bus van things. it was one of the turbo ones with a few little mods/higher boost and was doing like 14.2's all day long with all his tools and stuff in it. i might have to do me one of these mini van swaps if it works out good haha

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