The most interesting '89 Caravan in the world

... or so I'd like to think

Figured I'd transpose my build thread over here. I'll copypasta all the pertinent info and then update as I finish.

Original thread: Van Plog

First the van in question:

Next the engine for said van:

But wait what's that you say? That isn't a 2.5? Why yes it is a 2.4.

I have a SRT oil pan and pump for it:

Here is the head:

Hey aren't those exhaust ports on the front of the head? Yes as a matter of fact they are, it's a 420A head.

Next would be the new K frame:

What's that little bump in the center you ask? Hold your horses I'm getting there.

Next are the CV axles:

Huh? Why are there 4? Well why else?

That's right AWD:

Some more info:

1989 Caravan, factory 5 speed N/A 2.5 van

I bought the van in 2010 for $300 from a T-M forum member. Went over to OH to get it. It was parked with a bad headgasket and the PO never finished the job. There was a turbo harness in the back, and I had a 2.5 turbo so I ended up running a 2.5 with the garrett from a T2 car and a FMIC. Ran hard but was crap out of the hole not being able to brake boost it. I ran a 15.22@93 with it.

July 2011 I melted no. 3 in the engine and did a in car change with new rings and rod bearing on all 4, replacing the bad piston. Then around Sept. of 2011 it started smoking like the rings didn't seal correctly so I parked it. Fast forward to Feb. 2012 when I started the current project. Blew up the 2.5 on my way to the garage with it and had to tow it part of the way. After pulling the old engine, I discovered that I melted no. 4.

There gonna be one of those snail shaped thingies attached to the exhaust somehow?

mazdeuce wrote: There gonna be one of those snail shaped thingies attached to the exhaust somehow?

Short answer yes. Long answer is below, copied from my original build thread:

Turbo is a H1C I bought locally for $40. The compressor wheel was shot so a rebuild kit ($50) and a new compressor wheel (ebay $80) and it was good as new. The exhaust housing is a piece off ebay, it is a .63 a/r single scroll designed to work with the holset chra and turbine wheel.

Here's some pics of the header and the new exhaust housing.

And here is a comparison of the stock garrett wheel to the H1C wheel

Copied over from my original thread:

Started putting the 2.4 together. The oil pump didn't have a seal and I didn't see a felpro number so I drove all the way across town yesterday afternoon to get one from a dealer, just to find out the crankshaft seal kit I ordered and picked up this morning had one in it. Read online after I put the pump on to pack it with grease so you don't get aeration. I installed the pump then filled it with oil and spun the crank over a few times, hopefully that's good enough.

Had to modify the stratus front engine mount bracket to fit the SRT tensioner. I just hacked off some of the offending area so it would fit.

Also set the head on top and mocked up the header and a couple different options on intakes I have. One is a 2.4 caravan intake and the other is the stock 420A manifold. Seems like the runners are about the same length so I will probably stick with the 420A so I don't necessarily have to make a plenum right way.

420A manifold

Caravan manifold

Another engine post:

Pistons are back!

My ring compressor is crap though so I had to order a new one.

Over the weekend I went to the yard to seek out a transmission and all the PTs and the 02 caravan I found all were missing theirs. I got a '99 autostick TCM but I'm not sure if it will work, most of the stuff I read on swapping early cars to autostick uses 97 TCMs. I did score a late rear diff and another 89 turbo van harness though. I didn't have time to pull the rear axle out of the van, it is rear disc with sway bar though. Hopefully it is still there this weekend.

And another:

My engine looks like and engine again :D

Also got a custom plate.

And one more:

So the engine is almost done.

That and I started mocking up the trans parts.

I left my camera at home so crappy cell phone pics instead.

O/T:

The engine is a '96 2.4 I got for $free. A local guy with a 2.4 swapped 1G neon pulled it out of his car to go back to a 2.0. Apparently you can't rev bounce a 2.4 at 7500 RPM or the rods get pounded to obvilion. I asked him what his plans were for it, and he said come and get it out of my way. When I picked it up, it still had the toomanyneons adapter on it, that alone is a $80 piece.

I bought three stock SRT-4 pistons in 2011 from a guy from chicagoland while I was at an event in that area. Cost $130 bucks for the three. Found two more from a local guy for $60. When I took the block and pistons to the machine shop I took all 5 and told the guy to find the best 4. Ended up turning the crank 20/20 because the mains and rods were beat to death.

The 420A head is a junkyard head. After I pulled it I noticed the car threw a rod and dinged it up but not bad enough I can't use it. It did bend all four valves on that cylinder though.

The rest of the engine is later SRT-4 oil pump/pan and water pump. Crower springs, new mopar bedplate bolts, ARP headstuds. The piston tops and combustion chambers were ceramic coated locally along with the valve faces and exhaust ports.

This is a "how-to" post I made about making your 80s 5 speed turbo-dodge AWD capable:

Ok so how to make a AWD diff fit your 523. I'm sure the process is similar for a 520 but I can't confirm this.

First let me start by saying this was much easier than I expected. I assumed this would be one of the harder parts of the project but it was all pretty much straightforward.

Here are the two diffs side by side.

The 523 is on the left and the AWD is on the right. Here is more detail on the pass. side bearing.

The AWD uses a different bearing because the diff housing is larger and is splined to accommodate the PTU. Here is a better shot of just the AWD diff.

You need to use the pass. side bearing housing off of the 41AE the diff came out of so that A) the bearing will fit and B) the PTU will bolt up.

As you can see the top right bolt that the extension housing uses will line up, the others need to be drilled and tapped for M8x1.25 threads. Be careful as you will drill through the upper diff housing bolt hole with the top left, and each one of the lower holes will drill through the lower diff housing bolt hole. You'll have to use shorter bolts than what the extension housing uses. Remember that the case is aluminum so it will strip out easily.

One that is done all you need to do is put the 523 ring gear on the AWD diff. To do this you will need to flip the gear over and mount it to the opposite side of the diff than the stock AWD ring gear uses.

I unfortunately don't have many pictures of this but I'll explain as best as possible. The 523 ring gear's flange is offset. The "inside" of the ring gear flange usually bolts to the drivers side of the diff flange, the ring gear is threaded. The AWD diff and ring gear have a different offset so they won't readily interchange. If you flip the 523 ring gear and bolt the "inside" flange that originally mated to the drivers side, onto the passenger side of the AWD diff, this will get you almost perfectly back to the stock ring gear location.

If you mount the diff in the trans this way you'll notice two things, first is the ring gear doesn't sit exactly where it did with the original diff. I made a mark on the case before removing the diff, and again with the ring gear bolted to the AWD diff and it was "around" .035 off. I say "around" because others measured it as .030 and I was using a rather unscientific method (dial calipers and two sharpie lines). I decided to go with .030 as I figured that other people probably did a less ghetto measuring job and if it was a couple thousandths off it wouldn't wear the gear too badly. I ended up finding a transmission shop that took care of the machining, and in my excitement to remount the ring gear I didn't take pics of the machined surface. Put loctite on the bolts and torque them to spec, and you'll end up with this

The other thing you'll notice is that the ring gear bolt heads, which now stick out the drivers side of the diff, hit the gear that slightly protrudes into the pinion area. The only answer is to remove enough material off the bolt heads to clear. I haven't done this step yet but it is pretty straightforward.

After the diff is in then you can bolt the diff housing and etc. back up.

REMEMBER, this is just a guide, YMMV. I accept no responsibility for what you do to your vehicle.

As it sits right now, I haven't worked on it much since May. I decided no to rush to get it done. I moved in July and after getting back from vacation in July started working 6 day weeks until mid September. I'm in the process of moving the garage to my new house (used my mom's before) so I can work on it on a whim. Hoping to have more to post soon.

nice! my first car was an '89 Voyager LX (the white one with the gray ground effects and gray mesh wheels and dark red interior). Yours is better :)

I'm excited for this. Very excited.

-Rob

Very cool. Turbo vans rule, but a Turbo 2.4 AWD van? Wowzers....

Way cooler than the old Caravans all my friend's moms had back in the day. If it were mine, I do one with the wood paneling and everything, just for the sleeper effect.

What ratio is the rear axle?

Very cool. I wonder if you could use a limited slip differential there? The stock AWD stuff tends to stop being AWD when the passenger front tire spins (the AWD on the vans was more for marketing reasons, hence the lack of adding a limited slip differential from the factory)

I'm hoping to keep at least some of the sleeper effect.

The rear axle is 3.42:1 afaik

The awd ptu is splined into the front diff, the part that the ring gear bolts to. As long as the ring gear spins the input to the ptu spins. The common misconception is that the rear is tied to the passenger side CV, which is not the case.

Good to know, thanks.

I know a certain ChumpCSX that is due for an upgrade ;)

http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3r7vnt/

Here, let me get that for you 93...

moparman76_69 wrote: I'm hoping to keep at least some of the sleeper effect. The rear axle is 3.42:1 afaik The awd ptu is splined into the front diff, the part that the ring gear bolts to. As long as the ring gear spins the input to the ptu spins. The common misconception is that the rear is tied to the passenger side CV, which is not the case.

Awesome project...one I have been thinking about, just not in a van!

Question though...if you are running a 523, that gives you either a 3.50, 3.77 or 3.85 up front. How can you run a 3.42 out back? Does the ptu not spin at 1:1?

Pat wrote: Awesome project...one I have been thinking about, just not in a van! Question though...if you are running a 523, that gives you either a 3.50, 3.77 or 3.85 up front. How can you run a 3.42 out back? Does the ptu not spin at 1:1?

My original thread is on T-M

The PTU is a 1:3.42 ratio, so the combination of the PTU and rear makes a 1:1 ratio, so the rear CVs turn at the same speed as the front CVs do.

moparman76_69 wrote:

Pat wrote: Awesome project...one I have been thinking about, just not in a van! Question though...if you are running a 523, that gives you either a 3.50, 3.77 or 3.85 up front. How can you run a 3.42 out back? Does the ptu not spin at 1:1?

My original thread is on T-M The PTU is a 1:3.42 ratio, so the combination of the PTU and rear makes a 1:1 ratio, so the rear CVs turn at the same speed as the front CVs do.

I must have missed it...i have some reading to do!

Progress!!!

So I got the 93 AWD axle w/01 disc hardware actually installed and the wheels back on a couple weeks ago. Also pulled the harness out of the engine bay.

Also installed the tag since the old one expired. :p

Then the fuel pump went out on one truck, then the other truck started leaking fuel. After having to get new fuel pump hanger assemblies out of the yard for both, I finally had the space in the garage to move it.

Pressure washed the engine bay at a car wash on the way home and got it nestled in the garage.

So there it sits and hopefully I can get motivated to get back on it. With a return to 6 day work weeks and 10+ hour days, it will be slow going.

This is awesome. Excellent documentation of the build thus far. This is the king of sleepers...I can't wait to see when it's done!

Why is it not selling me a XX? This is not my beautiful house! This is not my beautiful wife!

And celica, why would you insult such a beautiful thread with such a picture?