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View Full Version : 85 plymouth voyger conversion to Turbo1



DMR85
12-10-2009, 02:47 AM
Ok this my first incursion into Turbos and also mopar FWDs, So if anybody would like to contribute past info MUCH appreciated,

Heres the base car info to start with:
1885 Plymouth voyager SE
Dead wore out 2.2 carbed with feed back 6250 holley
5Sp manual trans(what i belive is calledA523)
PS PB AC Crusie standard gauges

Donor car 89 Plymouth Sundance RS (RIP)
Bought it for 250$ had a 2.5 Turbo 1 motor rebuilt about 10k ago
new FP reg, Injectors, Fuelpump, radiator, 5 new BFgoodrich tires with only 2k miles with the factory nice alumuim factory rims Auto trans(toast) had racked up 184K miles, Guy had block done and new head and rebuilt turbo(mitusbishi)
But made big mistake only torquued heads to 65LB instead of 90ft/lbs (according to mitchels on demand specifies)

I lucked out both block and head survived ok

To get the motor back running again needed the following
Head gasket set complete
new head bolts and washers
new front main seal and intermidates shaft seals
new timing belt
new oil pan gasket 4 piece ( should have bought the single piece @ 35$)
AND ALOT OF CLEANING AND MORE CLEANING
AND DID i MENTION MORE CLEANING
HOLY CRAP does antifreeze and motor oil make a mess,

As I have miltary access to local AF base auto hobby shop it took sevral trip up to shop to clean up the oil/antifreeze from oilpan & oilpickup tube
and clean all various brackets head and other stuff that were oil soaked from leaks up front of engine, Also took the time to disassemble the head and cleaned up all the oil/carbon build casued by head leak,

WELL after all said done I rebuilt the engine inframe on the sundance
after everthing was hooked the turbo started the first time i cranked the key

After seeing that the engine ran fine (other than front oilpan segment fell into oil pan while trying to fiight with rest oilpan gasket)

I removed the engine and wiring and everything I possable could unbolt or think I might need I sent the shell to junkyard and netted 75$ back

HERE where it gets a little scary
Using the sundance wiring harness with a 89 dodge grand carvan dash with a tach and droping all this into the 85 van with manual trans

I bought a brand new 8 bolt flywheel and new clutch set
WELL thsi first post is probably too long so I post this part for now and update again real soon:amen:

Vigo
12-11-2009, 12:59 AM
Sounds like a fun project. Manual transmission caravans/voyagers are honestly way cooler than you first expect. Mine is my favorite vehicle to drive out of all the cars i own.

Anyway on the transmission there should be a round metal tag on the top of the bellhousing area that will last the transmission's type on the first line. Since it is an 85 i BELIEVE but im not sure, that it's an a525.

How bout some pics of the van?

DMR85
12-11-2009, 06:00 AM
Thank Vigo

Heres a little history on the van:D, Started out as a stock van but at 118K A local tech teacher at a local collage got ahold of it as his 3rd van to truck conversion ( seemed to a truck fetish) He cut the rear deck and roof and moved it forward making it into a extended cab truck (sorta like the early 60 dodge van with engine between front seat) Where he cut the roof and resulting side sheet metal , He sandwiched the boxbeam that goes along each side of the body with heavy duty angle iron on both side of the boxbeam, He then cut the bottom of the rea decklid off the dropped sheetmetal to bed floor and cobbled up some side windows that formed when rear window side meet front window behind the front doors then weldedthe sliding door closed, UNFORTUNATELY tragedy struck before he finish the work on the van, From my friend that owns a salvage yard told me when he ended up with it was, That he had fatal heart attack out of the blue with no warning GONE in 3 mins.,
AS a tribute to him I call the van DMR (DEAD MANS RIDE):amen:
Some might call that a little bit morbid (but with 10 years in USAF and lot of what i saw in that time I have a morbid sense of humor)

FLASH forward 2 1/2 years later I FINELY got to trade for it as friend of the owner of the yard had latched on to it for a while a 75 vega panel express I had converted into v6 setup with bad machine shop motor)

First order of bussness was try to get it to run properly so it would pass UTAH state IM/SAFETY welll after a carb rebuild new O2 sensors and replacing almost all the vacume lines and new mech, fuel pump IT FAILED 3 times to pass IM horrbly, GOT bright idea to check compression and just about cried:( 75lbs on 3 cyl and 85 on 4th) SO much for replace fuel and clean the carb story I got,
WELL onto plan B
I had planed on finshing up all the body work after getting the van register,
WELL had to find a decent motor looked in local classifed for while and HIT PAYDIRT 250$

THE DONOR car 1989 Plymouth Sundance RS with 2.5 T FI with only 10k on complete rebuild with new tires plus spare tire , new radatior new injectors and fuel PR new FP and new cylinder head and battery ONLY one slight problem he failed to finish torquing head down to proper specs, HIS loss my gain and still ran but you smell the antifreeze out the exhaust, I since had got the engine redone right as per previous post and now it sit in the back of van waiting to droped in when the DEEP FREEEZE temp (02 F) lift into less the upper 30F here in Utah, While Ive been waiting for better weather I been trimming the sundance wiring harness down to a more manage content and length (deleted the power windows and power door locks and the 2 back door stuff) and then Hy-birded the gauge setup with a 89 dodge grand carvan cluster with a tach (which mine lacked) and also replaced the upper and lower dash setup which were sunblasted and crappy looking with the 89s nice burgandy red dash plastic and resulting interior trim around the dashsetup for 75$ plus scored a decent replacement hood release cable setup(mine was sort buggered up at handle in cab), As I have sevral good yards near Ive been able to score some good parts and small stuff and a set of decent gray van seatout of a 01 van in trade for the sundance seats that wouldnt fit the van seat pedestal with major hacking on both due spacing diffrence more than I liked, Currentl I the whole interior stripped out of the van (left AC/heater core in place) Still looking for a better manual trans steering colume that the 85 orginal which both sunbaked and a bad turnsignal switch which is diffrent from later mopar setup and the sundance colum wont fit either:mad: So FINNLY have wiring ready to go in but have grind where the wiring bulkead goes into circle so can feed the sundance harness grommet into place then finiish laying interior wiring into place

I"ll post some pic soon as I figure out how to (SO any help as how to will be very welcome AS this is my first time doing a weblog of a project):banghead:
IFYOU reead this far down the post THANKS JON

ShelGame
12-11-2009, 08:49 AM
That sounds cool - a turbo Caravan trucklet. I think we need pics...

janus
12-11-2009, 08:58 AM
+1, "this thread is worthless without pics" :D

Vigo
12-11-2009, 10:09 AM
the sundance seats that wouldnt fit the van seat pedestal with major hacking on both due spacing diffrence more than I liked,

Do you have any pics of this or more information? A friend of mine is about to put some 89 shadow seats into his 89 van and this sounds relevant :)

Interesting story, definitely need pictures of this bad boy. :p

DMR85
12-11-2009, 11:11 PM
Ill save your friend alot of trouble,:banghead:

Heres why
1 On my 85 minivan ONLY the drivers seat has seat sliders the right side had 4 aluminum pucks that act as spacers because of the glove-box tray under right seat,

2 The 89 sundance seats I saved were nice shape but had to hack the front mount tabs off the front of tracks then re-drill the back mount holes as the different length from front bolt hole to rear bolt hole on seat pedestals

3 The car seat bottom pan that have the threaded holes in them are considerable different distance across from left to right than the stock van seat dimensions,

3 Heres where the BIGGGY sticky point is:
earlier van 85 seat pedestal holes too far across for the car seats to line up, The car holes would be just at the inner edge of the seat mount lip of the van pedestals
I WOULDNT TRUST MY SAFETY TO THAT LITTLE MARGIN OF METAL IN CASE OF A EMERGENCY MAYBE IF YOU WELDED SOME EXTENSION TABS ON THE SIDE VAN SEAT HOLES But I didnt want to go through that hassle as the only welder i had access to was broke at the time,

4 I got the bright idea of buying some newer van pedestal ( around 94 era) and though hey these will fit better NOTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!! I ran into the opposite problem
The holes would have ended too close to the outer edge and would not allowed a bolt to go all way up to bottom of seat frame,

5 DUE TO SAFETY ISSUES i RECOMMEND USING A COMPLETE VAN SEAT & PEDESTAL SETUP FOR SAFETY REASONS !!!!!! Your mileage may vary but I would stay on the safe side of things

6 Overall I lucked out the yard that i frequent and bought the late van pedestal allowed me to trade both pedestals and sundance seats for complete van seats set for the front at no additional cost and i found a very nice set of gray pattered set from about 98 or newer that dropped into the floor holes on my 85 with NO MODIFICATIONS other than seat belts will need to be changes due to different shape So no biggie MY only regret was i wish they were in nice red like the rest of the interior im using so will have nice grey carpet and seats and rest in Burgundy red from the 89 Ive been robbing interior stuff at a little at a time as money permits,

I hope this clear enough of an explanation as why I didnt go that route:eyebrows::thumb:

DMR85
12-11-2009, 11:39 PM
WELL today the DEEP FREZZE we over us decided to warm up a little (If you call 26F warm) up from 02F YEA:p

I last night got the section of harness that goes through the bulkhead and measured the rubber grommet that supports it passing through firewall and made cardboard circle, Today I went out used a magic marker and proceeded to make a squire hole round:D Man drimele tools with small cutoff wheels and half round bastard file make quick work of that then I took some pics with my CRAPPY WalMart camera , :yuck: SO here what i got pic wise So please forgive for the not so good pics Until I can get a replacement USB cable for my Fuij camera I like to use for projects:thumb:

DMR85
12-11-2009, 11:42 PM
Can somebody tell me in PLAIN english how to get pics from my HD to post here PLEASE :hail: THANKS

ShelGame
12-12-2009, 08:28 AM
I think you have to be a contributor to post pics. If you send them to me, I can post them on here for you... shelgamerob -at- att.net

Vigo
12-12-2009, 10:31 PM
You have to be a contributor to upload pics to this site. You can get a free photobucket account or some other picture hosting account and then link to them using the IMG tags. That's what i do in all my posts.

Also, did the 89 shadow seats today. I see what you were talking about, but we just tried to make the best of it. It is probably less strong then stock, but the van owner was fine with it, and even if it was me i dont think i would have done much more but find bigger washers to go under the bottoms. One thing we did which i think made it easier was left out the slider rails from the shadow seats entirely. The passenger side is still fixed just like a stocker and the driver side uses modified stock rails.

Keep us updated, should be a fun one!

DMR85
12-15-2009, 12:55 AM
You guys rock:thumb: Much nicer being in a group or forum that DONT ACT like a bunch of SNOBS that are afraid of sharing info, IE the CVOA club that I admit that I was once a member of CVOA (cosworth vega owners ---) NOTICE the last DELIBERATE misspelling, NEVER again WELL tomorrow Ill see if all the work on doing modifications to the wiring harness towork in the van were worth all the work(provideded it get as warm as the man says it supposed to get to(42F):p ALSO found a real treat online last night 89 Chrsler Lebaron Convertible runs drives needs a new top now get this $ 300$ I live out here in the desert so things dont get real rusty UNLESS your real close the GREAT SALT LAKE then you get some problems, The LEbaron might be nice backup if the van wiring is a real disaster( HOPE NOT:() Well guess Ill have setup a photbucket account as I cant link to yahoo groups as you have to be a member to access phhots there (bummer:confused:)

DMR85
12-26-2009, 03:02 AM
Well Slow as as a snail on getting more work done, U guessed it SINGLE DIGIT FREEZE your fingers off COLD (06F) But when had some nice sunshine While in side cab was able to get the new replacmenmt upper Dash shell from the 89 Dodge Caravan in place before it got too cold again, TUESDAY got around to cleaning all the accumulated sloop in the wiper trough and when gets warmer have to reseal the bottom seam as leaking where the wiring goes into cab,
BIG MAJOR:thumb: COE TODAY (MERRY CHRISTMAS day), I was able to adapt the SUNDANCE Tilt colum to work in the 85 voyager van place, I looked that difference in length of the 2 stub shafts and with little work with the little ujoint between 2 sections and drilling out the spot welds of the front collar and move closer to the steering wheel later:D will reweld after all the dash is in place, Rater limited on older van parts where Im living so have to modify or repair stuff to work, AND I REALLY wanted a tilt column for the van to replace the worn out stuff on original column, plus cant get the older style turn signal unit around here, WELL HOPEFULLY we get a good JAN thaw so I can some major work done AS I really WANT TO DRIVE my van again:love:

DBB mini
12-26-2009, 11:53 AM
I posted most of my project log without being a contributor. Get a photobucket free account, upload your pics to the photobucket album, copy the img code, post it in a thread here, done. :needpics1:

turbokid
12-26-2009, 02:40 PM
^agreed we need pictures of this concoction

DMR85
12-26-2009, 05:22 PM
Well Slow as as a snail on getting more work done, U guessed it SINGLE DIGIT FREEZE your fingers off COLD (06F) But when had some nice sunshine While in side cab was able to get the new replacmenmt upper Dash shell from the 89 Dodge Caravan in place before it got too cold again, TUESDAY got around to cleaning all the accumulated sloop in the wiper trough and when gets warmer have to reseal the bottom seam as leaking where the wiring goes into cab,
BIG MAJOR:thumb: COE TODAY (MERRY CHRISTMAS day), I was able to adapt the SUNDANCE Tilt colum to work in the 85 voyager van place, I looked that difference in length of the 2 stub shafts and with little work with the little ujoint between 2 sections and drilling out the spot welds of the front collar and move closer to the steering wheel later:D will reweld after all the dash is in place, Rater limited on older van parts where Im living so have to modify or repair stuff to work, AND I REALLY wanted a tilt column for the van to replace the worn out stuff on original column, plus cant get the older style turn signal unit around here, WELL HOPEFULLY we get a good JAN thaw so I can some major work done AS I really WANT TO DRIVE my van again:love:

DMR85
12-29-2009, 12:29 AM
Due to demand for pics of DMR I set up a photobucket account,
Heres a link to album
http://i996.photobucket.com/albums/af84/DMR85/Bedshot.jpg
http://i996.photobucket.com/albums/af84/DMR85/LFTfrntview.jpg
http://i996.photobucket.com/albums/af84/DMR85/enginecompartment.jpg
http://i996.photobucket.com/albums/af84/DMR85/rightsideshot.jpg
http://i996.photobucket.com/albums/af84/DMR85/strpedinsideshot.jpg

:thumb: HEY I figured out how do do this in first try :hail:

Well ALL I got to do now is wait for warmer weather (35+F) later this week!

Ill post more pics as I get more done worth taking pics of

DMR85
12-31-2009, 03:49 AM
For those who wanted pics ENJOY the bed of the van is more finished than what showing S10 bed cap will be welded down but for now screwed down
Going to trim out bed cap area and maybe cut a decklid to make a good looking tailgate with some mods to keep it from looking like hacked off decklid:D Got slammed with 6 " of snow today alone plus 4" from yesterday, I HATE SNOW:banghead:
DONt have a nice warm shop to work in:( So have to work around outside

MISS work on my baby SNIFFF SNIFFF,
DO the forrum have for or trade section for parts NEEDING some parts

turbovanmanČ
12-31-2009, 04:33 AM
Very cool, :thumb:

I would honestly source up a Minivan harness, it will make your life so much easier, :amen:

Yes, we have a for sale/wanted section.

Vigo
12-31-2009, 01:41 PM
My fiancee now wants me to do this.. time to pick up another van... :)

DMR85
01-08-2010, 03:33 AM
WELL I just got my wish:love: I been sorta looking fora turbo van for parts and 2 days later on local classified UP surfaces a 89 Caravan with factory turbo,
WELL long story short I buying it tomorrow for the PRINCELY sum 350 $:D RUNS and drives but UGLY as sin accordingly to present owner, What pics I seen mainly dirty & dusty, I will see it in person tomorrow when I go to pick it up:thumb: Well it sorta puts me in a problem which do I keep and which to part out, THE Voyager trucklet may be for sale for the right price! I live just north of Salt Lake City if anybody interested NO the MOTOR DOES NOT go with it. MOST likely motor will be transplanted after it registered So can have a daily driver ILL post pics as as possible :o because it red and woody style Probably will call it the LIL RED BARON, as in pic I seen of front of van somebody named it THE BEAST on front grill:yuck: but I have some brand new tires and looking to pick up some AMERICAN RACING rims soon from a van in a local pick&PULL,
BY the WAY WHERE THE FOR SALE/Wanted AREA?:rolleyes: later

blk86trbo
01-08-2010, 08:21 AM
Neat project Jon...Dead man's ride...that's a good one :thumb:

DMR85
01-12-2010, 02:39 AM
WELL as if ---- wouldnt get any worse:( THE local tow enforcement people tagged DMR today so get to talk to management about the 48 hr notice tomorrow,
ON brighter side LRB got the door handle back in place but little more effort to open it but at least Its back in place with bracket bent back into place AND also fixed the broken window track crap for powered windows also,
STILL trying to decide which way to go on either van or truck but need to have something running soon AS fixing to go through a Divorce Even though it amicable Still sucks:confused: So going to rewire the dash cluster wiring so I can use my gauged cluster to replace the idiot light one, So Who knows whats up next!:nod:

turbovanmanČ
01-12-2010, 02:42 AM
Good luck, :thumb: