Printable View
Need help with parts compatibility. The swap seems straight forward maybe with a little mods for mounts on the a543.
What years/make model pedals will work for the minivan. Also what about the shifter setup, do I have to source one from another minivan? The Stealth stuff is everywhere, will any of that stuff work? Thanks in advance, I already started burning clutches in this auto
Minivan brake/clutch pedal setup is unique to the minivan. Certain components within the assembly maybe/are shared with the cars but dont expect to grab a complete pedal setup from say a P body and try to swap it right in and go to the races, its different. Not aware of anything being compatable between chrysler/mitsubishi besides the 3.0 we're really on our own.
Head for the yards and load for minivan... you'll wanna bag a 2.5 mini with 5 speed, I think 84-95 is useable, for the pedals and shifter. Might find an older 2.2 will do too. There's rumors of some Cargo Vans getting out with 3.0/5 speed setups in... but that might be based on the assumption that all early CVs were 3.0s and someone special ordered a bunch of 2.5/5 speeds .
But anyway, most people go the other way, when they start breaking 5 speeds, with parts that are unobtanium apart from cannabilising other 5 speeds, they decide to swap to the 3 speed auto, the A413, or the internally identical A670...
If you're burning clutch packs now, it could be weak apply pressure, either because of internal seal leakage bleeding it off, or because you really are overwhelming them and you need to turn the apply pressure up, easiest way is just to turn up the pressure across the board... Another cause may be running ATF+4... being fully synth it's a tad too slippy for the clutches in the 3 speeds... another contributing factor may be heat, run a good tranny cooler...
If there's over 150,000 on the clutch packs they wouldn't have been very tight anyway. Have everything torqued up and turned up and these transmissions hold up to 400HP without really thinking about it. You need to do serious modding over that though.
84-94 caravan for the pedal and clutch cable setup. MAYBE for the shifter trim console too, not 100% if it's workable across all years.
90-94 for the shifter and shift cable setup and trans mounts (the bobble strut and its trans bracket will work off any 90-94 5spd van, but it IS different from the cars so get it from a van).
90-94 v6/5spd anything for the a543. Anything that comes with a 543, anyway. :p
Reuse your axles and speed sensor.
You'll need to do VERY MINOR re-wiring of your current neutral safety switch. It's a 3-wire switch. You'll be hooking one of them to constant ground and switching the other two onto a connector for the 5spd reverse switch.
You'll also want to order a bobble strut bracket from polybushings.com and weld it to your k-frame while the trans (if not motor too..) is out. Remember to grab the bobble strut bracket and bobble strut! Plenty of people have tried driving 5spd swaps without them and ended up putting them in later!
Also, do you already have an a543? If you need one, i might be selling. :)
For the pedals the critical parts are the clutch pedal (specifically the cam at the top that routes the cable) and the shaft that the pedals ride on. You can cut down the AT brake pedal and fabricate a stop block. I purchased the shaft and clutch pedal from my local Dodge dealer. Not sure if they have them any more...Quote:
Originally Posted by Vigo
The clutch cable is available on the aftermarket. For some reason the minivan ones seem to be more prone to breaking. I started with a Mopar one, then purchased a parts store one.
A car shifter will work if you can fab a way to mount it up higher. The shifter surround is nice to have. I fabbed one out of wood. I believe the shifter cables are available on the aftermarket as well. Daytona ones might work in a pinch.Quote:
90-94 for the shifter and shift cable setup and trans mounts (the bobble strut and its trans bracket will work off any 90-94 5spd van, but it IS different from the cars so get it from a van).
For the mount to the crossmember, I fabbed some ears out of 1/8" steel and welded it to the crossmember. I shaped the ears similar to the ones on the car crossmember.Quote:
90-94 v6/5spd anything for the a543. Anything that comes with a 543, anyway. :p
Reuse your axles and speed sensor.
You'll need to do VERY MINOR re-wiring of your current neutral safety switch. It's a 3-wire switch. You'll be hooking one of them to constant ground and switching the other two onto a connector for the 5spd reverse switch.
You'll also want to order a bobble strut bracket from polybushings.com and weld it to your k-frame while the trans (if not motor too..) is out. Remember to grab the bobble strut bracket and bobble strut! Plenty of people have tried driving 5spd swaps without them and ended up putting them in later!
I don't know if this link still works but it documented what needs to be done.
www.robskorner.info/88caravan/a543project/a543project.html
I also sell a bobble strut for $35.
Good points Ed.
I personally just grab the clutch and brake pedals and the pedal shaft and NEVER EVER mess with the pedal bracket. The factory stops are nice but also easily fabbed and bolted on without removing the entire pedal bracket from BOTH cars (donor and converted) which is annoying imo.
As for the clutch cable, i have had trouble finding a cable for my van before. I ended up giving up and fixing the cable i had. There were several different lengths of clutch cable across the whole FWD dodge range back then and it's POSSIBLE to make several different ones work with a combination of the adjuster in the pedal, and re-splining the clutch arm on the trans.
I think other cables will work as well but i couldnt tell you which ones. Ive done 4 5spd swaps and never not been able to make the cables i had work, so ive never put effort into figuring out which cables are what. I just throw them into a big box when i part cars out and pull them out when i do 5spd swaps and always make it work.. never once labeled anything. :p
I would buy the bobble strut bracket from johnny because it's easy. I made my own brackets for my 543 swap on the dynasty and while it worked.. i would rather have given johnny $12 than spend the time. I was just in a hurry and didnt plan ahead when i did the swap on that particular car.
But i do recomment to the OP that he buy your bobble strut! Best price i know of!
I have done 4 5-spd swaps on k-cars. They are all pretty much the same. Only van swap i did was this one http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/sh...+turbo+voyager (my van was factory 5spd)but other than the differences in the factory pedals and shifter, etc, the swap itself is just the same as any other k-car 5spd swap.
Oh before you go and order a bobble strut bracket, check you haven't got one already... one came on the K-frame that was on my '88 3.0 auto when I got it...
Which makes me wonder, what year is your van again, turbov6van? I know you told me at one point but i dont remember.
Thanks for all this info, It's an 88 Voyager 3.0. I still haven't got ANY parts yet, so yes I will need the transmission.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vigo
Ok, then i revise my trans mount suggestion. You'll need the trans mount off any 84-89 5spd anything, i think. 84-89= 'small mount', 90-94= 'big mount'. So you have a small mount.
The mount from a 520 transmission should work with a little grinding.
Ed Kelly
Yeah, i modified a 520/555 small mount to work in my big mount 90 dynasty. I cant remember what i had to do but i think it was grind on the angle where the bottom of the mount sort of curves around the tranny case. I also put the longer bolt sleeve from the 604 big mount through the small mount but since his van is an 88 he wont have to mess with that.
Something tells me TurboV6Van has an a543 now.
Which means the countdown until we start pestering him about the swap on the internet has started..... lol