'88 Voyager 3.0 fix'n'mod thread...

[RoadWarrior222]

Howdy peeps,

Decided I'd start a thread about my trusty '88 mini, to have a place to say what I've done, what I'm doing, what I'm thinking about doing...

Current mods in place... Shift kit mods to A-670 auto transmission, base timing advance. Pumpers fitted with 215/60/15 H rated all seasons.

Recent Work. Had replacement K frame and front end refresh the other summer, blew the transmission from age and LSD experimentation last year (Bad trip maaan) put a 60,000 mile replacement in, rear shocks are only about 2 years old.

Maintenance to do list, soon.

Replace serpentine belt.
Replace fuel filler gasket/donut
Find out why rear wipe stopped working, fix.
Splice wires in drivers side door hinge, to get windows and central locking working properly.
Replace oil senders.
Change oil and filter.

Probable/possible upcoming fixes.
Rear brake work, new drums. Parking brake fix.
Bodywork, have rust on driver door, sliding door, rocker panels just ahead of rear wheels.
Kill underside rust (surface but needs attacking)

Annoyances to address

Idles low, sometimes hard to start
Don't like sound of fuel pump sometimes.
Headliner dropping.
Front marker/parking lights erratic/corroded, get 'em all working all the time.
Click/thunk from passenger side when power on.
Performance not quite right, might improve with oil change (Had "gloop" in it fixing a "rod knock" that was the transmission oil pump rattling off the clutch pack)

Upgrades and mods in immediate future.

Ventvisors on the front doors
Change plenum out for ported later plenum with spacers.
Rig mixture gauge, and injector duty cycle monitor.
Rig front bank injector cutout for displacement on demand highway use.
Install tow bar.

Mods needing more planning.

Replacement grille with logo from '49 Plymouth Hubcap, honeycomb mesh.
Replacement front bumper adapted from bonneville SSE and radiator ducting and lowered airdam lip.
Wheel air deflectors and rear skirts.
Rear diffuser.
Front underpan
Tailgate aero improvement tweaks.
HHO system.
Spare motor rebuild, possible frankensteining of parts to get slightly longer stroke, heads will be ported/modified (I think I can make it breathe like a 4 valve motor, but then what, I've got an auto)
Possible dual throttle body setup.


The overall plan? I wanna keep driving it, I wanna make it quicker and I want it good on gas... 14s and 40mpg ...

I can't get with a theme overall, the aero stuff I'm going to do is probably just going to make it look weird. For instance I kinda want to follow some of the features in the DaimlerChrysler Bionic concept, might try a hood mod similar to it, and have a bodyline chine sweeping up the side (It's functional stops "wing in ground effect" outward flow wrapping down the sides of the vehicle) but it's going to look goofy.

I was thinking I might just push the goofy with a sense of ridiculous and make it steampunk, after all it's woody sided already, just need to add brass, make the airdam look like a cow catcher... would be rather unique... plus I can do a "padded armchair" interior in red.. yeah, the whole thing may or may not work... But it could be a "If Shelby woke up in 1890 with only a fresh new 1988 minivan" take.

Anyway, the whole deallie has to work without spoiling the practicality of the vehicle, it's essential minivanness, that means I'm not likely to cut springs or reduce it's ground clearance much, want it to haul a ton, pull a trailer, put canoes or a boat on the roof etc. I don't want much, only a better vehicle than I can buy anywhere new

I don't know if we'll really "get there" but herein will lie the chronicle of efforts along the way... ... ...


RW222

[Vigo]

Sounds good. I'll finally be starting my 3.0 swap journey sometime soon since i have to evacuate the donor 3.0 van's engine bay so it can be turbo 2.5 swapped by a friend!

Keep us updated!

[RoadWarrior222]

A recent pic, from showing off the new shoes...


This is a fairly flattering angle, hides a lot.

[JDAWG]

I have spacers if you need a set, also the hard start may be leaky injectors and/or fpr, I replaced mine with a set out of a 90 as well as the whole rail and reg, my problem went away, would fire right up every morning

[RoadWarrior222]

I have to drop the tank to put the new fuel filler donut/grommet in so I'm gonna whack a fuel pump in there while I'm at it. "Hard" is kind of relative, takes 3 seconds of cranking to catch sometimes, when it used to "click VROOM" not even one revolution, first cylinder to get compression would fire. The pump has had louder moments lately, and has done about 7 years/60,000 miles, so it's probably at least half "used up", and would rather stick one in now than have to take the tank down again in the next couple of years. So I'll see how it is after that. Took a sniff of the intake after priming it a few times the other day, didn't smell gassy. Kinda thinking I'll stick with my older style rail and maybe put a turbo FPR on it for the few more PSI. Rumor is they can tune in up to 20% more fuel, stock fuelling is meant to brickwall you at 170-180hp. Injectors, I keep wanting to find, mine get cleaner through in the tank every couple of months, shouldn't be too bad, but I wanted to get a bunch of used ones and clean and match myself a set. Wreckers I've tried here want the same price as rebuilds. Some "all you can carry" days coming up in June in a yard an hours drive away, might see what I can get there.

[JDAWG]

you car run TII injectors but the computer relearns after a while, there is a bunch of info on allpar

[RoadWarrior222]

The 27lb ones? I think they only end up around 22lbs with the pressure drop 51 to 48 or whatever it is, still, bump over the stock ~19lb.

... ... ... ...


So, got the new serpentine belt in it yesterday, probably not a minute too soon, there was quite a few chunks missing outa the old one. Also fixed some of the wiring in the drivers door hinge, but broke my wire stripper and put that on hold. Installed the vent visors... slightly dissappointed at the fit, they were just a tad off so I couldn't get an exactly even gap on the windshield side and top (Like the angle was half a degree off or something)

Didn't get round to the gas tank drop yet... heat + allergies + meds = RW222 has no tolerance for benchpressing tanks or breathing fumes.

[turbovanman²]

Spare motor rebuild, possible frankensteining of parts to get slightly longer stroke, heads will be ported/modified (I think I can make it breathe like a 4 valve motor, but then what, I've got an auto)
Possible dual throttle body setup.

RW222

If you can make 3.0L heads flow like a 4 valve head, you'll be rich,

[RoadWarrior222]

If you can make 3.0L heads flow like a 4 valve head, you'll be rich,

This calls for a business plan.

1: Make my 3.0 heads flow good.
2: ???
3: Profit.

The ??? part involves emulating your own million dollar success story with the 3.0 cams...... (Sometime maybe I really might get a pair...)

[Kreel]

This calls for a business plan.

1: Make my 3.0 heads flow good.
2: ???
3: Profit.

The ??? part involves emulating your own million dollar success story with the 3.0 cams...... (Sometime maybe I really might get a pair...)

Get bigger cams, problem solved

Any plans to swap in a 5-speed? If fuel economy is what you want that's the way to go. Helps drop the 1/4 mile too

[JDAWG]

diamante cams fit. merf runs them

[turbovanman²]

This calls for a business plan.

1: Make my 3.0 heads flow good.
2: ???
3: Profit.

The ??? part involves emulating your own million dollar success story with the 3.0 cams...... (Sometime maybe I really might get a pair...)

Hahhaa, yeah, I've got rich off 3.0L cams, lol.

[Murphy]

the diamante cams raise the powerband so the power comes on more linearly, as opposed to the torque hump you get with the stock cams. Aftermarket would probably be better...

As far a fuel pressure goes, my 95 spirit with a 100% stock fuel system runs at 54 psi. The only thing I've done is changed the fuel pump with a stocker. Josh was running 96mph in the quarter with a stock fuel system.

I've thought about doing the 'displacement on demand' thing. Would be really cool if you could get it to work!

5 speed swap is the best mod EVER! dropped my 1/4 mile time by .9 seconds!

[Kreel]

Hahhaa, yeah, I've got rich off 3.0L cams, lol.

That's right! I forgot you made 3.0L cams. Sorry if this info is somewhere else, but what application are they targeted for? NA? Turbo? Are any valvetrain modifications required to use them? Have they been dyno'ed?

[turbovanman²]

That's right! I forgot you made 3.0L cams. Sorry if this info is somewhere else, but what application are they targeted for? NA? Turbo? Are any valvetrain modifications required to use them? Have they been dyno'ed?

Info here, they are for n/a, not sure how they would work with a turbo.

http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/sh...highlight=cams

[JDAWG]

merfs's car runs pretty good. What I like is it feels really strong and it pulls HARD, not like some honda spurtin out little diarrea turds tryin to get every lil bit out till redline. The 5 speed is a definite must. Im pretty sure my spacers make all the difference or maybe it could be the NAWZ in the trunk.

[RoadWarrior222]

I'd have liked to go to a 5 speed, but my wife has to drive it, and she's never driven a standard.

However, I think I already found that second when I shiftkitted it, found 2 mpg too. No track figures, but had it running 0-60mph in 10s flat... which is a definite second better than stock. I was averaging around 24mpg, US gallons, tank-tank averages based on fill to pump cutoff. I saw a 27mpg tank average once and a couple of 26es. I don't think a 5 speed would help me a whole lot unless I found a 5 speed 88 SMEC to go with it. The reason is because I'm usually driving in burn and coast mode in the city, and the SMEC will keep it at high idle, just the same as with the auto. Though guess I might find a different technique with the 5 speed. Also the gearing in this is such that I am at 2600 RPM @ 60mph, TC locked, which is just below the torque peak, which should be in the island of theoretical lowest brake specific fuel consumption. If I drop RPM with a different final drive in a 5 speed, I might not pick up MPG because the efficiency might change from say .4 lb/bhp/hr to .6 lb/bhp/hr when to go the same speed whatever the RPM, the BHP required is the same. However, moving up the load axis at lower RPM might compensate, where load is the percentage of max BHP at that RPM, or approximate to throttle opening required to maintain speed. Wish I had a full BSFC map for this motor... but by the time I mess with it, it will be wrong anyway. I'm going to get some points for reference when it's running well again, by measuring injector duty cycle against RPM for steady speeds.

Anyway... I'm more interested in building it for torque than top end, it puts lots of area under the HP curve anyway, a flat 175HP will beat a peaky 200HP.... (unless the 200HP car has a CVT with less than 10% drivetrain loss, that's actually set up for performance, not keeping the customer happy because they don't like loud noises) ... that's why I'm thinking of stroking it with an offset undersize crank grind... the bearings are relatively huge, and are known to take insane HP... hence I figure they'll take decent HP still if I undersize them.. then any breathing mods will "get used" with the longer stroke at less RPM.

[Murphy]

The spacers helped out, a noticeable difference. A must for a performance engine at the price your offering them. Between the cams, spacer, UDP and aluminium flywheel, the powerband moved up quite a bit, but I could still accelerate from 1500rpm in 5th gear. The 50 shot added a solid 50hp... .5 seconds and 5mph in the 1/4.

That really good getting that gas mileage in a van. I usually get around 21 in the city, 24 mixed, 27 full highway. City driving for me means I spend 1/3 of the time idling at lights tho...