V8 (5.2) swapping a van

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The best options are the ones that are the most economically infeasible. Cummins intercooled 4BT. 30mpg and decent power. finding a place to stuff the intercooler in may somewhat "difficult", though. But if "I" were doing it, 5.7 Gen III all the way. That'd be fun one! Well, except for that whole installation thing!
:rofl:
 
Reality is that 4BT would probably be a great swap into the van.
I cant wait until the postal service starts getting rid of their current LLV's I am going to pick one up and swap the powertrain into something old.
 
Those conversion vans (with the plush interior/seat that turns into a bed/curtains over the windows) are awesome road trip vehicles! My friend use to have a 90s gmc with the 4.3 v6 and it was the most comfortable thing to cruise in. Also if you pull the seats inside, the room for loading stuff is huge. My belief, sorry to the 3.9 believers, is that the amputated 3.9 is a pooch. They get the mileage of a v8 and have the power of a 4cly. 5.2 or even a 5.9 is a great idea if you actually plan to drive it at highway speeds/up hills. If you have access to a junkyard with dodge trucks/vans, see if you can find a complete harness/computer for a v8 one and swap it over!
 
mgoblue9798 said:
I have a 2002 B1500 high top van with 5.9. It was a sick ***** that could not get out of its own way before I pulled it and rebuild it. Step on the gas to pass going 70 and no one was home.

I would skip past the 3.9 and 5.2 and go straight to a 5.9 with the smallest cam hughes offers. That plus the eq heads I installed made it fun to drive and no matter what the speed it will haul the mail when I step on it.

I have a lead foot and use my van to haul some heavy stuff pulling a trailer. If you are just putting around town with yours as a commuter car you may get by with the 5.2, but I would not even consider putting back another 3.9. Just my two cents.
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I'm thinkin "som ting wong". I had a 5.2 Dodge Ram 1500 and it did pretty good.
 
67Dart273 said:
I'm thinkin "som ting wong". I had a 5.2 Dodge Ram 1500 and it did pretty good.
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And I have a 5.2 in a 92 Dakota that will scat. Different animal trying to push a high top conversion van down the highway. No ting wong with the van since I built the motor though.
 
mgoblue9798 said:
I was thinking about trying to change the plugs and routine maintenance. My old body doesn't contort as easily as it used to.
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It's just something you'd need a lift to do. I'm not sure which would be easier. Gettin the doghouse off of puttin it in a lift. I admit, vans ain't ever been real easy to work on.
 
I have driven shorties with 3.9 magnum. You'd think it was a 5.2 on part throttle. Again, not a race machine, but certainly takes off with traffic at the stop lights no problem. Maybe because of gearing, but actually felt a touch stronger than Dakota's with 3.9's.
 
318willrun said:
I have driven shorties with 3.9 magnum. You'd think it was a 5.2 on part throttle. Again, not a race machine, but certainly takes off with traffic at the stop lights no problem. Maybe because of gearing, but actually felt a touch stronger than Dakota's with 3.9's.
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My buddy had a 3.9 in a long van, it pulled around town speeds actually pretty good, and was reliable as a hammer, he never had to work on it. I never drove it at highway speeds.
I had a 94 3.9 5-speed with 3.55 gears in a short box dakota standard cab, it was a good running truck, bought it slightly used 10K miles, and drove it to over 100K. It was a good little truck.
I had to replace two parts, the entire time I owned it, a water pump, it never went totally out, but starting weeping, so I changed it. A fuel pump, I really pushed the fuel pump, because if you had over a 1/4 tank of gas it would run fine, let it get lower than that and it would start starving for fuel, I guess the extra weight of the +1/4 tank of fuel would keep the pressure up.
 
sireland67 said:
My buddy had a 3.9 in a long van, it pulled around town speeds actually pretty good, and was reliable as a hammer, he never had to work on it. I never drove it at highway speeds.
I had a 94 3.9 5-speed with 3.55 gears in a short box dakota standard cab, it was a good running truck, bought it slightly used 10K miles, and drove it to over 100K. It was a good little truck.
I had to replace two parts, the entire time I owned it, a water pump, it never went totally out, but starting weeping, so I changed it. A fuel pump, I really pushed the fuel pump, because if you had over a 1/4 tank of gas it would run fine, let it get lower than that and it would start starving for fuel, I guess the extra weight of the +1/4 tank of fuel would keep the pressure up.
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My Dad bought a '94 Dakota 3.9 5-speed short box standard cab brand new ! He drove it from 0-98,000 miles issue free. Sold it to a local guy and he took it well over 200k with just a new clutch and maybe a couple of minor things. Ran great when he sold it.
 
Worked on a lot of Econolines, take the whole front end off and pull the engine out with an engine hoist by the damper with a homemade adapter.
 
bcschief said:
Worked on a lot of Econolines, take the whole front end off and pull the engine out with an engine hoist by the damper with a homemade adapter.
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My 2002 Dodge I was able to get the motor out the front by taking out the cooling and upper tie bar, but had to pull the intake to make room. It is tight but can be done.
 
Garrett Ellison said:
The best options are the ones that are the most economically infeasible. Cummins intercooled 4BT. 30mpg and decent power. finding a place to stuff the intercooler in may somewhat "difficult", though. But if "I" were doing it, 5.7 Gen III all the way. That'd be fun one! Well, except for that whole installation thing!
:rofl:
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Only thing I wonder about with a diesel would be the heat. Doghouse is pretty hot with the gas motor. First mod I made to my van was to install a sound deadener mat with a heat reflector on the engine side of the doghouse. $50 well spent.
 
Princess Valiant said:
I can get the whole van for 4 hundo.

I'm getting the idea its not worth messing with since it's a conversion thingy??
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Do not worry too much about the "conversion van" thing. As others stated, the van itself is still a Dodge van. The conversion company just added windows and interior treatments. If you like it and it is pretty rust free, go ahead and get it.

There were plenty of 318 vans made, so getting parts for the switch to a 318, if you go that route, should not be too expensive.
 
I pulled a 360 out of a '89 Maxi through the passenger door once....
 
318willrun said:
My Dad bought a '94 Dakota 3.9 5-speed short box standard cab brand new ! He drove it from 0-98,000 miles issue free. Sold it to a local guy and he took it well over 200k with just a new clutch and maybe a couple of minor things. Ran great when he sold it.
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I always liked Dakotas, a friend of mine, his son gave me a 89 extended cab, he drove it over to my house, backed it in my driveway, and handed me the title Free.
It has a miss in the 3.9, it was a burnt exhaust valve. Pulled one head, had a valve job done, replaced the steering rack, because it was power one way and manual the other, and put 4 new tires on it. I had around $325 in the whole truck.
It was a nice rust free truck, gave it to my youngest daughter, she put around 80,000 more miles on the truck, before the trans started acting up. She sold it for $900 to some guy that wanted the body to fix his.
 
Princess Valiant said:
So I am thinking of buying a 92 dodge ram shorty van that has a dead 3.9 v6. The van is VERY clean as far as the body, with NO rust.

The interior is faded and old but very solid and complete.

Would it be better to pull the 3.9 and see what's wrong with it OR v8 swap with a 318

Any foreseeable advantages or disadvantages

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A shorty van for a shorty person... :D

It depends on what is involved with swapping a 318 into it... You could have a V-8....
 
The very first thing to do or you might end up with a $400. shed in your yard, is to check with Your state DMV to find out what is required to transfer ownership and register the vehicle first.
 
My dad had an 86, I had an 87. Both 318s. Didn't act the same as each other. His was a hog, for some reason my 87 was great on gas, and seemed to have more power than Dad's.
Both same 127" wheelbase, nether was a maxi. Shorty's were 109 wheelbase. I miss that van. Would like another someday.
The 318 sent those vans down the road plenty fine.
 
MoparLeo said:
The very first thing to do or you might end up with a $400. shed in your yard, is to check with Your state DMV to find out what is required to transfer ownership and register the vehicle first.
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Good advice. As long as it is not stolen though, a title can be acquired with the "Vermont loophole".
 
It has a good title, the only reason it's so cheap is because it doesn't run, the interior is a mess and it's been sitting in the same spot on private property for 15+ years. :eek: the seller is getting tired of looking at it and he does not have a very big market for a vehicle in this condition
 
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