Trans is going on my 94 Voyager, 3.0L engine is tired (194k). After much thinking I came across a low mileage 94 Grand Voyager 3.8L. I decided why not, more power/more torque/in the lighter chassis.

Planning on taking engine/trans/harnesses/ecm/tcm and dropping it all in my van.

Hopefully there's no potential "issues" I'm overlooking, but I feel this should be a simple swap and drop.

 

Got the Donor van home.
Be pulling the driveline this week/weekend, getting it freshened up, and hopefully be putting it in next week/weekend.

 

Got the engine, harness, and computers out.
Now just waiting on parts to freshen them up, then teardown will start of mine.

 

Hi smokesxt. Is the van in the first picture the donor van?

Keep us posted, and let us see the final result. I'm assuming everything is going as planned so far?

 

It's all pics of the same van (the donor). Had no plans on saving anything, so we got a little "creative" to save time.

Everything is out, parts are on the way, hopefully have the drivetrain ready to go in this weekend.

This is the van it's going in, in case you were wondering:

 

Very nice looking! Mine is the white with the wood-grain panel.

You had to repaint the roof, I'm sure?

 

I repainted the whole van as the PO used some blue rattle can to "fix" the paint peel.



When we first brought her home.



Body work in progress, new wheels just completed (tires were getting replaced, didn't care).



In progress of painting.

Other than the paint peel it had one small rust spot on the driver's rocker at the rear. It was very well cared being a Wisconsin vehicle since new.

 

You do your own bodywork and painting, too! Very professionally done. Those were a nice choice of colors. The van didn't look bad when you got it, but the makeover is awesome.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you that these vans really suffer with winter road treatments. My van came from Boston, where there is treatment on the roads regularly. Hence, I got it with a lot of rust on the bottom. My rear-heater piping rusted through, and the brake lines and exhaust were shot. Road treatment here in NJ is used only when needed. Some winters it's barely needed. I refrain from using the van in the winter when the roads are treated. I would imagine Wisconsin would be the same as Massachusetts as far as that goes. Hosing down the under-body when possible will help a lot also.

 

I do all my own work, learned body work/painting from my uncle, learned mechanical from my other uncle and grandfather.

It looked way worse in person, that pic does it no justice.

Believe it or not, I see far more decent 2nd gen vans around here than I do 3rd/4th gens.
I have had to replace the brake lines and the fuel lines, other than that my van still has the factory undercoating on the bottom. It had one small rust hole in the driver's rocker when I bought it, which I cut out and welded new in.
Wisconsin just started using the "spray" treatment and yes, it destroys vehicles very quickly. Our truck was rust free 2 yrs ago, now it has gaping holes in the bed sides (which I will be fixing this year).
I am very meticulous about keeping my van clean, so I'm hoping for many year of good service from it. If I have to, I'll fix the body and paint it again.



On the engine side, parts have started arriving, so I will begin tearing it apart this weekend. Once it's freshened up, I will put my van under the knife, hopefully have it done for Flatfest next weekend. I have some rally-x to do.

 

It's great that you learned how to do all that stuff. You know that it will be done right!

I've heard that the spray winter treatment is worse than salt on a vehicle. You seem to agree. I also hate when it gets on the windshield. It is very difficult to remove and leaves a film that makes seeing difficult.