1993 Plymouth Voyager

Minivan/Van

2.5L 4 Cylinder Gasoline Fuel

Manual

2P4GH25K2PR289049

Clear

Gasoline

Power Steering

I was talking with some fellow car nuts last week when one of them said; “They’re not projects, they are adventures”. That got me laughing about this one, which has been an adventure from the beginning. I’ll explain. About ten years ago I wanted a minivan with a manual trans. Very few around, a couple of Aerostars, never did like those, even less Astros, but there are a few Caravan/Voyagers with manual 5 speeds made up until 1994. I’ve only seen a few, mostly beat up pretty bad. So I started looking, put a lookout at Autotrader in case any listings came up. One day a listing appeared from Portland, a dealer had taken in a real clean 93 Voyager with a 4cyl 5 speed manual combination. I talked with the salesman, he sent lots of good pics, so I arrainged to fly up there, buy it, and drive it home to rebuild it into a dependable daily driver and for trips across the country to see the grandkids with gas milage I can afford. This van had an EPA highway rating of 32mpg, I figured with a well built balanced drivetrain I could do at least that well. Flew into Portland, got the van and started home to Albuquerque. At the end of day two, just out of Salt Lake City headed through Spanish Fork Utah I was climbing a hill, shifted from second to third and all went dead all of a sudden. It was getting dark and my cell had zero signal. I’m still grateful the highway patrol let me use his phone to summon AAA who finally got there at 9pm. I thought it was the fuel pump, but decided not to do roadside repairs and got a hotel for the night while my wife got online and booked me a plane home. Put the van in storage in SLC and flew home. Two weeks later I took my large truck and trailer to SLC and got the van and brought it home. Upon teardown it was obvious that this van had really never been touched, the timing belt had sheared its teeth off and that’s why it stopped, the fuel pump was not the cause. That belt had lasted 180,000 miles and was original! The clutch was original too, as was the brakes and everything else. That was 180,000 very gentle miles the original owner put on. That winter I took it all apart and rebuilt the entire drivetrain. The engine went to a local machine shop with a good reputation, the trans to a fellow mopar nut with lots of experience rebuilding these transmissions, and I started buying parts to tackle this project, er, adventure. Fast forward… Got it all together and found out the engine had a horizontal crack in cyl #1, the beginning of another crack in cyl #2, and was actually burning coolant through the cylinder and out the tailpipe to the tune of approx a quart of coolant every 1000 miles. I had 4600 miles on the new engine at this point. Could not continue like that, so I bought another engine from S&J engines in Portland through Ebay. I used them because they magnaflux the blocks, which was now foremost in my mind. I replaced the catalytic converter too because it had broken apart inside, no doubt helped by the coolant going through it. So now we have engine #2 installed, finally all is well, functioning very well and all is in excellent condition and now have about 2500 miles on the second engine. As luck would have it, I slipped and totaled my left ankle which has always been a problem since ice skating while a kid. Now, a clutch is difficult for me to use, and to great dismay my hand built one of a kind minivan must go to another owner who can use it and enjoy it as I have. I get 35mpg highway with a careful right foot, and with it all aligned properly it tracks like a train in the highway. Its fun to drive around town too, I’ve been using it as my daily driver. The body and paint are original, I like the stealth aspect of it, and the van has zero rust anywhere on it, and I have intimate knowledge of every nook & cranny of this van. The original owner was so gentle the switchgear in the interior is like new, not a hint of a fingerprint on any buttons or controls, all systems work perfectly including cold AC (factory 134a gas, not converted) and a warm heater too. I have both rear seats but they are kept in the shed. Here’s a list of all new stuff; Engine & Trans now with 2500 miles on second engine, still under warranty Brakes, new discs & drums and all internal parts new Shocks are new KYB front & rear Dashboard gauge cluster replaced with factory cluster w full gauges w tach & oil pressure gauge did not reset odo so milage shown is 7490 more than the van actually has. Neoprine sway bar bushings New wheels & tires from Discount Tire with warranty New headlights & bulbs, excellent night vision dims or brights I have a trailer hitch for it but never installed it. Also have a fiberglass extension top just in case one wants to have more room inside for a real camper conversion. This was left over from my days owning a van conversion store for 20 years. I also included photo of a red van in 1985 w fiberglass top installed. I can assist the new buyer with installation of the top if requested. Its surprising how much space a top like this adds. All side glass was removed and replaced with factory tinted side glass. The rear hatch window has not been changed yet, but my local boneyard has lots of rear hatches with factory tint glass. Zero rust anywhere and zero evidence of crash damage anywhere on this van. Carfax shows clean history w no crashes or adverse incidents Thanks for looking and happy bidding!