91 Plymouth Acclaim

Here's all I know so far: 91 Acclaim sedan; V6 badges on side; Auto trans.

spotless exterior (white) and interior (burgundy velour); being sold by niece of 90 year old deceased aunt; 21,000 miles (yes, 21k); kept in garage;

"always did every service at the dealer even though she didn't drive it."

$1500. Should I?

Hell. Yes.

Name it "Ishmael" (Moby is to obvious) and drive it into the ground, or for the next 10 years, whichever comes first.

Either that or tell me where it is, my mom needs a new car.

If it said "Turbo" on the side I'd say yes but that V6 is the 3.0 Mitsu lump that was a total piece of junk. They ate through valve seals and were not that powerful. For $1,500 I'd say pass.

1 "hell yes" and 1 "pass" so far. Need a tiebreaker.

No "turbo" on the side. Adding the emblem will be my first mod if I get it.

Tough call. The 3.0l engines smoked like crazy(valve seal issue that was mentioned earlier) and the transmissions sucked bad. It does have really low miles, so normally I'd say you shouldn't have to worry about the engine or transmission for a while, but it has sat most of it's life, and cars don't usually like that.

My buddy had one that he drove the piss out of (mostly because he had no idea about cars, and I guess he assumed oil changes itself) and his ran forever. Like 150,000 before a radiator and water pump blew up at the same time and he overheated it and ruined the headgaskets.

The trans was always a constant problem for him, though, would hunt for gears randomly and the like.

$1500 would be a little steep for me, even dealer-serviced and low miles, but that's just me. Maybe a couple hundred lower.

http://www.allpar.com/mopar/3.html

If the body is that cherry, you could always do a drivetrain swap if it dies & have one hell of a sleeper.

petegossett wrote: If the body is that cherry, you could always do a drivetrain swap if it dies & have one hell of a sleeper.

What would be the bestest-per-unit-easiness swap?

I'd pass. If the sitting around hasn't ruined it, that would be a nice car for my little sister and nothing more.

I'd buy this car....to resell. There are more than a few schmucks in the world looking for a clean, low mileage car, no matter what it is. With the price of gas slowly receding, even the V6 won't make it that hard to sell. But only buy to re-sell if you can stand to sit on it for awhile if you have to.

The smoky V6 issue was fixed by the dealer as part of a TSB. The ones that are smoking now are people too lazy to take it to the dealer to get the TSB or they are just worn out.

The 4-speed electronic automatics are known to be problematic at times. Numerous revisions have been made to the code and electronically actuated solenoids that control the transmission. Take the vin to a dealer and have them look it up, they can probably tell if the car has had any of the TSB's performed on it. Get the latest code and parts/pieces and be sure to use the proper fluid at all times.

BTW, the V6 weighed about the same as a turbo 2.5 and made the same power and torque (different power curves of course). The issue is of course that the computer code was from Mitsubishi, so it doesn't seem as easy to hack as the 2.2/2.5 code and because of that issue, modifications are all but useless without finding a new computer that can control the engine and automatic.

The engine itself is the SOHC version of the DOHC engine used in the twin-turbo Stealth/3000GT and with variable cam geometry in the latest Eclipse. There were larger versions of this same basic engine used in the Mitsu trucks (up to 3.8L, I believe also with DOHC) Unfortunately, the DOHC motors seem too wide to fit in the engine bay of the Chrysler, but it would be a fun swap and worth double checking with a tape measure if you get a chance.

This same basic drivetrain was also used in the minivans of the era, and they also were offered with 3.8L Chrysler V6's as well as AWD (transaxle case is specific to these as are the suspension parts), so there is another interesting swap potential if you have the time and dedication for it. The AWD system is not the greatest as it connects the back wheels to the passenger side of the differential. So losing traction on the left front will cause the other three wheels to stop moving.

I think the MegaSquirt forums were working on getting the latest version of MS to control transmissions, ABS, traction control, etc. Not sure if they've made any headway or not.

Luckily the is the same basic transmission as was used in the Plymouth Prowler so there may be some aftermarket parts available that can be adapted.

Turbo engine swaps are rather limited unless you find a donor chassis as the turbos were gone by 1992 and the engine and body harness is completely different. Although a 1991 Spirit R/T would be a fun, if not expensive to maintain, swap.

Otherwise the modifications to the Chassis are common to the Chrysler K-cars. GRM did an article on this a while back. Makes for a cheap, fun street car but newer, similarly modified compacts will run rings around it.

My vote would be, if you need a DD, get it and cruise around in it, fix whatever is wrong or broken and sell/trade for a better car down the road.

my sister had one and i thaught that the 3.0L v6 was a push rod engine.

Nope, that would be the later 3.6 and 3.8 V6's used in the Minivans and Dakotas. The 3.0L was a SOHC (Chrysler and Mitsu) or DOHC (Mitsu only) engine.

And, frankly, my '92 Caravan which also had the 3.0 Mitsu engine never really smoked much if at all, and it was pushing 100,000 miles. In 10 years all I did to that thing was put 1 set of plugs in it and change the oil on a semi-regular basis. It was running fine (for what it was) when it was killed in an accident.

If you need a DD, I'd offer $1200 and drive it for quite a while for almost nothing. If you don't need a DD, meh, it's not exactly a flip magnet.

I stand corrected

If you wanted to make it better, swap in a (rare) 5 speed and Shelby Daytona sspension and it wouldnt be a bad car.

is the shelby suspension still solid rear axel?

Well, not Really an axel, but you get my point

integraguy wrote: I'd buy this car....to resell. There are more than a few schmucks in the world looking for a clean, low mileage car, no matter what it is. With the price of gas slowly receding, even the V6 won't make it that hard to sell. But only buy to re-sell if you can stand to sit on it for awhile if you have to.

Uh, I think I was one of those schmucks. I think I'll pass...unless they take my low ball offer (no more than $1000)

Yea its a solid rear beam still, its just wider and stiffer.

$1500, 21,000 miles, I don't give a berkeley what kind of car it is:

Buy it.

Drive it till it starts to smoke/make funny trans. noises.

Sell it for $1k.

I had a K-car that was 17 years old at the time and had 40k miles. It was a pile, every problem was related to laying around. Sold it to someone who owned it two months before it caught on fire and burned to the ground.

Just realized that's the same age this car is. lol.