Yeah, the dustbuster van.

Judge Phil is itching to see one in LeMons. There's one that "runs great" nearby. All minivans from the era are ugly, so I don't know that these are much worse than the standard. GM 3800 V6 and its transmission are bulletproof in passenger cars, provided there aren't intake manifold coolant leak issues. I just saw one nearby for $600.

What do they have for rear suspension? Known pitfalls? workable engine bay?

Anyone else dumb enough to try one?

Thought:

Slam it 'til it's nearly scraping and throw on the widest steelies that (won't) fit.

Holy crap hellaflush minivan.

I'm pretty sure that they were using the 60* 3.1L and not the 3800, which would make them less reliable.

With enough weight reduction it wouldn't be horribly slow but whether anyone will go out of their way to do it.. i dunno.

They DID get the 3.8s.

Horrible sight lines.
All the body panels are plastic in the same vein as the Fiero and Saturns. It may be possible to remove the body panels and run an Exoskeleton version.

Be careful opening the driver's door. the top leans back and will scar your forehead at least once.

In a snow event, hit the wipers and you are looking into a tunnel.

Oh man, I remember when these were cool.

Slippery wrote: Oh man, I remember when these were cool.

No, no you don't. If you think you do, I'm afraid you were left out of the joke.

Yep. Trekkie van. I think they look neat. I say do it. I know u can swap a manual in it. Struts in front and I beam in the back. Lots of weight can be taken out the back of course. Gotta do the trekkie paint tho.

The power sliding door broke constantly, often coming off track. I'd advise against even trying to open it.

+1 on what 914 Driver said. My mom owned one when I was a kid and she got brained by that door constantly.

I seem to remember ours having constant vibration through the steering wheel. Then again my mother did manage to kill 3 different vehicles by never changing the oil, so maintenance wasn't her strong suit.

"...the Cadillac of minivans"

I drove one once- it was like driving a fire truck, from the back. the dash is HUUUUUGE.

They are basically w-body underneath. If the Lumina Eurosport had better swaybars or something, that might swap in. Yeah, beam rear axle. The 3800 was available as the years progressed, otherwise its the smaller 60 degree motor.

Now that I'm about to learn how to swap an engine, maybe one of these with a supercharged 3800 is a possibility! I think that would be wicked hard core.

Lugnut wrote: Now that I'm about to learn how to swap an engine, maybe one of these with a supercharged 3800 is a possibility! I think that would be wicked hard core.

I'm almost 100% positive that's been done before. I seem to remember a guy swapping in a 3600 SC into a Trans-Port (Poncho dustbuster) and enjoying it immensely.

Lugnut wrote: Now that I'm about to learn how to swap an engine, maybe one of these with a supercharged 3800 is a possibility! I think that would be wicked hard core.

I had evil thoughts of kidnapping my Dad's '99 Pontiac Montana for a day and throwing a junkyard supercharger on the 3800. But he went thru a couple transmissions just from towing his 20' Catamaran. Still would have been a hilarious sleeper.

oldopelguy wrote: I'm pretty sure that they were using the 60* 3.1L and not the 3800, which would make them less reliable.

1 that is wrong, they used the reliable as the sun iron head 3.1 with tbi. can't get much more bulletproof than that.

2 they were had with both engines.

they are totally awesome and you feel like you are a star wars rebel fighter with those front triangle windows.

and they are absolutely not a w body underneath. they are an old a body underneath - think celebrity or cutlass ciera. basically nothing good can be found at a boneyard to make them better except we fit the 16" z34 wheels to one with about 1/8" left to the bottom spring seat.

patgizz wrote:

oldopelguy wrote: I'm pretty sure that they were using the 60* 3.1L and not the 3800, which would make them less reliable.

#1 that is wrong, they used the reliable as the sun iron head 3.1 with tbi. can't get much more bulletproof than that. #2 they were had with both engines. they are totally awesome and you feel like you are a star wars rebel fighter with those front triangle windows. and they are absolutely not a w body underneath. they are an old a body underneath - think celebrity or cutlass ciera. basically nothing good can be found at a boneyard to make them better except we fit the 16" z34 wheels to one with about 1/8" left to the bottom spring seat.

they were putting TBI motors with iron heads in a van that came out in the early 90's? that doesn't sound right- every other fwd 60 degree V6 had aluminum heads and MPFI for a few years before these came out and going to iron heads and TBI wouldn't make sense on a new chassis.

There is plenty of room in the back for a 455/toro transaxle.

I checked, a pre COT Nascar chassis will fit under it perfectly.

I just reported the first post of this thread. I didn't mean to.

novaderrik wrote:

patgizz wrote:

oldopelguy wrote: I'm pretty sure that they were using the 60* 3.1L and not the 3800, which would make them less reliable.

#1 that is wrong, they used the reliable as the sun iron head 3.1 with tbi. can't get much more bulletproof than that. #2 they were had with both engines. they are totally awesome and you feel like you are a star wars rebel fighter with those front triangle windows. and they are absolutely not a w body underneath. they are an old a body underneath - think celebrity or cutlass ciera. basically nothing good can be found at a boneyard to make them better except we fit the 16" z34 wheels to one with about 1/8" left to the bottom spring seat.

they were putting TBI motors with iron heads in a van that came out in the early 90's? that doesn't sound right- every other fwd 60 degree V6 had aluminum heads and MPFI for a few years before these came out and going to iron heads and TBI wouldn't make sense on a new chassis.

yep. i have had a few lumina variants up to 1992 models, they all had tbi iron head 3.1 engines.

best part is the harness is the same as any v8 tbi so a swap onto something of an s10 chassis would be relatively not awful. one day... a 4x4 v8 lumina apv is on my list of want to builds.

Wally wrote: There is plenty of room in the back for a 455/toro transaxle.

I don't understand why anyone would want to use one of those drivetrains for anything these days. Twin supercharged 3800s sounds like the answer.