There IS a 5spd that will bolt to the 3.3/3.8, but it's semi-rare.. t-850 from a 5spd 2.7L stratus r/t sedan (ONLY sedan) and sebring convertible (ONLY convertible). Its basically the same box thats in the SRT-4 neons. Which did have a factory quaife.. just sayin.
That body style of van was sold as a manual elsewhere in the world, so a factory pedal setup exists. Getting your hands on it might be something, though.
The shifter is standard neon stuff, except the shifter handle is longer on a van. You can use the shifter out of a 90-94 manual caravan, it's a proper height for minivan use.
You may be able to adapt the older pedal setup, but i never eyeballed that myself. I did have a 96 at one point (and 5 of the 84-95 ones so far) but never looked at that possibility.
The 2.4/3spd auto drivetrain is a factory swap. Just be aware that out of boost, it's going to suck. The 3spd can be built to hold any amount of power, but unless you do it or find an enthusiast to do it, a regular trans shop would probably charge you 2k, do it wrong, and then you'll be pissed. There are several strong 5spds that will bolt to a 2.4, though.
Those would be better than the hamstrung POS solution that Chryco dumped onto the 4-speed auto. They just needed to add a couple of limited slips and it would have actually worked. Instead, you lose traction on one front wheel and you only have one wheel drive as the rear drive was driven off the passenger side of the differential, you know the one that is less loaded with one person in the car? Yeah, thanks marketing dorks, thanks a bunch.
Incorrect. The t-case is splined directly onto the diff carrier, so any time EITHER one of the front wheels is moving, it's also sending power to the back.
3.0 SOHC 6g72 was available through a good portion of the 90's into the early 2000's, IIRC. I wouldn't leave the chrysler slushbox in there anyhow,
3.0 ended in '00. Either stock auto (3spd or 4spd) can hold a E36 M3load of power (think 600 hp) if you spend a grand on it. With the 3spd you have to build the internals. With the 4spd you mostly have to drop $700 on an aftermarket controller and run completely stock internals.
The sohc 3.0 is a ridiculously strong motor, btw. It's been pushed to 500+whp on stock pistons, rods, crank etc. The dohc has gone 1500+hp in full race builds but that's pretty irrelevant.
As for using 3k gt parts.. i dont know what you would use or why you would want to. The engine is turned the other way so the trans is out, and the dodge trannies used on the 3.0 are easily some of the strongest FWD transaxles ever made.
Nobody has pushed the 3.3/3.8 very far, so it's weak points are unknown. The main thing it needs to make more power is a cam, a different plenum, and more rpm. But that's more work than putting a turbo on it, honestly.
