I'm pretty sure the caravan/k-car 2.6l was a narrow block, but to swap a v6 you would need a new tranny (just to start, not too mention fuel/exhaust/electrical mods). different bell housing. to swap a 4cyl to a v6, the consenus is to do the GM 4.3 engine/tranny/transfer swap from the S Series blazer/pickup (you can find rusted out blazers that still run great just about every where).

The Caravan block is close to matching up to a manual tranny block and 87 later auto but only 3 of the four bell housing bolts line up. Some people have done this... Sounds pretty hack to me. I have used Caravan motors for parts since the cranks are the same and they make a great turbo crank if you get one nitrided.

If you have a 87 or later auto you can swap the bellhousing and get the V6 to bolt up to the tranny. The motor mounts will be off a little and require some fabrication.

SO on a 87 and later auto its a lot easyier to swap in a 3.0 V6 than a 4.3. The reason the 4.3 is favored is despite being more work it gets you a bigger bump in displacment and you have a better chance of finding a good used motor. Also in general the rebuild of a 4.3 will be less expensive than a 3.0.

Stock the 3.0 is a nice jump up from a 2.6. The 2.6 is also a good cantidate for a turbo conversion since the Starion used the same basic motor and had a factory turbo.

Kevin C

This is good progress. However, I have an '85 Montero with auto transmission. It has a narrow block. Will anything match up without fabbing too much? You mention the manual trans (any year?) and the '87 and later auto trans. What about the '85 auto trans?

I always appreciate good help and knowledge. Thanks for all the replies.

You have the odball block that as far as I know was only used on the pre 87 auto tranny Monteros and RWD's with the torque-flite auto tranny.

A possible solution is to get an auto tranny from a later Montero ( 87 and up) to go with the more availible blocks. That would get you a 4 speed auto and if you get a later V6 unit you can get a lockup converter as well.

In general all V6 units had a better torque converter.

Do you know what the gear ratio in your axles is? I think the gear ratio was a bit taller on the 3 speed auto Monteros. That could be a deal breaker since you would need to swap a lot of parts to get the 4 speed auto to work right. At that point just fixing the original type wide 4 makes more sense.

Kevin C

Swapping in the 87 auto into my 83 truck required changes to both driveshafts and a "universal" shifter for a 3 speed tranny. I'll figure out the OD part later because this truck never sees the highway and won't miss it.

I think the reason the caravan blocks don't line up to the bellhousing is that they are the narrow pattern. The A 604 mopar tranny for the caravan is an adaptation of the 904 gear set to a transverse format. The only way to know for sure is to measure the caravan block, probably from the same 84-86 vintage.

I think the Caravan block sat cocked at an angle. I don't recall the bolt spacing, but i looked a one once and was sure it would not work in a rwd.

Edit. Apparently it can be used by installing only 3 bolts. See Kevin C's post. I probably should not have commented on that.

The Caravan engine has been swapped into Starions and it does not sit crooked.

The issue is that only three of the four bell housing bolts line up. The pattern is close but in the FWD block they had to move one bolt. I'm assuming that was to allow clearance for the drive axles or some other FWD component.

Basicly the Caravan has a narrow pattern for three bolts and the fourth bolt is unique to the FWD. It also has differant water pump setup that has to blocked off / swapped over.

Kevin C

Somebody mentioned the axle ratio perhaps being different. There is no indication on the door tag as to what axle I have, although there is a sticker which cautions about a limited slip differential. Is there a tag anywhere identifying the axle? Failing finding a tag, the only way I'm aware of to determine the ratio is to jack up the read end and start turning the wheel(s), and count driveshaft revolutions. This should also answer about the limited slip differential.

I believe the transmission is a three speed. The shift lever is marked "P-R-N-D-2-L" . In my mind that says 3 speed. When they went to a 4 speed, was fourth an overdrive or just a straight drive with closer ratios?

Since this Montero (assuming that I can get it running) will be going onto an island in Maine, with only about 20 miles of road, of which only a third is paved, the overdrive would serve no real purpose, though the closer ratio might be a benefit.

near the radiator/hood latch a stamped metal plate

Can't find it. Admittedly, its kind of dark in the garage, and very cramped, but I can't find a data plate there. I did find an A/C sticker and a paint code sticker on the cross piece with the hood catch. On the firewall there is a "Built by Misubishi" plate, and on the underside of the hood there is an emissions data sticker and vacuum hose info. But I couldn't find a data plate with the axle info.

Any thoughts? Might it be somewhere else? Would there be any identifying stampings on the axles?