[Vwdiesel] Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon

[raymond greeley]

good info david, My interest in the omni/horizon was only for a trans axle 
that mated with both the
vw block and my 93 dodge mini van.  i have a 93 dodge mini with manual that 
i purchased at salvage price because of a  fueling issue and is a good donor 
for this experiment. The weight for jetta/mini is close 2600/3200lbs so 
conceivably
should be able to achieve similar performance though these vans are just a 
box with no aerodynamics so mileage will suffer . I would prefer to use the 
chrysler trans so many of the
linkages and axles are bolt on. the mini w/diesel would be a great city 
cargo carrier and also
van camper vehicle. some of these other swaps mentioned are interesting 
though i have
a cabrio that i drive that will get a td, when it's gas engine fails. One 
can only spend so much
time on these little personal projects
I will look at the other k car transaxles in the lebaron/aries, though I'm 
thinking it will be an earlier trans that ends up bolting up with lthe least 
fabrication.
thanks to all, ray
>From: "David J Hatzenbuhler" <hatzie at fuse.net>
>To: <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
>Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon
>Date: Sat, 22 Jul 2006 19:42:03 -0400
>
>My second car was an 81 Omni with the 1.7L VW engine. The 1.6 Diesel could
>probably be dropped into this car with minimal massaging.  It had a 
>Chrysler
>transaxle, Carb, and alternator.
>The early Omni was a cheesy pop-can on 12" wheels so unless you already 
>have
>one of these get a Rabbit or an early Jetta There are more VWs out there 
>for
>parts.  The real thing will handle better and is a higher quality machine.
>And dropping a diesel in a Rabbit will be just that dropping it in.
>
>The K car is the Lebaron Aries and Reliant chassis that were also morphed
>into the Chrysler Minivan  http://www.allpar.com/eek/k/k.html
>The Omni & Horizon sedans were much smaller and similar in shape to the
>Rabbit...  Probably not a mistake  http://www.allpar.com/omni/omni.html
>My Dad had an 84 & 86 caravan with a 5 speed stick and the ubiquitous
>Chrysler 2.2.  A dog on acceleration but tough to kill.  4 kids learned to
>drive stick on that 84 (beat the crap out of it) and didn't kill it.
>The 2.2 and 2.5 were Chrysler motors not those 2.6L Mitsucrappy engines.
>
>----- Original Message -----
> > Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2006 00:14:25 -0700
> > From: "William J Toensing" <toensing at wildblue.net>
> > Subject: [Vwdiesel] Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon
> > To: <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
> > Message-ID: <004501c6ac95$4fd26190$332dad48 at hcctower>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> >
> > You are right, I forgot about that. A VW Rabbit diesel might fit in a
> > Horizon/Omni. Also, I recall Mitsubishi 4 cylinder gas engines were used
> > in as an engine upgrade for the Plymouth/Dodge/Chrysler minivans. I have
> > also seen a few of these minivans with 4 speed manuals rather than
> > automatics. I believe, not sure, that the Horizon was sold in Europe 
>under
> > the Simca, Chrysler, & Talbot brands. Chrysler bought the French Simca
> > company which was originally Ford of France. Chrysler had also bought 
>the
> > British Roots company which made the Hillman & other brands. When 
>Chrysler
> > got into financial difficulties in the early '80s they sold their 
>European
> > operations to Peugeot/Citroen which renamed the Simca & Chrysler brands
> > Talbot. I don't recall if they renamed the UK Roots division Talbot but 
>I
> > think they did. I also understand Chrysler sourced some of the
> > Omni/Horizon plus K car CV joints from Citroen as well as a couple of
> > American vendors & that you have to know which CV joint it is in 
>ordering
> > repair kits. There is a parts interchange publication known as the
> > Hollander Exchange Manual which is used mainly by junk yards. It tells
> > what parts from one make or model will fit another. I don't know if they
> > cover foreign cars.
>
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