[Vwdiesel] Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon

[George Allison]

a Rabbit diesel, or even a 1.6TD, would not be much fun in a big
Chrysler minivan. A 1.9TD though, or better yet a TDI, would be great.
Probably lots more torque than the original motors had. The automatic
tranny was the weakest part in the Chrysler drivetrains, but the
manual trannies were strong and the platform was solid. If you got one
of these built, it would be a much better car than a Vanagon diesel,
and a lot faster too.

On 7/23/06, raymond greeley <rgreeley2 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 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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