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So here is my spin on a "Man Van".

A few years ago, I decided to get a minivan after a road trip to MI in my 2014 Honda Accord Sport - we needed more space as a family, and I'm ok with a minivan, as long as it's my "style". Searched for a U-van, my requirements were that it was blue, had leather, and added bonus if it had the RSE (rear seat entertainment) option.

I had this rust-free van shipped over from California. Mr. Chad "Lemon Jello" Loniello checked it out for me since it was only an hour away from him, and helped me get it shipped over to NC.

It's a 2003 Pontiac Montana, fully optioned with the "Thunder" package (two-tone leather interior, captains chairs, back up alert sensors, leather-wrapped steering wheel, 16" 5 spoke wheels, load leveling rear suspension, touring suspension package, heated front seats... I think that's about it. Shockingly, the van came with it's original window sticker - almost $33,000!!!

It is Blue-Black metallic, with the lower trim being a darker grey/graphite color. Super clean vehicle, no accidents, no rust, 146K on it when I got ahold of it.

A year later after taking delivery of it, the transmission decided to crap out - a 4T65E-HD. Common issues around the 150-160K mark. Now onto the build...

Engine
Rebuilt L67 (new rings, bearings, gaskets, etc.)
Stiffer 105# valve springs
Dual row timing chain
VS cam
S&S Headers
Gen5 M90 Supercharger
HD ZZP flexplate

Transmission
4T65E-HD rebuilt with 3.29 gears
Triple Edge Performance Stage 1 rebuild kit
Sonnax billet 3rd gear piston actuator
Transgo shift kit
Higher stall torque converter

Suspension
Grand Prix GXP springs
New struts (maybe Bilstien's up front?)
Shorter air-shocks from a Ford Windstar for the lowered suspension
Solid 34mm Dorman front swaybar
Boxed torque arm on rear suspension
Additional bracing on rear "axle" to reduce side-to-side deflection
Upgraded Moog vertical bushings (tighter control arm movement)

Brakes
Options for upgrade to front brakes
-12" rotors with dual piston F-body calipers
-13" rotors with dual piston Bonneville GXP calipers
-14" rotors with 4 piston 2010-2012 Camaro Brembo calipers
Rear disc conversion to newer 2005+ setup
SS lines front and rear
Upgrade master cylinder to one from an AWD model - factory rear discs

Wheels/Tires
18x8 Pontiac Bonneville GXP wheels
245/45/18 Bridgestone Turanza

Ah this is awesome. I always love seeing a simple minivan being turned into so much more. Definetly a goal in my future!

Here it is with the new black headlights housings/turn signals from eBay, the Bonneville GXP wheels, and tint on the front doors. I got the wheels from the junkyard, repaired the curb-rash on all the wheels, and repainted them.

Here's the Gen5 blower - fully rebuilt with new bearings in the rotated assembly and snout. Installed a MPS hub from ZZP and a 3.4" pulley for now.

The only thing I'm debating on with this blower is if I should weld the silencer holes shut - that'll give me more whine at idle.

This is exciting.
Please go 2.8 pulley and E85

Tyler, when are you getting a mommy mobile? Oh yeah...you already have the Subaru.

I like this, lots of thought and attention paid to what works well together. Any trouble fitting the 3800 into it? Please, engine-bay pics too!

I sometimes get funny looks, with my old Plymouth muscle-cars, Third-Gen Camaros and Trans Ams, Z-cars (Nissan AND Chevy!) and 'Ultra Sporty Berettas', of course ! when I tell people how much I love my mini-vans. Mine are of the Plymouth variety, but still very much 'mini's, even though they are big enough to drop a 4'x8' sheet of plywood in the back... Form follows function -that makes a good vehicle!

Instead of the '65E-HD, you could have sourced another 282, or even an F40...

I haven't started the swap yet, so no pics yet. I've got the short block on a stand to finish tearing down, so I can get pics of that process. Hoping to pull the drivetrain out this weekend.

I didn't want a 282 or F40 behind it - I want to keep it automatic in case the wife needs to drive it on road trips, 5spd parts in weird locations, plus too much customization for a "daily driver", I say as I'm swapping in a different engine lol

heavywoody wrote:... too much customization for a "daily driver", I say as I'm swapping in a different engine lol

^^^ Hey, you said it, not me! I definitely hear you though, I would actually be concerned about a 282 living between the toque of even a bone-stock L67 and the weight of that van. I would dearly love to five-speed-swap my Plymouth van(s), but the ones with tranny issues use the 3.3/3.8 Chrysler engines, which share a bellhousing with the 2.7 DOHC. The T-850 five-speed bolts to that, but is exceedingly hard to find -almost as bad as a Muncie 284... My other van came with the Mitsubishi 3.0 SOHC, which uses a different bellhousing and five-speeds are more common, but the tranny in that van is more reliable (3-speed vs O.D. trans) and I don't want to take a perfectly functional vehicle and gut it right now. I might actually put one of my L67s in my Plymouth van which opens up more manual transmission options for me, but it isn't near the top of my list just yet...

We have also been considering the Mazda 5 vans since they came out, as they offered manual transmissions from the factory, and the 2.3 engine in them was offered in a turbo version in the Mazda 6 sedan, so easy to build what we want from factory parts.

Really looking forward to more on your Montana project, this one looks pretty cool to me (and yeah, I do remember it is a mini-van ).