Turbo LS-Swapped Dodge Grand Caravan Is One Speedy Family Hauler: Track Time Tuesday
Wild, ultra-cheap LS-swapped Dodge Grand Caravan perfectly personifies why these swaps are so popular.
One of the main reasons LS swaps have become so popular in recent years is because those engines are quite literally everywhere, and they’re cheap to obtain. With nearly limitless power potential on tap, who doesn’t want to make all kinds of things fast by fitting them with LS power? Virtually no one, it seems, because we’ve come across all kinds of crazy swaps over the years, a list that now includes this wild turbocharged LS-swapped Dodge Grand Caravan owned by Canadian native Barry Lambert.
After purchasing the van used a few years ago, the transmission began to slip. It was under warranty, but unfortunately for Lambert and his wife, that coverage had expired around two weeks before they tried to file a claim. Facing a pricey repair, Lambert decided to do the right thing and just swap out the entire drivetrain and make this boring family hauler into something a bit more special.
“The van is in great shape structurally, with no rust, so it was a great starting point for a swap,” Lambert explained to The Drive. “The rear diff came out of a 2002 F-150; I put in 3.55 gears for good highway RPM and still have low-end torque. I installed a spool so both wheels are locked and it doesn’t do one-wheel burnouts.”
The job still took a good bit of work, as Lambert had to modify the engine cradle, fabricate his own engine mounts, and chop it down the middle to fit the driveshaft and make this formerly front-wheel-drive van a proper rear-wheel-drive machine. As for engines, well, he’s been through a few in this LS-swapped Dodge Grand Caravan. He started out with a 5.3-liter topped with a 66mm Mack turbo that tossed a few rods one day, followed by another 5.3 and now, a 6.0-liter LS that came straight from a plow truck.
Despite having around 200k miles, the new LS makes around 600 horsepower with a 70mm CAT turbo, which is more than enough to roast the tires, as we can see in the video above. Lambert paid a whopping $100 for the powerplant and was admittedly surprised that it hasn’t blown up yet. It’s mated to a 4L80E gearbox from a high-mile cargo van, which has held up thus far as well. And if all of that isn’t a great way to explain to someone why LS swaps are so popular, well, we don’t know what is.
Photos: Barry Lambert
Join the LS1Tech forums now!
