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Differnt Intake Manifolds

The 3.3 actually uses two intake manifolds- the upper and lower. These manifolds changed from year to year, and made up for some power differnces found from era to era. One of these differnces was the jump of 10+ HP on the 1994 and 1995 van 3.3's. This brought the stock HP of the 3.3 up over 150. This HP increase could be in part a result of the switch to the newer fuel & computers system, or just the manifold- or both. In any case, in theory, it would be possible to take the upper manifold from a mid 90's 3.3 and use that on an other year 3.3 for slight HP gains.

A differnt year manifold could bolt right on, the biggest concern in doing this is the torque of the bolts when putting the upper manifold back on- well, that and the use of a new gasket. I believe the bolts for the manifold should be something like 18-20- with almost no tolerance of error. So if you do this, make sure you get the right level of tightness on those bolts.

I've been in contact with someone who has done this already to his 3.3, and he found that it did increase HP slightly (though not 10 HP of it- or so he said), and it changed the car's RPM's at idle so that when at idle the car will do 20, 25 MPH.

Such an idea of playing around with the manifolds is certainly something worth looking into.

The lower intake manifold on the 3.3 did not change at all from 1990-~2000. It is not known if a 2002 and newer lower manifold is the same (if anyone knows, contact me!). Thus any upper manifold should be able to bolt right on.

A newer (2002+) manifold may require newer lower intake manifold and heads... maybe even top end, to bolt onto an older 3.3/3.8L engine.

1990-1993 Models (3.3 or 3.8L V6)

The early intake manifold was used with both the 3.3 and 3.8 from 1990-1993 in the AC/AY body cars (Dynasty, Imperial, etc) and optionally some minivans (Caravan, Voyager, Town&Country).

1994-1996 Models (3.3 or 3.8L V6)- transverse

These transverse 3.3/3.8 manifold was used only in Mopar vans (Caravan, Town&Country, etc). It was slightly different from the early manifold in terms of the runners, which made a slight change in the engine's performance.

1994+ Models (3.3L), Longitudal engines

These manifolds went on the longitdual 3.3L engines (like the first generation intrepids, etc). This is a very small manifold compared to the transverse manifolds, with very short runners but a very long TB neck.

1997-2000 Models (3.3 or 3.8L V6)- transverse

These manifolds were used in transverse van engines. They were a remake of the earlier transverse manifolds, with longer, curvier runners and a more gently angled TB neck. This was also the first manifold to optionally get the 58mm TB under some rare options packages (like the AWD 3.8 2000 Town & Country). The only difference between the 58Tb and 52Tb manifolds is the diameter of the hole on the neck is bigger for the bigger TB. These manifolds were a huge improvement upon the early 3.3 manifold from 1990.

Dodge33l (the guy with the turbo Dynasty) tried installing a '97 intake manifold, it fits, looks better and he said there were minor changes in hp & torque with it. His cardomain site shows a before and after of the two manifolds installed and it definately looks better.

2001-to Current Models (3.3 or 3.8L V6)- transverse

These manifolds were extremely different from any other prior 3.3 manifold, designed from scratch. As opposed to just modifying the earlier design, Chrysler tried a whole new design. These manifolds have the TB on the *other* side of the engine bay, have much shorter runners on the upper intake manifold, and a redesigned lower intake manifold had huge runners.

The 1990-2000 lower intake manifold had a level top and very small runners, which pretty much consisted of 90 degree bends to seperate the upper intake manifold's runners into the heads. Now, the lower intake manifold actually had the longest section of the runners, with a slanted top (which the upper intake manifold mounts to).

These manifolds came in two styles, a plastic and all aluminum upper intake manifold. To the best of my knowledge, the plastic and all metal versions are mechanically the same inside. Up to 2002 models could get either the plastic or metal upper intake manifold (generally the 3.3 got the plastic one, 3.8 got the metal one), But starting in 2003- all models tend to get the plastic upper intake manifold.

To install one of these in an older 3.x (assuming it will clear the hoodlid!) you would need the upper & lower intake manifold, the TB, the TB cables, and possibly the heads and valve covers. This would be by no means, an easy swap.

Note the HUGE lower intake manifold (above), this is nothing like the old lower intake manifold.