Chrysler Repair: 92 Caravan 3.3l engine swap, engine choices, junk yard

Question
Hi Roland, I have a 92 UMC Aeromate. Basically it's an aluminum bodied panel van with a 92 3.3liter v6 Caravan under the hood. With only 80K the engine gave up the ghost, lucky for me, a junk yard replacement is only $75 complete.

My question is, "Can a 3.3 be swapped out with the 3.8 in the 1992 era caravans?" "I read that they can, but with what added time and frustration?" "Would the 3.8 be any improvement over the exact replacement 3.3?"

My gut feeling says "KISS" But my frustration with the lack of performance in the existing 3.3 is the motivation for my questions. Any help or insight would be sincerely appreciated. Thanks.

Answer
Hi Joe,
I scanned the '95 service manual and couldn't find anything obvious between the two engines that would impact such a switch. I noticed in the '93 manual that apparently the 3.3 was the only engine of that block size which was offered. But assuming that nothing changed between then and when the two engines were offered in the minivan I don't see any reason to not go with the 3.8. I suspect that you will want to have a pcm for the 3.8 as there may be some operating parameters that are displacememt-dependent. Maybe the best thing to do would be to go to a dealer parts counter and look into the part number differences, if any, between the 2 engines in whatever year they were available simultaneously. Nothing was mentioned in the transaxle section either about the two engine choices.
Roland