I thought I would start a blog of my experiences rebuilding my 96 from the ground up if anybody is interested.I plan to replace the motor ,rebuild the 4t60e,fix any bugaboos and freshen up the body.The why of it is simple ..why not.My wife and I love the body and GMs are the cheapest cars to get parts for.

As some of my previous posts on the http://www.buickforums.com stated I bought the car a few months ago with the intention of driving it.With 117k on it I paid 1300 for it and drove it away,while getting the AC fixed, a leak in the manifold gasket was found.After all this was fixed 100 miles later the motor spun a bearing and toasted the crank.After a lot of thought my choice is toss 3k down the toilet or rebuild this PA to run for another 117k without troubles.Another reason is I am in similar position with our Impala still have debt and at 101k it needs some breathing on.I thought I might as well become as knowledgeable on GM FWD cars as I can be.

I have benn asking and reading on the forums like buickforums and gmforums about the best way to replace the damaged L67.The conclusion is it's more cost effective to buy a L26(non supercharged 3800) from a late model Buick for ie. than get a rebuilt.I have seen very low mile l26 for next to nothing so in effect for 300-500 I get 10-15k factory short block(I will reuse the l67 heads).

My biggest challenge right now though is how to redo the firewall.I had posted on buickforums that the plastic cover had crumbled into nothing from the heat.I have no intention of buying another for the privilege of having that one do the same for 100 dolalrs or so.So one thing PA owners of the C body(fwd) can look for here is a custom firewall as I will DIY my own.If you look at the pic of the straight shot of the engine you can see the foam behind the alternator where the plastic was.