I currently have a 1988 Buick Skyhawk 2.0l OHC TBI w/ 3speed Automatic Tranny

Here is what happened; this car was given to me after the owner of the car died. (97 years old) She bought the car new and probably never drove it over 45mph and kept it under her carport. (very little rust) I doubt the mileage has rolled over so it the car has 48000 miles on it. Well everything was ok until the heater core plastic pipe busted and all my radiator fluid ran out and the engine tarrably overheated because I was unwilling to stop at 2am in the middle of a swamp. anyways everything was kinda ok untill about a month later when i stopped to pick up someone. I pulled out and the engine almost totally died lost more power than anything. ofcource on I4 going 80mph to keep up with traffic. was luckily able to keep it going if i kept it floored to get onto the side of the road. got tow rope and pulled it home.

I took the cam and Cyl Head off. found that the gasket between cil 1 and 2 had about 2cm Missing the Cyl head had about a 2mm deep chunk blown out and the block had some minor surface abrasion at the same location.

I would like to change out the transmission at some point my other car is a manual which i perfer to this retarded tranny in the buick likes to stall at 25 mph.

* would it be worth it to just try and fix this engine
* should and could i opt for a different engine-tranny combo easily (more focus on mpg than HP'; although this car has less umph than my 74vw)
* would be willing to even switch out to OHV, i know that was standard with this car
* not a problem to rewire
* willing to do minimal welding
* looking to keep cost to a minimum ( may give to family member for first car)

Thank you for your Comments