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LMAO, I meant to post this on another forum discussing old lawnmowers! They dont know what I`m talking about over there either.

So, a few weeks ago, I was driving my '95 Cutlass Supreme convertible over to a friend's house, and the car started running a little hot, not overheating, but hotter than I was comfortable with. When I got back home, I looked under the hood, the overflow jug was empty and things were quite wet down by the water pump. It was right at the end of the spring semester, so I just didn't have time to mess with it, beyond pouring in a gallon of antifreeze until today, when I sent it over to my mechanic's shop, and amazingly, he had a water pump for it sitting on the shelf, had the whole thing done in less than four hours. That just never happens. Even better, it was a comparatively inexpensive repair. He was a little afraid there might have been head gasket damage, but everything checked out okay in the end. The best part was the repair was a bit less expensive than I expected. He ballparked it at around $280-$400, and it came in at $281 and change. I'm stoked that I don't have to miss anymore prime convertible weather.

That's what the mechanic said. It was a very easy fix because everything was relatively easy to access. I have no idea about special tools; I just knew that repair was above my pay grade.

How many special tools have you had to aquire? I bought a Kent-Moore GM 3.4 DOHC tool kit off of EBay years ago, but haven't looked in a while to see what is available anymore.

That's a good looking TGP you have there. I don't have a TGP, my Grand Prix is from '96, but red with the spoiler is exactly how I would want mine.

As for impossible to find exhaust gaskets, could this Fel-Pro stuff be cut to fit? https://www.jegs.com/i/Fel-Pro/375/2499/10002/-1

Fortunately my crossover pipe still seems in good to ok shape for now but its something Ive looked into replacing for sure. Going by the supplement the crossover comes off without any specific instructions really aside from rotating the engine to get at the "rear" of the engine.

A repaired crossover will look like this..... I don't personally know where the turbo flange gasket is available from anymore. Where your *lack of boost* issue is concerned remove the actuator arm from the wastegate valve & try to move the valve lever. It should not be seized. Now test the pressure diaphragm inside the dashpot using a simple handheld vacuum pump to see if the diaphragm has not failed, you're looking for no loss in the reading on the vacuum gauge. The wastegate is normally *closed* due to a return spring inside the dashpot. You'll need to test the wastegate solenoid as well, the solenoid is also closed by default which causes the boost pressure from the turbo to open the wastegate to reduce boost pressure to the engine. Sort out your DTC's first, the turbo wastegate being open shouldn't upset the engine at idle as the wastegate is open at idle, as long as the engine is running the turbo is supplying various amounts of boost.