The steering wheel in my 96 SE is in fairly bad shape, it has electrical tape wrapped around it under a cracked dress up cover. It needs replaced. I've done some searching and to the best I can tell, 96-99 will work for me, right?

Also... The car is column shift. The indicator on the cluster is not right for what gear you're in. It still moves just fine, just not to the right positions. Park is right on, but "N" is actually Drive, and "R" is actually Neutral. I'm almost sure it'* a cable or something of some sort. While I'm in there for the steering wheel replacement, is this something that can be fixed pretty easy?

Check out the compatibility here: http://www.car-part.com or call your friendly, local, junkyard.

By and large GM has maintained the same method for attaching steering wheels for about 3 decades. Same spline count on the shaft, about the same depth. I could probably take the wheel off my '90 and plug it onto the steering column of your car...yeah, it would look a little goofy since the trim would never line up on the shrouds do to the lack of an airbag. Point is, you have a lot of options with your steering wheel.

Where you run into trouble is any optional stuff you might have on your steering wheel (cruise, radio controls, etc.) You best bet is to take the wheel off your car and have a peek at the connectors on the back for any toys you may have beyond a simple horn button. Then look for a suitable canidate in a you-pull-it yard and make sure the connectors all match up. (it doesn't have to even be a Pontiac...probably any mid-90'* GM would have something that matches up with yours.)

As to your gear shift indicator...I'll have to pass on this one, since the only ones I see are older string & spring arrangements. (if you have that arrangement on your car, then the string has probably jumped the pully, so all the indications are too far to the left.)