Well, my mom is looking to buy this -

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/car/323454940.html

And she is wanting me to fix it for her so she can use it as a DD. I am not sure what the guy means about a "oil leak from the manifold", but I know what he means by the valve cover gasket leak. My question is, how hard are the valve covers gonna be to pull? I am hearing that for the back one I literally have to drop the engine halfway out to get the back one off. true? Thx.

If it just leaks oil from the valve/Cam covers and possibly the intake plenum, why is he considering replacing the whole engine? Also, $1,700 sounds like it’* a used/salvaged motor as a new GM long block crate would probably be in the $4 - $5k range.

Regardless, I would seriously go look at this car before making a determination. If the guy is quoting $1,700 for a new motor, he not might be on ball about where the leak is. Valve/Cam Cover/Intake Plenum is all in the same general area, so…

Replacing the valve/cam covers is fairly simple, but the plenum is a little more difficult as the starter is housed up in the valley under the plenum, so I don’t know it’* level of difficulty in R&R.

I had a ’98 Aurora and while it was extremely reliable, when something did break, it was much more difficult to service than a standard GM product, so keep this in mind.