Yeah, I'm one of the guys who works on a FWD 3800 car (Buick Regal). We're on our 4th? engine in 11 or 12 races now, we're loosing count. (The fact I had 3 old engines in the garage is a big hint.). Head gasket due to loss of coolant, Spun rod bearing (oiling?), cracked head (possible bad radiator cap contributed to it). We lost 4th gear in the 4T65E at Loudon last fall, first time we've had an issue with a tranny. Just swapped in one of the previous trannys this weekend, we typically buy junk cars and just pull and swap the entire drivetrain each time we blow up an engine.
If it has plastic 90 degree elbows coming out of the block, replace them with alum (it may not given its spun 90 degrees versus ours).
Get a used oil pan, hack it up and graft it inside the existing oil pan for more windage protection, and over fill it by at least a quart.
Its a fairly reliable engine for what we do to it, I think we'll be starting our 4th race this weekend on the current engine. We did spend some time flushing the entire cooling system today, we had some good brown sludge in it from sitting.
Also something to keep in mind, you're very likely to find parts on shelves of the common auto parts stores for that car... much less frustrating when you're trying to work on it....
-mike