Man, I’m glad that wasn’t the deal with my 97 Gen II GTS, Steve. Massive improvement on that. I did what you did but upgraded to a 4-row and that really helped. Did all the common Gen II things too: idler pulley, PS pulley, hoses, PCV, water pump, etc. I even added two extra smaller cooling fans to the AC condenser which really helped the lack of air flow. I miss that car! I remember doing the brakes and when I got to the rears I thought, “Did these come off a Neon?” The pads were about as big as a flip phone. Painted the calipers red and it was comical to see those tiny things in the wells.
They seemed to have come back down to realistic prices again, but definitely higher than when I bought mine for $40k.
Cheers
Dave